Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in New Orleans, LA in April 2011. The first study evaluated the level of interest in engineering as students approached the end of high school and explored the degree to which the academic preparation of these students shaped the engineering pipeline over a tenyear period. The second analyzed a recent graduating class in order to understand various pathways that students took toward or away from engineering as they progressed through high school. Several paths emerged, including students who demonstrated stable interest across time, students who became interested in engineering, and students who turned toward other majors by the end of high school. Groups differed with regard to demographic characteristics, test scores, academic background, and math and science self-efficacy.