Assessing the impact of engineering undergraduate work experience: Factoring in pre-work academic performance

This paper examines how undergraduate work experiences affect engineering graduates' post-graduation starting salary, their cumulative grade point average upon graduation, and their likelihood of receiving a job offer prior to graduation. This study contributes to the field of undergraduate work experiences uniquely by taking into account academic performance prior to work experience, including the exact number of work experiences, and examining how gender interacts with work experience to affect the measured outcomes. The results show that more experience results in a higher post-graduation starting salary and an increased likelihood of a job offer prior to graduation. Increases in cumulative GPA upon graduation were only marginal. Furthermore, undergraduate work experience affected female and male students as well as students from different majors similarly.