<p>Hello, I am entering my senior year of high school and am about ready to start my college application process. I am incredibly interested in majoring in Petroleum Engineering and working in the upstream of the oil business, most likey as a drilling engineer.</p>
<p>Being that there are only 16 undergrad schools that are ABET accredited in the US, I assume that location and internships play a much larger role than the prestige of the school itself. I know that for the most part the companies are based in Gulf area, mostly in Texas and Louisiana. </p>
<p>For now I have narrowed my main choices to University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Louisiana State University (ULL and LSU). I am guarenteed admission, and most likely most of the fees, my stats are as followed:</p>
<p>I know that many upstream businesses are located in Lafayette, while more of the downstream aspects are located in Baton Rouge. Also since ULL has a smaller number of PETE undergrads (a little over 100 I think) as opposed to LSU which has approx. 300 UGs, I wonder if I my professors would be more accessable to me, which may allow for a better chance to gain internships through their connections. On the other hand, since LSU has so many alumni, if that would allow for more optimal networking? </p>
<p>One more thing, would it be benefitial to enter the honors programs there, or is the PETE cirriculum demanding enough on its own?</p>
<p>So to sum things up, which seems like the better school choice, ULL or LSU? </p>
<p>Thanks for putting up with my long post, I'm new here. (Also, wasn't quite sure whether to post this here or in the College Search & Selection forum)</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice arrdad, that sounds like a good idea. Should be easy to compare back-to-back being that they are relatively close to eachother. </p>
<p>Also, is there any advantage to joining the honors colleges in either school? I realize that the engineering related classes will be very difficult on their own, so would it be better to go honors on the other courses or just coast with them in order to gain credits/gpa and leave more time to focus on pet E?</p>
<p>I’m a PETE major at LSU. From what I’ve heard LSU’s program is much more difficult. LSU has a rep of washing out as many PETEs as possible, for there is such a large flux of entering PETEs… Less than 25% of entering PEs will graduate; it’s a scary statistic. I would assume UL would be more nurturing per se, but the department did lose Ghalamabor, the head of the PETE department. He had a massive amount of connections and was a great guy until he was forced to step down to some bogus accusations. Either way, you can’t go wrong! good luck!</p>
<p>LSU isn’t that hard for PetE (certainly no harder than UT, TAMU, or TTU). I don’t believe that 25% statistic in any way. And in terms in undergraduate difficulty Mines is probably the toughest anyway.</p>
<p>Is the only reason you want to stay in LA is because you perceive internship and employment connections will be stronger? If so, I can tell you that is not the case. My husband graduated from Colorado School of Mines with a degree in PE. It’s been many years, but he had no difficulties getting well-paying internships and had a dozen job offers when he graduated. </p>
<p>Go to the best school you can afford, the jobs/internships will be there. Texas (UT-Austin) has the most reputable program, but if you are out of state, it can be a difficult admit. Texas A&M has an excellent program and the Aggie network in the oil and gas industry is unmatched. Mines IS very difficult and for that reason, highly regarded. The school is small and Mines grads are severely outnumbered by grads from Texas and Louisiana, but companies love to get a Mines petroleum engineer.</p>
<p>Btw… A&M and Mines both have generous merit money as well as need-based aid.</p>
<p>One other thing, right out of school, my husband was required by his company to do stints in drilling, reservoir and production. He worked for a major and was even required to do 6 months of 7 & 7 offshore. He was not allowed to specialize for the first few years. Drilling may be your ultimate goal, but the company will make sure you are not a one-trick pony. And you need to visualize your career 25 years down the road…if you have ambition to become a head of operations (VP, COO), a broad set of skills, domestic and international, is helpful.</p>
<p>I would definitely look at Texas A&M. Their alumni network is huge, and many pet engineers in Louisiana have to travel to Texas for work. In fact, many oil companies have relocated from Louisiana to Texas. For job stability, I would definitely try to obtain employment in Texas over Louisiana. BTW, I’m a Louisiana resident. My brothers attended UT-Austin back when they had the NMF package, but they are still able to find employment even in hard times because of their alumni connections. If you’re a minority and a good student, you should apply to Rice. It’s a reach school, but worth a shot, especially if you have a hook.</p>
<p>My Engineering advisor told me that if you are more interested in field work oppurtunities rather than office work then work experience is more beneficial. If you are more interested in research and office work then a Masters in PE or a something related is recommended.</p>
<p>If your interested in eventually moving up the ladder to more managerial positions then a Masters in Business administration or International Petroleum Management is always an option that could get you ahead.
I’m only a PE student so take it with a grain of salt. Also, never completely trust your advisor. Always do your own research just in case.</p>
<p>^ Thanks, so I guess I’ll do petE or a double major in petE and geophysics, and then for an MSc (if I can afford it, or maybe later), I’ll do international petroleum management. Does that sound like a good idea?</p>
<p>The probable reason to why the article states that Petro. Engineers with a Masters have a lower average salary is because those with a Masters/Phd usually end up working in research, teach or get an office job and those types of jobs generally pay somewhat less than field jobs.
Geophysics or Geology are best pursued at the Graduate level because they do not have much of a scope at just the undergraduate level.</p>
<p>Thanks, I’m looking into it, but I can go only if they give me one of those OOS tuition waivers. Thanks for all your advice; it was very helpful.</p>
<p>Wait, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to completely afford A&M. If that’s the case, should I just get a BSc in petroE from LSU, and then transfer to A&M for grad school to get the MSc for IPM?</p>
<p>As far as undergraduate PE programs go employers do not really care where you go as long as it is a decent program. What they care mostly about is whether you can finish a task they have assigned you in a set amount of time within a certain budget.
LSU has a Petroleum engineering program that is ABET accredited meaning it has passed the quality standards employers usually look for in a PE program.</p>
<p>What you should really be looking into is whether LSU is a well recruited school. If a college is not well recruited by major oil companies like ExxonMobil/Shell/BP then it will make it much tougher to get internships and jobs.
From what I remember when I was researching colleges a few months ago is that LSU is well recruited by most of the same major energy companies that also recruit from A&M.</p>
<p>For graduate school it matters much more about where you attend college and surely for a Masters I recommend going to A&M but right now do not worry about graduate school.</p>
<p>Your job right now is to get into LSU, be the best student you can be, and make sure you get some research/internship experience under you belt!</p>