I am graduating with a Petroleum Engineering degree from LSU in May. As everyone knows oil and gas prices are low and jobs are impossible to find without extremely good connections. I am from Shreveport, Louisiana and anything around this area would be good. I would prefer to live in a town where more people my age would be beginning careers such as Dallas, Houston, New Orleans but am open to anything in the region.
You would be more competitive if you sought work experience first; as a petroleum engineer who wants to stay in the south central region of the U.S. there should be good opportunities for you. The benefit of working first also means that you could establish residency in a state in which you intend to get your MBA - like living and working in Texas for a few years and then going to UT-Austin or Texas A&M as an in-state student paying in-state tuition. You could ave a lot of money.
Also, what do you mean by affordable?
Some great to excellent business schools in that region are UT-Austin, Wash U in St. Louis, Texas A&M, Rice, UT-Dallas, Southern Methodist. Also good are Baylor, Tulane, Texas Christian, University of Oklahoma, LSU, University of Tulsa, and Texas Tech.
If you’re willing to look a little outside of the south central region into the Southeast in general, there’s also Duke, UNC, Emory, Vanderbilt, UF, UMD, Wake Forest, and UGA.
In the Southwest, Arizona and Arizona State are good too.
If you’re thinking of getting an MBA, you should also consider the option of getting an MSE in Chemical or Petroleum engineering. Chemical may give you more flexibility in the marketplace. The degrees are offered at LSU and Louisiana Tech.