I am currently a Senior in High School, and I am interested in Mechanical and Petroleum engineering. Which degree do you recommend getting? Also, how does the future look for both of these degrees? Finally, anyone who is currently at Mines or went to Mines, how many years did it take you to graduate. I’ve heard a lot of people at Mines graduate in 5 years, and I would like to graduate in 4 years if possible.
My oldest son graduated from Mines with a degree in Petroleum in 4.5 years. Petroleum requires a lot of credits so if you have to repeat anything it is hard to graduate in 4 years (luckily he didn’t have to repeat anything). Great degree so was happy with the choice. That being said it was a very difficult school. You have to want to succeed and work to get it done - it was almost like the school took perverse pleasure in making it more difficult than it needed to be. At graduation the whole tone was good for you, you survived! There were more than a few kids in his freshman dorm talking about their qualifications who were gone by Thanksgiving. There were also those kids that breezed through with no difficulty. Hopefully you fall into that category.
My nephew has had an extremely difficult time trying to get his first two years completed and eventually went on to complete them at Red Rock CC. I think he is transferring to South Dakota?
My son is very proud of his degree from Mines - “it’s a great place to be from”, not sure he would do it all again.
Best of Luck!
While it depends on your interests, mechanical engineering is a broader and more flexible degree. Mechanical engineers can have careers in the automobile or aircraft design, the computer hardware design including printers, the semiconductor industry, electronics manufacturing, the aerospace industry and the oil and gas industry. Petroleum engineers work in one main industry, oil and gas. Petroleum engineering is closest to chemical engineering, but with an emphasis on mining, wells, drilling, and other engineering functions related to the oil and gas industry. Do some research on the internet about both types of fields to learn more. I personally think a broader undergraduate degree is much better. You can always get a masters degree in petroleum if you want that specialization.