The pertinence of the study stems from the unfavorable forecast of the growth of the working-age population in the Russian Federation, the decline in health, academic knowledge in school-age children.Purpose: to reveal the influence of success in training, intellectual development of teenagers on the choice of profession, to develop targeted recommendations for the organization of work on professional self-determination in the educational organization. In 2018-2019, scientists from the Vologda Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted a study under the RFBR project “Tools for increasing the potential of the child population in the context of socio-economic transformations of society” (hereinafter referred to as the Project). One of the directions was the study of the factors of formation of the human potential of the child population (hereinafter PPDN).The indicator of a child's education is his or her knowledge and skills that allow him or her to apply them in practice. The criterion is academic success, academic performance in school subjects as assessed by the parents of children and the value of the Intellectual Development Sub-Index (hereinafter SIR). The hypothesis of the research assumes the existence of a dependence of the professional self-determination of adolescents on success in education and the level of intellectual development: adolescents who are more successful in learning more often than unsuccessful children are determined with the choice of a professional route; children aged 15-17, studying in classes of specialized training, who have passed vocational guidance, are determined with the choice of a profession better than those who do not undergo pre-profile training. As a result, it was found that the lowest proportion of those who have decided on their future profession belongs to children who cannot cope with the academic load. Among those who have undergone career guidance, the proportion of undecided is 36%, and in the group that has not passed career guidance testing is 53%. A contradiction was revealed: among pupils studying in profile classes and having passed vocational guidance the share of those who have not decided on a profession is higher.