Cool finale: which majors do graduates choose?
Very soon, almost 2.3 million 9th and 11th grade students will hear the last bell. Research shows that students are increasingly choosing applied fields, such as engineering, when choosing a professional path. More than half of the graduates will enter the secondary special education system, experts say. What professions students choose and why — in the material of Izvestia.
How will the last call go?
Schools can set the date of the celebration themselves, but the Ministry of Education recommends holding a holiday on May 26. Most schools will include in the program a ceremony of raising the flag and playing the anthem of the Russian Federation, as well as honoring large families and performances by parents participating in their educational programs who have been awarded state awards.
This year, special attention is being paid to security issues. So, in the Voronezh Region, the rulers will be held indoors, not outdoors, the regional Ministry of Education reported.
In the Chelyabinsk region, according to local authorities, dog handlers with service dogs will check school buildings before the last bell. During the celebration, police officers, Rosgvardiya officers, representatives of voluntary national squads and the Cossacks will keep order.
In the Belgorod region, in 55 schools where the learning process took place remotely during the year, the last call will also be conducted online.
Where do graduates go
To continue their studies, many students choose applied fields, such as engineering and IT specialties, as well as medicine, according to the SuperJob study. This is evidenced by the preferences when taking exams. Thus, according to Rosobrnadzor, the popularity of physics has increased by almost 25% since 2025, specialized mathematics and chemistry — by more than 10%, biology — by 7.4%, computer science — by 6%.
At the same time, the results of final exams in chemistry and biology are getting better every year, said Irina Abankina, a professor at the Higher School of Economics.
"But you don't have to deal with math year after year," the expert explained. — A lot depends on what type of tasks the subject committee chooses. There were years when exams offered tasks that were not included in current educational programs. The students were confused and did not show the best results.
Nevertheless, specialized mathematics has been the most popular exam of choice for the Unified State Exam for several years.
63% of the surveyed children are going to enter universities this year, 56% of ninth-graders and 11% of 11th-grade graduates will go to college, according to a SuperJob study.
"Over the past decades, the number of students who leave after the ninth grade has more than doubled," said Natalia Golovanova, head of the SuperJob Research Center. She stressed that this trend will continue in the coming years.
Irina Abankina explained the growing interest of graduates in entering colleges.
— Secondary vocational education has changed radically. It has become more focused on modern professions. Many colleges in Russia are well equipped," the expert said.
There will be more engineers
In recent years, the IT field has been the most popular among graduates, but in 2026, the interest of high school students shifted towards engineering and medicine, Natalia Golovanova told Izvestia.
— If we talk about the reasons, first of all, it is necessary to note the acute shortage of personnel in these areas. The government actively supports engineering technicians. Both parents and future students can see this," she said.
According to the expert, students' interest in medicine is also due to a shortage of staff.
— But things are not easy with doctors now, because starting this year, a graduate of a medical university is not allowed to continue his studies until he passes the necessary training. This, in turn, may create additional problems in the labor market," she said.
— It's a little different in colleges: IT is still the leader there. The second place is occupied by working professions.: construction and manufacturing. And medicine closes the top three, Natalia Golovanova noted.
According to her, 70% of companies are ready to hire young specialists in these fields even without experience.
— If you look at salaries, they are willing to pay an engineer in Moscow about 150 thousand rubles a month, in St. Petersburg an engineer of the third category receives 120 thousand rubles. Of course, there are more modest offers, but the market is clearly interested in technical specialists," the expert emphasized.
Thus, Russian schoolchildren today focus on applied specialties such as engineering, medicine and working professions. And specialized companies that are starved of personnel are ready to pay competitive salaries to young specialists at the start of their careers.
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