The relative lack of research about postgraduate education, and especially from a widening participation (WP) perspective, is noteworthy in a context of an increasingly expanding and important postgraduate sector internationally. This paper draws on the findings of a study about the "impact" of WP initiatives at an Irish university, exploring the undergraduate, postgraduate, and employment experiences of two groups of former access students. A mixed-methods research design (employing a self-completion questionnaire sent to all relevant individuals (N = 195), and 26 in-depth semi-structured interviews) was employed. This paper examines these individuals' postgraduate progression in relation to a number of factors, with a particular focus on their views about progression, the programmes pursued, and their related motivational orientations. Many of the research participants were altruistically motivated in their selection of postgraduate programmes and related careers, and this motivational orientation is explored in terms of its genesis and implications in a WP context.