University of Houston, a good choice?

<p>Hi,
I want to find a job in an oil company after graduation. a PhD program in chemical engineering at UH is a good choice?</p>

<p>look forward to any comment,thanks:)</p>

<p>That is a very good question. I have the same one, being in the exact same situation. Where else did you apply? Have you been to visit the Department yet?</p>

<p>TU is better in the field of oil. Do you apply this one?</p>

<p>UH is recruited disproportionately heavy with respect to it's rankings because of location. But, the faculty in that department aren't well known. You're better off at UT-Austin, Rice, or TAMU, but if you can't get into a first tier school, UH is the best choice among the second tier schools for big oil.</p>

<p>Also apply for TAMU in TX, but still no news from the department.
and never been to UH campus, so here to get some advice:)</p>

<p>UH is an interesting place. I've only really walked through and met with people in career services to setup interviews, but here's my take...</p>

<p>The campus appears to be very dead for a school with 40,000 students. In fact, there's much more to do at Rice with only a small fraction of the people. In fact, there doesn't seem to be that many dorms. I think the reason is that most of UH's students are commuters.</p>

<p>The campus isn't in the nicest part of town, but it's close to downtown and pretty centrally located with easy access to most of the fun places in town (and it's not in the middle of a corn field!). There's relatively nice, cheap living near that area as well, and you've got a straight shot to Galveston.</p>

<p>From what I hear, the faculty there get a steady flow of grants from both public and private sources, so money shouldn't be a problem (which is very good for a 2nd tier school). Also, that campus is pretty heavily recruited because of it's location.</p>

<p>All-in-all, if I was doing it over, and I had to go to a 2nd tier school, UH would probably be my top choice, because of grant money and post-graduation employment. If I had to live in the gulf coast, it's actually one of the better schools, with only really UT, TAMU, and Rice ahead of it. It's on the same level as LSU and UT-Dallas (and Auburn if you include Alabama), and ahead of schools like Texas Tech, Lamar, Alabama, etc.</p>

<p>Edit: and I'm not sure if this impacts you as a grad student, but UH students are horribly prepared for interviews - some of the worst resumes and interview experiences I've had came from there. Not to mention that they hold interviews in a trailer with semi-functional heat.</p>

<p>This does speak to the quality of their career services department. When I go to most schools, they'd invest a significant amount in career services, have nice facilities, have conducted mock interviews for their undergraduates, told them how to conduct themselves and prepare a resume, etc. That didn't seem to be the case at UH.</p>

<p>Of course, I would still go there every year when I worked in Houston because it was down the street.</p>

<p>To G.P.Burdell,</p>

<p>many thanks for your information. I think UH will be my choice, and maybe it is hard to find an internship in chemical companies in the following 2 or 3 years. I'm not quite sure if UH ChemE faculty have close tie with nearby industry and will give some strong recommendation.</p>

<p>I just applied</p>