Project-based learning (PBL) is an emerging pedagogy which shows promise in improving student outcomes but has not been widely studied. An explanatory sequential mixed methods study was conducted in rural Manitoba which examined participant-reported future readiness across several purposes of education to better understand reported differences in future readiness between an education based on traditional pedagogy and one based on PBL. The participants’ current life situation was considered as a moderating variable to determine if it impacted what facets of each pedagogy participants believed was most helpful. Participants from the group which received primarily traditional pedagogy were first surveyed in January of the year after they graduated, and then select participants of this group were interviewed roughly four months later. A year later a group of students who received primarily PBL went through the same process of surveys and interviews. 18 participants were surveyed from each group, and from those who were surveyed 8 were interviewed from each group. Survey results indicated that students who attended university or were taking a gap year had nearly identical future readiness scores, while students going to college or directly into the workforce with no further plans for education saw an increase in future readiness from the PBL pedagogy. The interviews indicated that while gap-year and university attending students shared concerns about readiness for high stakes testing, the collaborative and more independent nature of PBL was found to increase future readiness across all groups.