<p>I just got accepted into University of Alaska at Fairbanks.</p>
<p>I applied there for a B.S. In Petroleum engineering. I also applied to a few other southern schools such as Mines/Oklahoma/A&M/Texas but I have not heard anything from them yet.</p>
<p>From what I understand Alaska Fairbanks is not a very prestigious college. But because I want work as an Engineer in Alaska rather than Texas would it not be better to go to Fairbanks?</p>
<p>Or would it be better to go to Texas even though I want to work in Alaska because Texas is a more prestigious college?</p>
<p>Would going to Fiarbanks rather than Texas Austin or Colorado Mines negatively affect my Entry Salary for my first job?</p>
<p>Also if I want to change locations after 5 years of work in Alaska and wanted to get a job in a different location would going to Fairbanks put me at a disadvantage in employment?</p>
<p>Also, Would working in Alaska help my chances of eventually getting a Job in the North Atlantic (Northern Europe) That is where I really want to end up working!</p>
<p>One more question:
I am also looking to eventually earn a Masters in Geophysics and so I would like to study through a distance learning program and earn a degree like that.
Would going to Fairbanks put me at a Disadvantage for Grad School admissions into a Geophysics Program even if I have an excellent GPA?</p>
There is a lot of oil in Northern Europe, so getting a Big Oil job might be a good way of accomplishing that goal.</p>
<p>UAF has some strong programs, and you’ve picked one of them. I can’t imagine that geophysics programs would look down on a UAF degree. Do be aware that many of your fellow students will not be models of academic excellence - if they were, they would be somewhere else.</p>
<p>Fairbanks is inhumanly cold. There will be days when it dips below -40 F. Are you prepared for the dark? Fairbanks gets less than four hours of daylight at the winter solstice. The city is small and depressing.</p>
<p>The good news is that most petroleum engineers in Alaska work in Anchorage, possibly with occasional trips to the Slope. They have desk jobs and Anchorage is much nicer than Fairbanks.</p>
<p>Most oil industry engineers I know think very highly of Colorado School of Mines, so I can’t imagine that you would have more trouble getting an oil job in Anchorage with a Mines or Texas degree than with a UAF one.</p>
<p>I appreciate your response noimagin. but I am looking to hopefully get a Field Job which means I will hopefully will be working on site.</p>
<p>Are there a lot of Field work opportunities for entry level PetroE in Alaska?
I understand it is incredibly cold in Alaska but I want to face that. I like adventure.</p>
We have a lot of oil, so I daresay there are field jobs. I don’t personally hear about them much because I live in Anchorage where the desk-job engineers are.</p>
<p>Oil work is extremely cyclic - there will be times when there are tons of job opportunities and you are paid a fortune, and there will be times when mass layoffs make finding a job nearly impossible.</p>
<p>Your specialization will also matter. Many PEs get an advanced degree (often in geology) and focus on finding the oil, while others mostly focus on drilling engineering. The latter has more fieldwork.</p>
<p>Anyhow, UAF is a great school if you know you want to work in geoscience. I just wouldn’t recommend going there for anything else.</p>