<p>I’m a senior petroleum student. I agree with that letter. Just based on the number of kids who did not get internships this past fall, I wouldn’t go in to it now. It’s getting extremely competitive. You can get a mechanical engineering degree and still work in the oil industry. I currently work with a senior drilling engineer that is a mechanical graduate who had zero experience in oil and gas before starting as a drilling engineer. The starting pay is less, for sure. But after that the promotion/salary track is identical.</p>