In this chapter, our aim is to construct an understanding of what the role of educational institutions is in shaping students’ educational hopes, choices and admission seeking strategies to gain access to higher education. We use the concept of institutional habitus to examine what happens in the everyday life of general upper secondary schools in relation to students’ admission seeking strategies. We propose the following research questions: (1) what kind of institutional habitus is formed in the everyday life of general upper secondary schools? and (2) how are the admission seeking strategies for higher education being constructed and shaped within these various types of institutional habitus? The chapter is based on two ethnographic studies conducted in three Finnish general upper secondary schools in the Helsinki metropolitan area during the academic years of 2016–2017 and of 2019–2020. We argue, that the field of general upper secondary education in the Helsinki metropolitan area seems to be differentiated and the differences between the institutional habitus of the schools also emphasise varying educational opportunities for the students and shapes their educational experiences.