<p>I'm very interested in petroleum engineering. I find the field fascinating. I've applied to UT Austin and Texas A&M and also am considering applying to Texas Tech. I have a few questions. Firstly, of the first two colleges, is there much of a difference between them? Secondly, would you recommend going to Texas Tech at all? It is cheaper but I'm not sure if it has the same job opportunities after graduation that the other two have. Third, I'm not bad at chemistry but it's not a strength of mine. How much chemistry is there in PE? A decent amount is ok, I'm just wondering. Finally, can someone give me a good description of what an average day would be like for a reservoir, production, and drilling engineer? Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi, I’m a future Aggie & looking to major in petroleum engineering. My question to you is: do you live in Texas?
Huge difference in A&M and UT. UT is more diverse and eclectic, but they do have an amazing geology program. A&M is renowned for their engineering departments and as my future school it’s obviously the best haha. It has a smaller feel than UT and since I’m coming from a small town it feels like home. Texas Tech… I wouldn’t want to go there! It’s in the middle of nowhere and isn’t as good of a school as A&M and UT especially for engineering, in my opinion.
Not sure about the chemistry question since I am not actually in college yet. I know you have to take it your freshman year but you need to look at the major requirements on the college websites. (:</p>
<p>I’ll chime in here and answer a few of your questions. My background is as a drill site manager or as some call it “company man.” I studied geology and took petroleum engineering courses and finished with an associates degree in petroleum technology, got a offer and suspended my pursuit of my bachelor’s of engineering until further notice. The money is great so why stay in school.</p>
<p>My experience includes working in the Permian basin of West Texas and the Marcellus and Utica shale of the northeast.</p>
<p>I’ve worked with graduates from all 3 schools mentioned and I thought they were all excellent and well educated. The answer to the best school will be if you are from Texas or your family has alumni from there. The Aggies and longhorns are well represented in the oil field. UT and TAMU are relatively equal in terms of Petroleum engineering. They both have huge alumni bases in Texas and have strong engineering programs that could stack well against any in the country.</p>
<p>Tech seems to be the place where people go if they don’t get into the two big Texas schools. It also may come down to location since Lubbock is out in the middle of nowhere. You don’t know what nowhere is until you have been out to west Texas. I know veterans who have said Iraq is more beautiful. That is saying something. </p>
<p>Chemistry for petroleum engineering generally requires Chem 101 and 102, with a lab. It depends on the school. Many people get chemical and petroleum engineering confused but I won’t elaborate on that here.</p>
<p>As far as your job as an engineer, I will tell you how drilling engineering goes since that is what I know. </p>
<p>Likely starting out your first 5 years would be as a field engineering working with a drill site manager like me or a consulting/company man. I would basically train you in every facet of the job from doing daily reports to running the operation like doing logistics, safety meetings and the morning call with old faithful (AKA The drilling superintendent). That basically consist of giving the summary of the last 24 hours of operations, highlighting safety concerns and our plan of action for the next 24 hours. You would probably be rotated between work over and completions as either a night company man or you may stay on a drilling rig. This would be to give you diversity and help you decide whether you want to be a completions engineer or drilling engineer. You would learn everything in and out of how things are conducted. You would do casing tallies, calculations, do optimization of drilling parameters and all the stuff engineers do. I would be your mentor. The drilling superintendent would be our boss.</p>
<p>The office engineer so or the ones who graduate from the field position generally plan the well, communicate with the drilling superintendent and work hand in hand with the drill site manager and field engineer to execute the well plan. You would likely select or work with the superintendent to select the BHA, Bit, cement company etc. Basically design the entire well procedure. </p>
<p>That is a good summary for now. Let me know if you want any more information.</p>
<p>What are the odds of being stuck out in the “middle of nowhere” as a PetE field engineer for a long period of time? Does it depend on your skills to move up in the company?</p>
<p>Thanks you guys for getting back to me!</p>
<p>@jacyxoxo I am not from Texas. Arizona.
@bruthaman That’s very informative, thanks! What would be the types of calculations you would have to do at the site? Also, I’m now considering U of Oklahoma too. Have you worked with any people from there? Thanks</p>
<p>I’m intending on getting my degree in Pet E, when reading through the forum I was surprised to not see colorado school of mines mentioned. I had heard this school had one of the best programs and was planning on attending there. My question is to whether or not CSM is a good choice as to the education and job placement compared to the other schools mentioned above. Thanks!</p>
<p>Mines is in a bit of a transition and are looking to replace two to three professors along with a department head (last I heard). I might just keep an eye on that situation but I don’t think I would let it effect my decision to attend school there. </p>
<p>I recently worked with a field engineer who had a master in petroleum engineering from Oklahoma. I’ve worked with guys who have had petroleum engineering degrees from LSU, ULL, TAMU, Texas, Texas Tech, Montana Tech, West Virginia, Penn State, Marietta College, UoH and I can’t think of anyone else at this moment.</p>
<p>You would do drilling calculations like bottoms up, cement calculations, hydrostatic prrssure, pump output, Annular capacity factor, pipe stretch, and kill method calculations like Drillers method, etc. It basic physics/fluid calculations.</p>
<p>Come to think of it the UoH guy was Mech E.</p>
<p>School name means little in the big scheme of things. You really can’t go wrong with any of the Louisiana, Texas, or Oklahoma schools. It is more a question of whether you will make good grades and get internships with all the competition that is out there now.</p>
<p>You may also want to consider University of Houston. Most of the large petrochemical firms are located in Houston and so U of H provides access to these companies.</p>