Due to COVID, one of my parents lost their job. I am trying my best to continue working and help out financially, and so to save money I have limited my college applications. I would like to go into Petroleum Engineering and now have plans to apply to just Mines, LSU, Texas Tech and Texas A&M. I was wondering if anyone had any info on the Golden App, as to if it truly has a 30 day guaranteed decision time? If so, I could wait to apply to other colleges and wait to sign up for the SAT. Saving any sort of money is a big help right now! I applied opening day. Thank you.
They generally turn the Golden Apps around quickly, so it’s a solid early acceptance for local students.
The big negative for Mines is the cost.
Are you watching the petro industry at the moment? There are huge layoffs, huge, not just cyclical.
CSM is expensive. Assuming you are instate for Texas apply to schools where you can get merit money and commute. As FAFSA is prior prior tax year, the unemployment may not impact much on FA. If your parent got a package, that will impact your financials.
Do you know anyone in the big O&G companies? Go and talk to them. Consider a more flexible engineering degree.
CSM should reply quickly enough as they will be looking for yield. Merit money is usually just smoothing the higher cost compared to other state engineering schools, and the big $$ are for high stats, are you female?
Thank you for the reply. I’m hoping so, however, price is most definitely a large factor.
Yeah… I have been trying to keep an eye on the current situation. My good friend’s father, who’s a Mines alum, was let go this year from BP. My friend (current freshman) changed his major to Mech because of his father’s situation. However, my cousin and another man, whom I interned for, both work for Chevron and have escaped lay offs (so far). The one who I interned for is a senior rig manager in the gulf, and he made sure I understood the current situation while prompting that five years is a long time. Thankfully I’m only a senior, so I have a while before heading off to the real world. I plan to intern with a large mechanical engineering centered company that makes rock drills this year. It may change my mind about Petro… but I really loved the Petro intern. ( I am a Colorado Res, so the price will be slightly less than some). Thank you for the reply and care. One thing about Mines, that I have found, is the quality and charisma of the students and faculty. - Best regards
Further, no I am not female. I am a white male so I have ruled out most non merit scholarships as a possibility. Stats are fairly strong regarding GPA (UW & W), AP strength / # , class rank / percentile, and extra currics ( I have applied test optional as the first available testing date was Nov 7th ).
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What is your estimated COA at CO School of Mines? Use 2019 income and current assets: https://ir.mines.edu/net-price-calculator/
If you parent is still out of work you are going to have to speak with each and every FA office of schools you apply to and ask for professional judgment…some schools may adjust your FA, others might not.
Are you a Texas resident? Are the Texas schools you mention affordable?
@Hicanipetyourdog - Check out LSU for petro engineering. IIRC they have some great merit scholarships.
According to the calculator, the estimated COA is ~$31k a year. I’m not a Texas resident, however, I do qualify for Texas Tech and TAustin’s in state tuition. This is because I have the required scholarship $$ amount. Tbh, it’s probably not all that much cheaper than Mines, since I’m hoping to get the max amount of $5k per year.
Is $31k affordable for your family? What is your home state?
He’s said his home state is Colorado. Colorado School of Mines is a state school (but often that’s forgotten as it doesn’t look or operate like one) so he’ll get a $75 per credit grant and can use any other instate scholarships he can collect.
My nephew applied years ago. Yes, it was a pretty fast turn around for acceptance and yes, he could have held off applying to other schools to save the application fees, but he didn’t and ended up at CU.
You can also ask the schools for an application fee waiver. Many schools give those out and it is a way to save $50 or so.
I think you should apply to CSU and CU and Wyoming too. There are ways to get to petroleum engineering without majoring in it. If you need to save money, Wyoming has a low OOS tuition, a guaranteed scholarship (Brown and Gold) for stats, the engineering dept gives another $2500, and at least for us, the FA office gave professional judgment when my job ended.
I’d add U of New Mexico, U of Arizona, and Montana State. All have solid engineering and are very affordable.
Our Colorado schools are great but pricey.
You said they turn around that Golden App pretty quickly. How quickly would you say that is? It was complete on 9/4.
I’m sorry I can’t give you anything exact. I remember my oldest heard back around the first of November a few years ago, but I don’t know when she applied.
My husband is in O&G, got laid off. I would NOT recommend petroleum engineering as the industry is extremely volatile. Sure, a lot of “highest paying career” lists show petroleum engineering as a great choice, but you have to count on going through downtimes. And there are many, so many that if you include the downtimes you’d do better financially in the long run in any other line of engineering.