Is Petroleum Engineering still a good major?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a senior in high school and I read that so many people went into petroleum engineering these past 5 years that it's going to be really hard to find a job. I was planning to use the academic common market to study petroleum engineering at LSU for instate tuition (I live in Tennessee). However, I don't know if this a good idea anymore and now I'm just thinking about the University of Tennessee. I don't know what I would major in at UTK but I do know I will take premed requisites. Also which do you think will be easier to handle while being in a fraternity? Thanks, please help!</p>

2

<p>Petroleum engineers still do well, especially coming out of a strong program like LSU. But if you are worried about employability, in employers’ eyes, your specialization doesn’t mean as much as your skills. There are lots of people with petroleum engineering degrees working alongside people whose degrees are in chemical, mechanical, or geologic engineering. It’s usually doable to switch among related engineering degrees during your course of study if your interests lead you in a new direction. </p>

3

<p>I doubt gas/oil will be going away any time in your life time Yes, there is a limited supply, and the estimates on how much we have left vary, but you won’t be in unemployment, that’s for sure.</p>

<p>Keep in mind though that many chemical engineers also work in the oil industry, making comparable salaries to petroleum engineer majors. A lot of universities in oil-rich areas (like Texas) recruit engineers out of these universities. In my opinion, I would do Chemical Engineering because it’s generally a more versatile degree than PetEng. But I guess I am kind of biased since I want to major in Chem Eng.</p>

4

<p>Does Petroleum Engineering require a lot of chemistry? I know Chemical Engineering obviously does and lets just say I’m not the biggest fan. If it’s not that much though I can deal with it and try my best to learn it. Also what do you guys think about West Virginia’s Petroleum Engineering program? I know LSU is better and I would prefer LSU much more but do you think it’s worth it at WVU?</p>

5

<p>Speaking from ignorance I would think a good PE program would touch on a good number of Chem E points, like how petroleum can be distilled into other elements and what to do with them.</p>

6

<p>Petroleum engineering focuses more on exploration than refining…</p>

<p><a href=“http://catalog.tamu.edu/09-10_ug_catalog/look_engineering/petroleum_eng.htm”>http://catalog.tamu.edu/09-10_ug_catalog/look_engineering/petroleum_eng.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>^ Interesting. Thanks for that.</p>

8

<p>You might want to look at the course of study at the universities you are considering. You can see exactly which courses you will need to take. For Texas A&M, 2 semesters of chemistry are required, and AP credits can be used. Some programs may require organic chem (I know at least one program that is considering increasing the chem requirement for PE to include organic chem).</p>