Advising of students at all levels is important in supporting student success. In this work, we examine the differing needs of returners, those who have been out of school for at least five years between their undergraduate and graduate degrees, and direct pathway students, those who have had less than a five-year gap between completing their undergraduate degree and beginning their graduate work, in engineering master’s programs. A large-scale national survey was conducted, which included questions on many topics including advising. While there were many areas in which the two populations were the same, several key differences emerged, with returners placing a higher value on course planning topics than direct pathway students did, and less value on advising focused on plans beyond the completion of the master’s program.