<p>According to Wikipedia, only 107 Bacherlor's degrees were earned in mining engineering this year. I don't know why, the pay is good ($72,160 is the median average), and there is an obvious need for mined materials to make countless products. Is it because it is dangerous? Or am I missing something?</p>
<p>Not many schools offer the program, I think. It's an obscure field.</p>
<p>My school has a pretty good mining engineering program, though. It's (supposedly) the top program in North America. Who rates them, I don't know. Anyway, the mining engineers out of our school make ass loads. I knew a guy driving a brand new escalade right after graduating.</p>
<p>Also, you need to think about, are they even interested in it? What's the career growth in the industry? Plus, you can't get a mining engineering job anywhere, so you're severely limited on location. All these little things come into play, not just the money.</p>
<p>Perhaps mining engineering is too narrow of a field, so many people from other disciplines such as civil, geological, mechanical, electrical, and metallurgical engineering aim for jobs in these areas.</p>
<p>I have a feeling it's just not that popular. Mines are located in rural areas, which might not be the ideal location for many people. It's obviously the most dangerous of the various engineering fields. </p>
<p>I met a mining engineering grad once, and he took a position with a construction firm instead, which probably offered a salary of $10k less than the average mining median. As others have said continuously throughout the forum, money is not the only factor in choosing a field.</p>
<p>According to ABET.org, there are only 13 ABET-accredited Mining Engineering programs in the US. Historically, it was a much larger field; in fact, a number of state universities were originally established as "mines" schools, although only two (Colorado School of Mines and South Dakota School of Mines & Technology) still have the "mines" name today.</p>
<p>In general, mining has been on the decline in the US for many years. Obviously there is still a need for mined materials, but most major mining operations today are overseas (in places like South America, China, South Africa, or Australia). Another concern is that the field is very cyclical: it tends to boom when commodity prices are high (as they generally are at present), and then bust when prices fall. Petroleum engineering has these characteristics as well, but I suspect they are even more pronounced in mining.</p>
<p>It's an interesting career, and it can be financially quite lucrative during boom years, but it's not as stable as many engineering fields. You are more likely to travel or work overseas, and more likely to find yourself suddenly unemployed.</p>
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Why is mining engineering such a small field? </p>
<p>According to Wikipedia, only 107 Bacherlor's degrees were earned in mining engineering this year.
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<p>I think steevee is spot-on. There's a big difference between earning a degree in mining engineering and actually working as a mining engineer. You don't need a mining engineer degree to work as a mining engineer or otherwise work in the mining industry. It helps, but you don't strictly need it. You can get into the mining industry with a degree in some other engineering discipline, or with a related science degree (i.e. geology/geosciences). </p>
<p>In fact, the latter may be safer. As Corbett has pointed out, the industry is highly cyclical. The mining industry is hot now, but who knows how it will be when you graduate? If you major something like ME or CivE and you graduate at a time when the mining industry is cold, then you can use your degree to get a regular ME or CivE job. A guy who gets a degree in mining engineer has less such career flexibility.</p>
<p>The thing is, I wouldn't mind traveling overseas to work. In fact, I'd like to do it. That's one of the reasons both mining and petroleum engineering interest me. The chance to see the world and make good money is pretty appealing.</p>