Master’s degree is a relatively new phenomenon in the system of higher education in Russia. However, at the same time, understanding of the educational process on Master’s level is contradictory, often mythologized. Therefore, at the present stage of development of Master’s programs in Russia it is necessary to study students’ orientations to obtaining a Master degree. The goal of the article is to develop a typology of students on the basis of their educational orientations to obtaining a Master’s degree. The methods of this study were full-time survey of students and in-depth interviews with the graduates. The authors identifi ed three types of students: career-oriented, diploma-oriented, profession-oriented. Typology created by the authors allows us to understand the main characteristics of students, which makes it possible to develop some measures to institutionalization of Master degree in Russia.