The article aims at providing a better understanding in which factors influence students opting for a higher education in their choice of a specific study area. The particular question is what the driving factors for the choice of either social sciences or technical and exact sciences are. A study carried out in 2002-03 at the Universities of Zurich and Lausanne, as well as at both Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (N=1804), points to the importance of a set of factors linked to educational background and representation of both the study fields and the related professions. Further factors relate to gender and to more general cultural traits.