The Swedish labor market is in need of more manpower that possesses a skilled craft or practical trade. The popularity of the vocational education and training (VET) programs in Sweden is diminishing and if the negative trend continues there will be a shortage of 300000 workers by 2035. By 2020, the share of firsthand applications toward VET-programs in Sweden was 36%. We had the opportunity to interview ninth graders through focusgroups at a high-performing compulsory school in Malmö where the gap of applications was even bigger. The purpose is to study the students' discourse about upper secondary school programs and how it is maintained. That is to say, to look into the collective perception of upper secondary school and how it is reproduced. Therefore, we choose to analyze our data using Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis along with Hodkinson and Sparks’ Careership. Our findings show a common belief that academic programs are a safer education to attend because of the broad job opportunities. VET-programs are often looked down upon due to the notion that it is for low-achieving students. Merit rating is clearly important for many and thus the VET-programs are stigmatized because of the supposed connection between the two. Family and friends have been the biggest support for our participants during the application period for upper secondary school. However, their advice is characterized by their own perception of school which creates a risk of reproduction.