Gender and ethnic differences in, and possible predictors of, academic self-confidence, academic self-efficacy, and career-related outcome expectations were investigated for 289 students entering graduate programs in engineering and physical sciences at a research university in the midwestern United States. Influence of student demographic characteristics and parental socioeconomic characteristics, the differences in prior academic performance and program-related work experience, expectations of faculty/student interactions, perceptions of gender and ethnic status as admissions influences, and controls for current degree level and other factors were estimated hierarchically. Women reported lower academic self-confidence than men, but gender was only marginally predictive of academic self-efficacy and did not enter into models predicting career-related outcome expectations. U.S. minority students reported higher academic self-efficacy than Anglo students, and foreign student status was associated with reduced career-related outcomes. Student perceptions of academic preparedness, status-related disadvantages, and faculty/student interactions were strong predictors of academic self-efficacy and career-related outcome expectations. Student funding concerns and research group involvement contributed to reduced career-related outcome expectations. Findings suggest that social, cognitive, and institutional variables may be important determinants of subsequent academic performance. Eight tables giving a statistical breakdown of the various factors studied and two appendices offering comparative statistics and variable definitions are included. (Contains 69 references.) (Author/CK)