The purpose of this study is to explore the predictors of high school students’ admission to prestigious universities. To this end, data from the first and third years of the Korean Education & Employment Panel Survey II (KEEP II) were used, and decision tree analysis was conducted. Existing studies have mainly explored predictors that determine whether to enter university or compared their influence relatively. However, this study derives significant variables that predict upper-ranking university admissions through decision tree analysis. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the impact on the entrance rate varies depending on the combination and interaction between independent variables. As a result of the main analysis, the variable ‘type of high school’ was found to be the most significant, along with the grades for the first semester of the second year of high school, the location of the high school, average monthly household income of the family, the high school’s career education activity, average monthly private education cost, and the time spent studying alone(on weekend) were also significant variables. In addition, when the variable ‘type of high school’ is combined with the “grade for the first semester of the second year of high school” and “high school’s career education activity,” it was found to increase the likelihood of acceptance into prestigious universities. In the case of general high school grades 6-9, the probability of going to a prestigious university increased when the high school’s career education performance score was 3.6 or higher (out of 5 on average), and in the case of foreign language high school grades 1-4, the career education performance score exceeded 3.88. These results suggest that individual student efforts such as grades are also important in entering prestigious universities, but it is necessary to support various career education programs so that students can explore and prepare for their careers while in school.