Using nationally representative data for two cohorts of eleventh-grade academic high school students, this study examined how the characteristics of students who wanted to be a teacher changed between 2006 and 2012, focusing on academic achievement. We found that the proportion of academic high school students who wanted to be a teacher decreased between 2006 and 2012. In addition, we found that, regardless of gender, there was a significant and positive relationship between academic achievement and the likelihood of students’ aspiring to be a teacher in 2006 even after controlling for other variables, but there was no significant relationship in 2012. These findings suggest that the popularity of teaching profession among academic high school students declined over time especially for high-achieving students. Policy implications for recruiting qualified teachers and improving teacher quality are discussed.