This paper identifies pivotal factors behind individual decision making in the transition from high school to post-secondary education in the Netherlands. We apply a multinomial logit framework to individual data and accommodate two types of effects that have not received much attention in the literature. First, we analyse the impact of geographical accessibility of the higher education system. Second, we allow the individual observations to be correlated within schools, in effect accounting for localized social interactions. Our results confirm the paramount influence of the student's track record and talent. The results, however, also show that geographical proximity significantly increases the probability of high school leavers continuing their education at a university or professional college. © 2006 Regional Studies Association.