$Background.$ Increasing human resources in engineering is a key concern for the United States. While some research has considered pathways to doctoral study, there is not yet clear empirical evidence on the role of undergraduate experiences in motivating engineering undergraduates to continue to graduate school, both in engineering programs and more broadly.

$Purpose/hypothesis.$ We investigate three influences on engineering undergraduates’ decision to enter graduate school: (1) mathematics ability, (2) self-assessments of engineering skills, and (3) co-curricular experiences.

$Design/method.$ Using data from 1,119 engineering postgraduates, we developed a hierarchical multinomial logistic model (HMLM) to analyze the relationship between prior characteristics and their observed graduate-school enrollment behavior.

$Results.$ Mathematic ability, participation in undergraduate research, and self-assessed teamwork skills are all significant positive predictors of enrollment in an engineering graduate program, although self-assessed leadership skills are a negative predictor. For enrollment in a graduate school program outside of engineering, non-engineering community service or volunteer work was a significant predictor, but none of the self-assessed skills were predictors.

$Conclusions.$ Our findings support past research emphasizing academic preparedness in STEMfield progression, further corroborating the claim that K–12 math education is a key policy lever. Our findings also indicate distinctive patterns between engineering and non-engineering graduate study in relation to self-assessed skills and co-curricular experiences. This should promote research on which types of preparation during college are needed for different career paths, to develop both teamwork and leadership within the industry.