Engineering Majors
Those 20 hrs are doable at UT, but finals time will suck. Don't cram in a bunch of the engineering classes in the future though or you will be hurting. I graduated in 3.5 years at UT + summer school and wish I would have just taken an extra semester. Enjoy college as long as you can 
. Don't rush to finish in less than a 8 semester workload if you can. Good luck
. Don't rush to finish in less than a 8 semester workload if you can. Good luck As far as switching from petro to mechanical it just seems like a safer bet in the long run. Who knows what's going to happen with all these tree huggers around. There's plenty of oil.....
With the huge increase in demand in China & India, I don't see the demand for oil going down. As more people in those countries move up into the middle class, you can bet once they get a taste of it, they will not be going back to un-air conditioned homes & bicycles. With the world as a whole more dependent on oil, a slump here isn't going to affect most people in the field because the companies based here do so much global business. So, even if we have a slump, you can take that petro degree & find a nice job in another country for a little while if you had to. And if you think an ME doesn't pay decent, from what I've seen, the salaries are getting pretty nice for an experienced ME these days. Reminds me, I need to register for some classes.
If you want the higher salary, you need to manage people and money. That would be project management.
You are correct. Both offer competitive starting salaries, both are in high demand. But, I've yet to meet an oil executive with a petrol eng degree, about all of them are mechanicals that worked their way up through project management. Not too many project managers are petrol engrs, those tend to go into the more analytical/design/testing departments.
If you want the higher salary, you need to manage people and money. That would be project management.
If you want the higher salary, you need to manage people and money. That would be project management.
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TECH Fanatic
Joined: Nov 2001
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From: Houston
I would think that depends on what type of industry you choose within the oil patch. In the service end of it (Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, etc) Mechanicals tend to rule. On the operations end (Chevron, Conoco, etc) PE's rule, but still plenty of opportunites for ME's also. Whats nice about the ME degree is that if you decide not to stay in the oil patch, you can always go do other things (Automotive, Aerospace, etc), but with a PE you are stuck in the oil patch whether you like it or not.
ME = most versatile, like the poster above said. You can work in any industry with an ME degree. You can also work in any industry with project management experience. The Petrol Eng degree forces you to specialize, I didn't like that aspect of it.
I have friends with Petro degrees. They work for small surface companies in OK and make killer money. One was offered 180K per year, Petro E with 3 years drilling experience. To be honest, you can do drilling with a Mech E degree, just have to get hired on.
The only thing I liked about Petro E was the starting salary. ME was more my style.
The only thing I liked about Petro E was the starting salary. ME was more my style.
