Decades of research have been conducted on the factors [i.e. family socioeconomic status (SES), urban-rural divide (household registration) and high-school type] associated with higher education selection. However, few studies have disentangled the relationship between each factor and the mechanisms of inequality among these factors in higher education selection. The present study, analysing China Family Panel Studies data (N = 3043), first examined the factors that predicted higher education selection and then ascertained the interplay of family SES, household registration and high-school type. The two major findings were: (1) family SES and high-school type (key/non-key schools) were positively associated with the predicted probability of students' access to higher education and elite universities, while household registration (the urban-rural divide, hukou) was only associated with the predicted probability of students' access to higher education; and (2) either urban or rural students and either key or non-key school students from socioeconomically advantaged families had a higher probability of access to both higher education and elite universities compared to their counterparts from socioeconomically disadvantaged families. The study also found that family SES did not drive the urban-rural attainment gaps (access to both higher education and elite universities), while the key/non-key school attainment gap in access to higher education was primarily attributable to family SES. However, the attainment gap between key and non-key high schools in admission to elite universities was not dependent on family SES. The present study contributes to the existing literature on higher education by shedding light on the determinants of educational attainment in terms of higher education selection and by enabling a greater understanding of the real possibility of confounding between family SES, household registration and high-school type in higher education selection.