Big Decision About Petroleum Engineering Major!

whenhen
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 20:50:40 +0000

Grad school in petroleum engineering is by and large unnecessary if a student wants to go directly into industrial applications.

Most of the large oil firms recruit widely and their summer internship programs aren’t just limited to students in the states with heavy oil production. Personally I would choose Stanford in a heartbeat knowing that a) the overwhelming majority of students change their majors, b) Stanford isn’t exactly some schlubby school, c) Stanford is extremely highly ranked and has plenty of industry connections including an extremely important oil recovery institute (one of my professors at OU collaborated with them and frequently discussed its work), d) it’s a smaller school with exclusively top students.

Additionally, virtually all of the super majors and some majors recruit Stanford students and it has a chapter of SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) which often helps students get jobs owing to industry connections. Finally, it’s a much smaller department than the one at UT Austin which could be a good or bad thing (fewer students to recruit, more personal attention from many of Stanford’s world renown professors).

That being said, you can’t go wrong in your choice. UT Austin is a fantastic choice, and its petroleum engineering program is second to none. If it’s PE program is anything like OU’s, you’ll see oil companies darn near every week trying to recruit undergrads, discussing problems and solutions the industry is facing, and collaborate with faculty. You’ll also be in a state which is far more supportive of the oil industry as a whole, and have the opportunity to go on more site field trips.

Have you visited both schools?