<p>I am in a difficult situation. I have the option to go to either the Colorado School of Mines or the Missouri University of Science & Technology for a BS in Petro Engineering. I am absolutely in love with the state of Colorado, though, and Golden seems to be an ideal college town. It's in the mountains, it's about 30 minutes to an hour away from multiple ski resorts, and it's 10 minutes away from Denver. I love the outdoors and I love to snowboard, and I want nothing else but to spend my college youth in an area like that. However, it's looking like the amount of debt I'll be in after 4 years of study will be somewhere around 60,000 dollars due to not getting much aid. I, honestly, would be fine with living in a shoddy apartment with a shoddy car for the next 10 years after graduation if that's what it would take to get rid of that massive figure, though. It's also nice that petro engineers make a ton of money. Also, petro engineering, because of its relation to travelling the world and to science and technology, is somewhat of a dream job for me, so my outside, debt-ridden life probably wouldn't be of much significance to me. </p>
<p>With all of this information, could someone please inform me of how stupid/viable a plan like this is?</p>
<p>You could potentially make over 100k from the time you start university until the time you graduate. Considering you will have the potential to pull in pretty much the most money possible out of any university internship, debt shouldn’t really be much of an issue. You could do a 16 month co-op between 3rd and 4th year and make like 90k. </p>
<p>My advice would be if you’re worried about debt, study your ass off. High marks get scholarships and the highest paying internships/jobs. That’s assuming you have the normal social skills necessary to not absolutely bomb an interview.</p>
<p>I go to CSM in a related field. Petroleum engineers have it made, in terms of salary and job opportunities coming out. See: The Annual Report [Salary</a> Survey and Annual Report](<a href=“Home - Career Center”>Home - Career Center) for details on what the average starting offer is for petroleum engineers.</p>
<p>You might not get much aid, but you will have the opportunity to get internships provided that you have a good GPA. Summer internships for students at CSM in petroleum tend to average around $20 - 40 / hour depending on class (i.e. freshman/sophomore/junior), your GPA and the company you wind up working with. You have three summers that you can work, so you can potentially net upwards of $50k from those three summers alone, which would let you offset most of your student loan debt. However, I cannot STRESS ENOUGH that you need to plan on repaying all of it after you graduate. IF you can pay before that, then that is great. With the average petroleum starting salary, it’s not hard to pay off even $60k in debt in a few years time if you don’t blow all your cash.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about accruing debt your first year. Get in, work hard, get excellent grades and professor recommendations and you will be eligible for many scholarships. CSM has a large following here on the forums BTW.</p>
<p>I would double check with the schools on how many of their petrochemical engineers are actually getting hired and at what rates. Our S graduated in engineering last spring and he said that there were only 1/2 to 1/3 of the usual number of firms coming to the engineering job fairs and of those, very few were hiring.</p>
<p>I would also check with the schools about what % of students who enter as engineering majors (particularly petroleum) actually receive their degrees in that field and over how long a time period. Many students take more than 4 years to graduate, which further increases the debt.</p>
<p>There are also a LOT of engineering students but many fewer who become engineers, much less in the field they thought they might end up in.</p>
<p>Our friend’s S interned at Exxon last year. He is a chemical E major and made a presentation for them to consider hiring him again for next summer and possibly thereafter.</p>
<p>Check out a loan calculator so you can understand what it really is like incurring that kind of debt and what the monthly payments on that would be. The other thing is many loans accrue interest while you’re attending school so the total debt ends up be significantly larger than you expect by the time you have secured your job and degree.</p>
<p>Explore ALL your options and figure out the total out of pocket cost for each school and what options you may have if you decide you don’t like engineering and/or don’t like PE. While skiing and other attractions are nice, it’s really important to find out more about the schools. Good luck!</p>
<p>Wow, everyone is encouraging him to get into debt. I would say the opposite. Your gonna be upset when you see your fellow coworkers went to much cheaper schools and graduated with little debt and have the same job.</p>
<p>Do a simple calculation on how long it will take to pay off 60K debt (with interests), assuming you get paid 80K per year before Tax. And with a family to feed, assuming that you want to have a family. Let the number speak for itself.</p>
<p>Whoa, reality check guys! Yes, petro engineers make a lot of money. But let me tell you, there are some lean times. There will be times you’ll be out of work for six months at a time. I live in Louisiana, and I’ve lived through a couple of oil busts. Married to a computer analyst who worked for an oilfield company. Wonderful times when we were first married, then the oil bust. Starved for two years. </p>
<p>Have friends who went to TOP schools for petro/chem eng, Rice University, who had to move in with their parents while they were married because they were out of work for six months to a year. Try doing that with a new baby, too. Fun!</p>
<p>If you want to do Petro Engineering, you have to be willing to relocate at the company’s whim and go where the jobs are. So, you might start out working in a nice location, but then have to work in such Gardens of Eden as Odessa, Tulsa, Dubai, Singapore. That’s after you’ve lived with mom and dad for a year, waiting for the call to come.</p>
<p>Any college major, try to avoid debt. I think engineering schools especially seem to lowball engineering majors with merit aid offers because of the mentality that you’ll make so much money once you graduate, you’re willing to take on a lot of debt. I think the economy now has made those students have second thoughts before choosing a college that will leave them with a lot of debt.</p>
<p>LOL! I would avoid Odessa and Lubbock at all costs, but I lived in Tulsa for a year and it was really quite nice. Also have beent to Dubai and Singapore, and while not my favorite spots on earth - they are very clean, modern cities with many available amenities and are also big airline hubs allowing easy access to a wide variety of travel locals.</p>
<p>The bottom line, especially in these uncertain economic times is to minimize your debt when you have a viable opportunity to do so. Debt is really a nasty anchor. Believe it or not, it will continue and ed loans are NOT discharged in bankruptcy, nor if you can’t find a job. Why weigh yourself down like that if you don’t have to?</p>
<p>Also, remember that costs of attending school often exceed rosy estimates as tuition tends to rise over time and often merit/FAid do not keep up with increases. Remember also compounding interest on your debt will keep increasing the amount you owe.</p>
<p>No, they do not. They do offer Chemical Engineering, but they’re not a “TOP” school.</p>
<p>The poster of that comment not only neglected to consider the differences between PetE and ChemE, but also the overall GPA of the students he mentioned. It doesn’t matter how good your school is, if you barely have a high enough GPA to graduate and have no internship experience, you’re going to have a hard time finding a job. That doesn’t mean that your experience is generalizable to the major or school.</p>
<p>Even TOP schools with TOP students have trouble getting jobs during tough economic times. I have not heard that petroleum engineers are exempt from these basic economic facts of life. </p>
<p>Have read & heard that many chemE majors are hired by petroleum companies so not sure how important the distinction between petE & chemE. My friend’s S worked for Exxon last summer as an intern after only his sophomore year–he was a chemE & beat out a lot of petE majors for the job he got. Would advise OP to go & get answers from the schools he’s applying to as to the % of students they place IN THE FIELDS they majored in how soon after graduation & what salaries they actually make. It may be quite an eye opener, if he is even able to get this data.</p>
<p>$60+ K in debt IS a LOT of debt, especially BEFORE all the interest is added so that it grows significantly while you’re attending school.</p>
<p>No, they do not. Top students from top schools have done just fine the last few years and have had minimal impact from the downturn. On the other hand, the bottom students at the top schools and the students at lower tier schools have been hit hard. </p>
<p>If a company recruits at UT-Austin and UT-Dallas, what school do you think is cut first when their hiring needs decrease? Keep in mind that they generally have to pay the same to students from both schools. The same goes within a school. When a company comes with 3 jobs instead of 10, the company still interviews the top students that apply but ignores the less qualified.</p>
<p>Very few companies completely stop hiring college graduates even during a severe recession. There is natural turnover at large companies and it’s cheaper to back fill that turnover with a new graduate than with an experienced hire.</p>