“…Notions of rigor in engineering education have been critically examined for their problematic connotations for engineering learning cultures and negative impacts on students' experience, retention, and diversity (Riley, 2017;Sochacka, Walther, Rich, & Brewer, 2021). Several studies have elucidated this problematic characterization of rigor, including related work on the role of expectations (Kamanda, Walther, Wilson, Brewer, & Sochacka, 2020), academic and nonacademic stressors (Bahmani et al, 2018;Bazeley, 2007;De Castella, Byrne, & Covington, 2013;Thompson, Davis, & Davidson, 1998), as well as a context of high selectivity in engineering programs (Davies & Guppy, 1997;Godfrey, Aubrey, & King, 2010;Slaton, 2010;Valerio, 2014).…”