Parental background is a significant factor in potential students' aspirations

The academic high-flier

She's captain of the hockey team and a school prefect and has probably done some charity or voluntary work.

She's ambitious and organised and has her heart set on a university place - and is likely to achieve the A-level grades to get there.

When it comes to choosing a course, she feels being interested in the subject is more important than having a particular aptitude for it.

The Times Higher -Hobsons survey suggests that seven out of ten teenagers predicted to gain above-average exam scores have held some kind of responsibility at school and eight out of ten expected to go to university.

Forty-three per cent of teenagers predicted above-average grades have fathers who went to university; and 39 per cent of their mothers are also graduates.

About two out of three will plump for the subject they are most interested in. One in four said that having an aptitude in the subject was the decisive factor when it came to picking a university course. Sixty-one per cent expected better teaching and 44 per cent expected better computer and library facilities at university in return for tuition fees, but half expected to have to dip into savings and 67 per cent expected to receive extra financial help from parents to make ends meet.

The stay-at-home student

He's a follower, not a leader, is keen to do well and hopes a degree will lead to the career he wants.

But he's worried about tuition fees. The prospect of paying £3,000 a year in tuition fees is making him think hard about whether going to university is the right move.

He may well be the first in his family to have a chance of a university place, and the idea of taking a gap year abroad is unlikely to cross his mind.

Roughly only one in five teenagers who expected to live at home while they study is the child of graduate parents. Thirty-seven per cent - the highest proportion of any category of teenager in relation to this question - said their subject choice would reflect a career aspiration.

Thirty-eight per cent of stay-at-home students - higher than any other category - described themselves as "shy". But 48 per cent said tuition fees made it less likely they would go to university. If they do become undergraduates, 42 per cent expect free course materials, such as lab coats or art materials, to be included in their fee.

The FE college student

She's hopeful of a student grant and bursary and has friends who have gone to university, but she is likely to be the first in her family to be an undergraduate.

She sees herself as less of a slave to study than her private and state school peers, and you'll stand a good chance of finding her at the shops or in a pub out of college hours.

The Times Higher -Hobsons report suggests that further education students are more likely to look beyond the cost of higher education, and what they will get during their student years, to whether it will improve their job prospects.

Approximately one in three - compared with 17 per cent of private school pupils and 23 per cent of state school pupils - said they expected better career prospects, having paid £3,000 a year for tuition.

Twenty-two per cent - again, a higher proportion than their private or state school counterparts - said they had yet to decide what subject to study at university.

But one in five said they were looking for a course that would open up a wide range of career possibilities.

Twenty-two per cent of further education students also said they hoped to be eligible for a means-tested bursary. Only 37 per cent - a lower proportion than private and state school pupils - said they had number and maths skills.

But teenagers in further education institutions were more confident - 60 per cent - that they had computer skills.