This study deals with the problem of the professional self-determination of senior college students at the threshold of their careers. The article explores the structure of students’ ideas about the reasons for acquiring a higher education and what they expect from their future job. The research was based on the hypothesis that these ideas were in fact interconnected, and it was possible to distinguish groups of students have different «sets» of education strategies. It was also possible to associate the types of education strategies with the resources available to a given student and with his attitude to study. The study presents a new approach to the problem of the adaptation of students on the threshold of the professional career.