Transiston from EE & downstream to PetE

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hey all,</p>

<p>Hate to bog the board down with yet another question on Petroleum Engineering, but I had a few questions specifically related to the transition from being an electrical engineer with work experience in a refinery to being a petroleum engineer and working exploration and drilling/reservoir/ect. </p>

<p>Quick background on me: Junior EE major from a mid-sized state university in the Midwest. 3.66 GPA. Just finished a co-op at a refinery for a downstream oil company in Louisiana working on instrumentation projects and am going to be doing another refinery co-op this spring in Michigan. By the time I graduate in 2014-15, I should have 3 to 4 semester of co-op under my belt.</p>

<p>I am very interested in apply to graduate school for a masters in petroleum engineering, as this seems to me to be the most direct path to the upstream oil industry. I am very interested in attending LSU, UT-Austin, and Texas A&M, and am also looking at Texas Tech, USC, Stanford, Penn St, and Oklahoma.</p>

<p>What are my chances for admissions to schools at this level, based on my GPA and my non-PetE undergraduate major?</p>

<p>The only MechE/CivE class I have taken is statics. Will taking fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, or strength of materials help my chances of admissions to PetE grad programs?</p>

<p>Are there other programs that I should consider? I am particularly interested in larger universities that have close ties to the oil industry and that will accept someone with an EE background.</p>

<p>Will my work experience in a refinery setting help me in either graduate admissions or in the job search? The company I currently work for is limited entirely to refining and piplelines/terminals, so I really won't be looking to return to work there.</p>

<p>Are there any other things I can do to strengthen my graduate admissions chances, besides the obvious of increasing my GPA and getting good GRE scores? Will more work experience or classes in other engineering subjects help?</p>

<p>Sorry for the long post, but I really appreciate any advice or help y'all could give me!</p>

2

<p>Okay, so maybe that last post was a little too wordy. So I’ll bump this and try again. I’m a junior electrical engineer from a no-name university with a 3.67 GPA. By the time I graduate I will have had 3-4 semesters of work experience doing project engineering in a refinery. I’m interested in a masters in petroleum engineering at schools like UT-Austin, Texas A&M, and LSU.</p>

<p>Am I competitive to get into these schools, assuming my GPA stays around 3.7 and I get solid GRE scores?</p>

<p>Will my electrical engineering background be a problem for admissions and coursework?</p>

<p>Will my work experience in the downstream/refining side of the petroleum industry give me any help in admissions or getting a good job upon graduation?</p>

3

<p>@jakeanton:
I am going to be an EE freshman next year in CSU “Cleveland state univ”.
it’s an accredited school by the ABET but,I am not comfortable at all because I am thinking that CSU isn’t a good school and that’s because Case western reserve is next to CSU but I can’t apply to CWRU due to the high tuition.
what do you think?? is any accredited school for engineering a good school??
and how do you keep your GPA high in EE , I heard it’s hard as hell.
do you think that transferring process to other school in the sophomore year in EE would be hard??</p>

4

<p>

For the record, I only know PetE’ at LSU.
Short answer, yes, you’d be competitive. Master’s programs are also typically easier to get into than PhD’s. Additionally, I’d imagine with co-op’s in Louisiana you probably have connections that know professors/ admissions at TX/LA schools. They (and your school’s career office) can probably assist you much better than most on cc could.</p>

<p>

You’ll have to take some catch up classes, but I know a few EE’s who went on to PetE grad programs at LSU with little problem.</p>

5

<p>Take as many related classes as you can. Thermo, dynamics (mechanics), etc are all useful. Even if they don’t help you with admission (which they will), it means less make-up work and probably less time in school.</p>