The article deals with approaches to the understanding of the profession and professional choice in domestic and foreign scientific thought. The key issues of the study of vocational guidance and professional choice are presented in the historical perspective. The interrelation of choosing future life path, professional future and that educational institution, which in the future will allow youth not only to get a profession, but also serves as a launching pad for future career, is considered particularly acute by the end of school before each graduate. Today, the choice of the educational institution by the applicants remains a significant problem for them and in this regard the researchers face the task of characterizing the educational behavior of modern high school students, future applicants.To answer these questions, the staff of Faculty of sociology of the Lomonosov Moscow State University was conducted among senior pupil of Moscow schools. The article presents the results of studies of different years of satisfaction with the level of received education, the motives for choosing the future education of senior pupils, and value orientations of youth. The main factors influencing the choice of the desired level of education and educational institution, as well as the basic model-goals of education used by youth in choosing their life path, were highlighted. The significance of higher education for future applicants and a steady increase in the trend of the spread of consumer behavior of youth, orientation in their life strategies towards success and high material wealth, a certain social status, are confirmed on the basis of the obtained data.

The urgent transfer of education in Russia to a distance format in the context of a pandemic has significant differences from a properly planned online learning based on wide-scale open online courses. Educational organizations that are forced to work with students remotely in order to reduce the risks of the spread of coronavirus should be aware of this difference when assessing the effectiveness of so-called "online learning" using distance learning technologies. Such a drastic measure was forced and urgent. Not all universities were ready for this radical restructuring of the educational process based on objectively different levels of development of information infrastructure, provision of disciplines with electronic educational resources, and readiness of teachers to use digital platforms and services in the educational process. This article analyzes the capabilities of online educational platforms and the opinions of students and teachers, who teach and study online in conditions of the pandemic.

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The article considers essential factors of improvement of the quality of life of the population related to the influence of environmental situation in the region. Discussion focuses on the nature and unique features of the impact of environmental indicators on social well-being, healthy lifestyle and life expectancy of individuals, as well as their welfare and satisfaction with life. Research method is based on data of a sociological survey conducted by the authors in 2017 in the Volgograd region. An important role in the study is assigned to ecological situation in the region and environmental features viewed as a component of the quality of life. Health problems, environmental pollution, low-quality food, increased number of waste dumps were identified as the most important environmental problems of the regions. The results showed a close connection between the environmental problems and the population quality of life.