<p>hi, i'm currently a senior at a high school and am going to graduate this year in 2010. i'm also interested in majoring in a petroleum engineering and am considering a double major in petroleum engineering and electrical engineering. i don't think that is very common, but i'm only doing it as kind of a back up plan should the pet e field "dry up", and other various reason like the traveling -- even though i like the idea of visiting new places and exploring the world, its bound to get in the way when i'm trying to get settled down with a family and all that. should i do the double major?</p>
<p>also the only schools that offer pet e major are stanford and USC in the california region. i know that stanford only accepts about 1-2% of their transfer applicants -- since i'm going to go to community college first. stanford is my dream, and i'm definitely going to try for it but would USC be a suitable back up, and then maybe do my masters/graduate degree in stanford?</p>
<p>Double majoring in engineering is just simply not done. Every advisor will tell you not to do it, and some programs won’t even allow it. If you’re worried about lack of flexibility, go mechanical at a school with petroleum company ties (Texas A&M, UTexas, etc.). A lot of my ME friends have gotten jobs at oil companies, but you also have the option to go into many other different industries.</p>
<p>It’s probably in your best interest just to major in one and take some electives in the other.</p>
<p>Those fields have basically no overlap, and you will be in college for over 6 years, probably closer to 7. I kid you not; one of my friends is doing MechE/EE, which have slight overlap with in mechatronics, and he’s going to be at school for 6+ years. </p>
<p>I have to second the advice of AuburnMathTutor. If I were you, take some classes in both, and figure out which one you really like. I was going to major in biomedical engineering with a specialization in computing, got to my software methodologies (AKA how to write documentation) class and realized I LOVE the hard sciences bio/chem/physics more than writing code. Thus, I am switching to Biochemical Engineering at the school I am transferring to.</p>
<p>You’ll have to be open to changing your goals, too. Originally I was going to school to be a doctor, and then I actually shadowed one. Cool stuff, but not interested in the INCREDIBLE amount of BS that you have to go through while practicing and becoming one, and the fact that you are using up the prime of your life in a library studying or in a hospital getting b*tched at by the attending, the patients, the administration, and the janitor.</p>
<p>thank you so much for all your advice! really cleared a lot of things up. I was also wondering, I know the becoming a pet e involves a decent amount of traveling and a lot of temporary assignments where the oil is. My question is will i ever be able to work locally and “settle down” so to speak? Thanks again!</p>
<p>Not sure how it applies to the US, but in Canada, Calgary (oil capital) has a lot of jobs for petroleum engineers. There are also a couple of cities where the refineries are, but they’re not major cities. Presumably the same thing happens in the US, so I suppose you can indeed settle down.</p>