Qualitative study, developed in a Federal University in southern Brazil aiming to know the motives for choosing and evading a Bachelor's degree programme in Nursing, in the evaded students 'perception. The data were collected through a questionnaire sent by e-mail to 19 evaded students. The 9 questionnaires that returned were submitted to Qualitative Textual Analysis, and two categories emerged motives to opt for the nursing programme and motives to evade from the nursing programme. The results showed that the option for the programme is associated to personal vocation, perception of Nursing as a profession of care, and its closeness to the health area. Evasion seems to be related to passing the first option of undergraduate programme, ignorance about the profession, financial difficulties, and professional depreciation. We demonstrated that greater emphasis should be put on promoting knowledge about the nursing work, areas of activity and attributions.