The Road Not Taken: How First-Generation Students Differ in Their Postgraduate Educational Paths

First-generation students (FGS) are traditionally underrepresented in higher education, including engineering education. To ensure equity in access and success in engineering, and thereby ensure that we educate responsible engineers who come from a diversity of backgrounds, we need to understand the unique challenges faced by these students. Using data collected from a survey that was sent to the alumni of our institution we explored differences between FSG and continuing-generation students (CGS) with respect to their choice of postgraduate degrees and time taken for completion of postgraduate education. Our data showed that FGS prefer classical engineering postgraduate degrees, and the difference between their choices is starkest for the domestic alumni. We also found that FGS take longer to complete their postgraduate education. We conclude by situating our findings in existing literature and discussing possible explanations for the trends we observed.