<p>Do you think this trend could be extrapolated to engineering as a whole for someone who wants to make sure their investment in education has a reasonable shot at being worth it?</p>
<p>To an extent yes. PetE has it worst though, because people are after those highest-ranked starting salaries.</p>
<p>I think this “trend” has already affected almost every college major out there so far. More people are getting college degrees by percentage of the population now than ever before. Used to be you could get almost any college degree and have a good chance at making $60,000+ a year. There was a time not long ago where only 3 types of people got degrees: children of the rich, people on performance scholarships (athletes and band), and the very intelligent who got academic scholarships. Now, some graduates end up working at Wal-Mart because there’s so much competition, and your degree is no longer special.</p>
<p>Going to college is a somewhat risky financial proposition, as the only thing most people are GUARANTEED to get out of it is debt. Picking a difficult major (like engineering) puts you in better than average shape because the degrees are harder to get. However, more people will start pushing themselves to get these degrees because the economy is so terrible, and they need a degree that will give them a good chance of making decent money in life.</p>
<p>There are negative economic factors at work on the national and global levels, and just having that fancy major on your degree will eventually not be enough to set you apart from the crowd. Graduates need to learn how to make connections in life with people who can get their foot in the door at companies. Friends, neighbors, family…anyone who works somewhere you’d like to go and can put a good word in for you to get your resume pulled out of the applicant pile.</p>
<p>Engineering has more dropouts than actual graduates though its not like you can just decide overnight “oh lets just become an engineer because it pays best right now” and just get the degree. The major isnt a walk in the park lol</p>
<p>Alot of people declare engineering just to change it 2 years later or even earlier. Ive seen it myself people say I wanna get into engineering because it clearly pays the best but end up dropping out or retaking semesters because their study habits are those of business and art majors.</p>
<p>I wonder if somebody can show a stat of how many people are actually graduating in petroleum engineering in the past 10 years to present on a national scale. That would be interesting</p>
<p>
Yes.<br>
<a href=“http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/salzman/dynamics.pdf[/url]”>http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/salzman/dynamics.pdf</a> (pg 8)</p>
<p>779 graduated in 2009-10 ([Source](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_290.asp]Source[/url]”>Bachelor's, master's, and doctor's degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by sex of student and discipline division: 2009-10)</a>) so the trend has continued.</p>
<p>Yep. Theres an old saying in the oil patch that you’re not a real geologist or petro engineer till you’ve been laid off, cant find a job anywhere with your degree, and end up working for a construction company.</p>
<p>Getting one of these degrees is as risky as it gets. For Heavens sake don’t do it based on a boom that has no possible future of lasting.</p>
<p>Two peas in the same pod - stock speculation and the oil and gas “bidness”.</p>