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This research paper examined the factors influencing students' access to work-integrated learning experiences (WILs; i.e., internships and co-operative education). Several studies have examined how WILs enrich students' academic and career development. Yet, fewer studies examine the considerations associated with who participates in WILs and how these types of experiences shape students' beliefs about themselves as engineers or their career plans after participation. This study examines the narratives of 25 students who did and did not participate in WILs to understand why students choose to participate in WILs, the considerations and challenges to participating in WILs, and the impact of WILs on students' identity development. This research used an adapted framework of identity trajectory theory, which consists of three interlocking strands-institutional (i.e., programs, practices, procedures, etc.), networking (i.e., social networks, faculty interactions, etc.), and intellectual (i.e., field of study, learning progression, career trajectories, etc.). We used analysis of narratives to draw out key themes related to how institutional resources and students' networks facilitate their access to WIL experiences. Analysis also highlighted how WILs affect students' identity development as engineers during undergraduate education, including their career intentions upon graduation. We identified five big ideas that were expressed by the students to address the research questions. These ideas include: 1) Institutional structures and resources facilitate students' access to WILs; 2) Students utilize personal and professional networks to improve access to WILs; 3) Various commitments and responsibilities inhibited students' access and engagement with WILs; 4) WILs positively influence latently diverse students' identity development; 5) Individuals who did not engage in WILs identified supplemental opportunities to support their engineering identity. We highlight how these experiences, or lack thereof, influence students' perceptions of themselves as future professional engineers. These results have implications for practice and policies in engineering education, particularly enhancing students' access to WILs and constructing WILs that support students' identity development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students' engineering career choices are not well understood. There are a variety of factors, including irrational ones, which affect students' ultimate career decisions. Among them, out-ofschool experiences in high school can impact their career interests and decisions. We examined differences in incoming engineering students' high school extracurricular experiences, and how those experiences influenced current and future selves, as well as career plans. The data for this work come from a national survey, distributed in Fall 2013, of 15,847 students from 27 different institutions across the U.S. Among the students, 2,007 students were interested in an engineering career. Chi-square tests were conducted to examine differences in male and female engineering students' reported out-of-school experiences in high school. Additionally, regression analysis was used to study how students' high school experiences and interests predicted their engineering identity both now and in the future. Gender interactions were also examined to see if a particular interest was more or less important for women in forming their engineering identities. Students who were interested in tinkering, chemistry, engaging with the natural world, and participating in science competitions were more likely to have defined engineering perceptions of their selves now and in the future. Moreover, gender interactions were found for students who tinkered with mechanical and electrical devices and talked about science. Finally, students' engineering identities, both now and in the future, were used to predict engineering choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]