The author sets out to identify factors and methods that can support students in the process of choosing lecturers (utility maximization) for bachelor­‑level courses at the Warsaw School of Economics. The paper describes four strategies used by students based on fear, field of study, scholarships and recruitment. The key point of the research was to analyze preferences before and after institutional changes at the university. The empirical part of the research provides an analysis based on descriptive statistics as well as mixed, logit, probit, linear and Poisson models, multinomial logit models and Quinlan’s algorithm (C 4.5). The data for the research were provided by the Warsaw School of Economics’ IT center. The accuracy of the forecasts (comparison of actual and predicted values) ranges between 66% and 88%, in most cases exceeding 72%, Ziółkowski says. The author concludes that the research enabled him to identify methods that can optimize students’ decision­‑making processes and at the same time help the university redesign some of its courses to better meet the needs of students and produce job‑ready graduates.