An Overview of Returners in Engineering Graduate Education: Diverse Pathways and Unanswered Questions

In fields like education, people who pursue graduate degrees do so at varying stages of their career, including after having significant time in the workforce. In other fields, such as engineering, there is less variation in students’ typical paths through graduate school, with the majority of students pursuing graduate study shortly after completing their undergraduate degree. The average age of engineering PhD students upon graduation is 30, compared to 34.2 in humanities and 38.3 in education (National Science Foundation et al., 2014). While it is common for most engineering students to go directly into graduate studies after completing their baccalaureate degree, some people do wait until later in their life and career to pursue a graduate education (either a master’s degree or a doctorate). We define those who choose this path as “returning students” or “returners,” in contrast to “direct-pathway” students who have little or no gap between their undergraduate and graduate education. Returner status exists on a continuum, but for our work we defined the boundary between the two groups as a five year gap. Five years would allow a person to establish a professional identity, to forget things that had not been used since graduation, to learn new skills, and for the academic environment to evolve as well. There are several key thresholds that are at or near this time span and further support this number: GRE scores are good for five years before the test needs to be re-taken, the Professional Engineer designation requires at least four years’ work experience in addition to the two required tests, and engineering programs are re-accredited by ABET