Despite generally higher academic achievement, female students display lower academic self-confidence than males. Of particular interest to engineering educators is the difference in confidence in mathematical, scientific and problem-solving skills. Using a multi-method approach that utilizes the rich dataset of the Academic Pathways Study, the researchers were able to consider approaches to understanding the "confidence gap" in engineering students. The quantitative data indicates that, over the course of the four years of their engineering education, men have higher confidence than women in their math and science abilities and in their ability to solve open-ended problems. No difference was observed in confidence in professional and interpersonal skills.