Comparison of Returning and Direct Pathway Graduate Engineering Students

Confidence of Graduate Students in Engineering Masters’ Programs: A Comparison of Returners and Direct-Pathway Students

“…The first of these is the lack of a difference between confidence of returners and direct pathway students. As reported in [10], the undergraduate GPA for returners was lower than that of direct pathway students. Despite this, their confidence was statistically the same, which aligns with the lack of correlation between confidence and grades overall.…”

“…There is evidence that undergraduate grades are significantly different for returners and direct pathway students, with returners' undergraduate grades being lower. However, there is no significant difference in grade point averages in the two groups for graduate engineering students [10].…”

“…An additional large-scale national study focused on returners in engineering masters' programs, with a specific focus on knowledge construction and how their work experiences impacted their learning in graduate classes [8], [9], [10]. The work in this paper is part of that larger project effort, with a focus on several specific survey questions and relevant parts of the interviews with participants.…”

Administering an Asynchronous Professional Master’s Degree: Effective Strategies for Design, Delivery, and Engagement

“…Gross and Peters [8] conducted a study to compare returning and direct-pathway graduate engineering students. Returner was defined as someone with 5 or more years of work experience beyond baccalaureate degree.…”

“…al. [9] found 68% of master's students choose a major that is different from their undergraduate degree, Gross and Peters [8] found 75% of returners changed their discipline for graduate studies. In their sample, "… only returners chose engineering management for their graduate major.…”