<p>Hi there I really trying to get a good insight on the Petroleum engineering industry and had a few questions about it.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>with an undergrad in Petroleum engineering is it a guarantee and only option that I will be sent off-shore to work for a few years? Also the fact that its no set schedule does not attract me either. I am a huge city person and would love to work in the city but do not know how the deal is with that.</p></li>
<li><p>The BLS always puts out salaries for different majors, my question is are they always accurate with their statements?
Average starting salary in the 6 figures?? seems hard to believe</p></li>
<li><p>Last question is if a MechE major with a few classes in Petroleum applied for a job at Conoco,Exxon, BP,etc.. How far behind would he be compared to an applicant who has a PeteE major?</p></li>
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<ol>
<li><p>You will most likely not be sent overseas right away. You may have that option once you have gained a few years of experience in the field. A large percentage of petroleum engineers who specialize in reservoir engineering have standard 9-5 jobs in large cities like Houston or Anchorage.</p></li>
<li><p>Salary is dependent on company and location. BP and ExxonMobil usually have higher starting salaries than ConocoPhilips or Schlumberger. The starting salary for Alaskans is much higher than starting salary for Texans. This is because the cost of living in Alaska is much higher than Texas so ultimately the gross income will be the same. It is unlikely you will be offered six figures out of college, unless you hold multiple internship experiences and a high GPA. Last year out of all the petroleum graduates from my department only 2 were offered salaries that were six figures.</p></li>
<li><p>Oil companies do hire Mechanical engineers for their petroleum operations but the job is different than what a petroleum engineer would do. If you want to work as a Petroleum engineer than study petroleum engineering. There are many many courses that petroleum engineers take that mechanical engineers do not.</p></li>
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<li><p>You should be able to get an office job.</p></li>
<li><p>You read the statistics incorrectly. The mean annual wage is six figures; however, this is not for new grads. The graduate salary stats in the BLS OOH are from NACE surveys, and the figure for petroleum is just over $83k.</p></li>
<li><p>There are a number of different areas of petroleum engineering. Some are more specialized, some are less so.</p></li>
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<p>Although the starting salaries for students in the lower 48 are closer to $80,000, due to the higher cost of living in Alaska, where the OP is from, starting salaries hover around $95,000. Occasionally new graduates do get offered six figures.</p>
<p>Entry level mechanical engineers who work for Oil and Gas companies are going to have a lower entry level salary than petroleum engineers who work for the same company. There is going to be a difference of 10k. As you get more work experience for Oil & Gas companies the salary gap will likely narrow, it also depends on what you specialize in.</p>
<p>It is also important to look at summer internships during college years. These are considered a huge factor for getting hired out of college (and also helpful for those looking for a salary of 100k+).</p>
<p>I’ve done Cal I-III, Cal-based Physics I-II, Chem I-II, & other basics, but none PetE classes because I’m still at community college. 0 engineering course. </p>
<p>Is this the usual time to seek intern or wait til I at least take ENGR courses 1st and search next summer?</p>
<p>I am a sr in hs and want to persue Pet Eng. I am going to attend a junior college in Nevada then I plan to transfer to WVU. I haven’t heard much about WVU with P.E. so is this a good school for that? I have found it is ranked #13. and another question. if I don’t attend the university for all 4 years and am a transfer student, can I still do internships after I transfer from the jc to WVU?</p>
<p>It’s always a good time to try and get an internship. You will be facing an uphill battle without a good career center. If you can’t find an internship, the next best thing to do would be try and roughneck somewhere. ANY oil field exposure will help you out in the long run.</p>
<p>@CareerNoob</p>
<p>WVU is probably a lower tier PetE school as far as rankings are concerned. That said, it’s undergrad for petroleum engineering…rankings aren’t going to matter that much. You will probably see more east coast companies hiring you opposed to rocky mountain and texas companies.</p>
<p>FACTS
1.You can easliy make 60k out of school with an AA in petro technology
2.You can get send all over the world in your first month
3. With 2-5 years in the industry you can make 90k+
4. if you want to excel faster in the industry move to Houston
5.get an internship by your second year,some companies will help pay for the rest.</p>
<p>FACTS
1.You can easliy make 60k out of school with an AA in petro technology
2.You can get send all over the world in your first month
3. With 2-5 years in the industry you can make 90k+
4. if you want to excel faster in the industry move to Houston
5.get an internship by your second year,some companies will help pay for the rest.</p>
<p>Those salaries wouldn’t shock me. If I got my overtime right and got all my bonuses, I could gross 80k at the end of the year as a floorhand without too much trouble (and I was the only one on the rig that knew how to read most of the time). This was a small independent drilling contractor in West Texas, so overseas would be quite a bit more. I know the company men average 1500 a day out there; overseas I’ve seen day rates of 2000+. </p>
<p>The funny thing about the oil industry is that you will have somone with a Ph.D on one side of the table, and a guy with 3 felonies on the other, and the guy with the felonies is in charge. Get your degree and your set. If you’re a MechE major, apply for internships with O&G companies.</p>
<p>Thanks, I guess I’ll have to work on my cover letter. Can I use Linkedin as the resume/CV in this day of age? Never had to job hunt much as I got hired during intern for pharmacy tech going on 5 years with the same company now right out of trade school. Or should I find a template and create my own? I was looking for intern and a lot of them needed cover letter.</p>