In Russia spring and early summer is quite stressful period for secondary school graduates. Joy and tears of the Farewell Bells in schools are replaced by rough days- the final preparations for the Unified National Exam are here. Today, every school leavers and their parents recognize that on the Unified National Exam scores depends the school leaver's future and his life journey: either to enroll in an higher education institution or having low scores to enroll in secondary vocational education institution without exams, only on interview in accordance with the new version of the Law of the Russian Federation "On education". In the article the author cites the results of the survey realized in late 2012 among the Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk region school leavers. The main focus of this article is to note the peculiarities of the future study place choice and professional plans. The author analyzes in detail the attitude of Russian school leavers to the existing system of career guidance and their suggestions for its development. The data are interesting for the education system employees, for the responsible for the organization and management of career guidance, for the authorities of the Russian Federation, for the school leavers and their parents