The present research is part of a wider field, i.e. sociology studies concerning family/school relationship, and it focuses the choice process that a portion of families (part of the Brazilian elite, culturally and economically speaking) experience when sending their children to school. In order to identify the cultural and social aspects present in the choice process the survey included 81 families who enrolled their children in a traditional confessional private school in 2003. Self-filling questionnaires were handed to the parents, and their answers provided the information needed to build a profile of the families, concerning their net worth, and their cultural, educational and social backgrounds. This main methodological tool, as well as other data sources, allowed the identification of the criteria and the strategies used by these families which provided a description of the whole choice process they experience. The families` expectations concerning their children`s level of education were also considered. In order to analyze the data, the information gathered was confronted with part of existing sociology of education literature, especially with typologies that have been established by previous research on the process of choice of schools. It aimed at classifying different family groups, attitudes concerning choice of school and the private education institutes. The final considerations indicate, in the particular case of the families surveyed, that education is part of a strategy of social differentiation. The behavior that oriented their choice was influenced by the structure and bulk of the families budget, and possibly, by the school ethos. These conclusions indicate new practices amongst families in their relationship with the schools, fomenting the competition that is part of the education market, where different types of schools have been striving to fit different types of families.