Oops, sorry. I mean it is the University of CO legally right? (UC) but I now get it is abbreviated opposite of its name. Sorry if I offended. Nobody is confusing with a CA school I don’t think.
FWIW I just went on a tour of mines and the list I saw said mechanical was #1 most common major, followed by CS, and the AO was pushing mining engineering HARD, seemed like they didn’t have enough kids?
College Navigator - Colorado School of Mines says that mining or mineral engineering graduated 17 bachelor’s degree students in a recent year, compared to 321 for mechanical engineering. Engineering made up about three fourths of the graduates in a recent class, and most of the rest were computer science.
Petroleum engineering enrollment grew during sustained $100/barrel oil prices, but has fallen as oil prices became more volatile at levels mostly below $100/barrel. (Prices as adjusted for CPI to be equivalent to today’s prices.)
I’d also imagine there are increasing numbers of young people who just wouldn’t want to set off focusing work in the industry…. I can’t imagine any of my kids’ friends doing it , though to each their own!
The OP last read the site a week ago. Not everyone reads the site frequently. Zenfi is the parent. Maybe they work and cannot read frequently. Maybe they are simply getting some thoughts for their daughter. And some may read without logging in. Best to give readers time to read/respond at their own comfort level.
There was also a time when an alum gave a huge amount to Mines and IIRC, it was in petroleum engineering, so majors were receiving big scholarships from that department.
I know recent grads who work in oil and gas, work on oil platforms and travel across Montana for a couple of weeks of the month. They make a lot of money quickly but then want a different lifestyle. I think most are chemical engineers, not specifically petroleum.
CU is known for aero, Mines for petroleum and other hard rock (and blowing things up), and CSU for agricultural. They all have the base courses in mechanical, civil, chemical, and electrical (and now computer). I have a nephew who went to CU in mechanical, and I don’t think he took one class in Aero, but he works for Northrup and originally worked on a moon project. His wife is a water engineer (civil) and that may be a stronger major at CSU, but her family is a ‘CU family’ so she picked CU. Another nephew is at Mines, also mechanical, and I have no idea what area he’s interested in. He picked Mines over CU mostly because Mines gave him a lot more money, and he plays club hockey. I think if the money had been equal he would have picked CU because he wanted a marching band but he’s happy where he is.
But for aero, CU has more bells and whistles, a building that is shaped like an airplane, labs with parts of jet engines and rockets, and boasts a few astronauts as grads.