This article presents the results of the questionnaire and comparison, which allows determining the interest of first-year students in different types of physical activity at the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering. The purpose of the study is to determine students’ interest in different types of physical activity offered as part of physical education in a higher educational institution. According to their preferences, first-year students are suggested to choose either team sports (football, mini-football, volleyball, basketball), individual sports (table tennis, athletics, arm wrestling, weightlifting, boxing, swimming, chess, and checkers), or fitness activities for physical education classes in an educational institution. The comparative analysis of the obtained data demonstrates the pattern of an increase from 65.1% in the 2015-2016 academic year to 71.0% in the 2020-2021 academic year in the number of young men, who have chosen and are engaged in a certain sport in an educational institution, and decrease from 34.9% in the 2015-2016 academic year to 29.0% in the 2020-2021 academic year in the number of young women interested in physical activity at the university. Within five years, the number of young men choosing team sports has decreased from 75.6% in the 2015-2016 academic year to 63.3% in the 2020-2021 academic year, and the number of young men interested in individual sports has increased from 24.4 % in the 2015-2016 academic year to 36.7% in the 2020-2021 academic year. Fitness classes remain the most popular among female students, although there has been a decrease in the number of young women choosing it for physical education from 83.3% to 71.8% over five years. Team sports are gaining more popularity among first-year female students with only 5.3% choosing them as part of physical education in an educational institution in the 2015-2016 academic year, to 10.2% in the 2020-2021 academic year. A gradual interest in individual sports from 11.4% to 18.0% is observed in young women over five years.