SUMMARY
Majoring in Petroleum Engineering is not only a valuable choice, but commonly an obligatory first step for pupils hoping to enter a career as a petroleum geophysicist, a drilling fluids engineer, or a petroleum supply specialist. In fact, petroleum engineering is an uncommon degree ranking as the 161st most popular major. In the last year, there were 1,704 petroleum engineering degrees conferred. In-state tuition for petroleum engineering at private schools is, on average, 3.8 times more expensive than their public peers.
With just 25 institutions offering petroleum engineering you could have limited options as to the institutions that will have an option for you. If you are looking to immerse yourself with other petroleum engineering undergraduates, consider looking at schools in Texas which have the most undergrads admitted to petroleum engineering annually. Zooming out, the top region to study petroleum engineering is in the Southwest region with University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus, University of Houston, and Texas A & M University-College Station best representing the region. Interestingly, our selection for the top conference to study petroleum engineering is the Big Twelve Conference with University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus, The University of Texas at Austin, and West Virginia University representing the conference. Based on our comprehensive list on the best colleges, our choice for the best college for petroleum engineering is The University of Texas at Austin.
The overall 'best' school does not mean it is the best school for you. There can be a bunch more angels to weigh when selecting college. External stuff such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food could definitely alter one's choice on which school to attend. Here at Authority, we have weighed the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you are interested in which petroleum engineering college is home to the top campus, the answer is Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus. If, for example, you are very interested in which university boasts the best campus, then we have an entire page dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through professor reviews, student reviews, government databases, and more to compare every major in the United States in an unbiased and informative way. You can find our comprehensive list for the colleges with the best student life here and, from that list, our pick of the college with the best student life for petroleum engineering is The University of Texas at Austin. Curious why? Keep scrolling to learn more about Authority's top selections. Some of our decisions will probably shock you.
If cost is a significant factor in your choice of where you attend college, you might be cautious about University of Tulsa. University of Tulsa appears to be the most expensive university for petroleum engineering, at least regarding out of state students. That being said, we have an entire page for the most expensive schools that might put the cost of University of Tulsa into perspective. Additionally, you could want to know that petroleum engineering is the 328th most expensive program in the US, with an average expense of $21,500. To zoom out a little, the most expensive state for petroleum engineering nationally is Colorado with costs at the main institution, Colorado School of Mines, of $37,350. To zoom out even further, the most expensive region for petroleum engineering is unfortunately unavailable due to missing data.
Our cheapest region for petroleum engineering is the Far West region which is represented by University of Alaska Fairbanks with a cost of $22,980. More optimistically, the most affordable college for petroleum engineering is The University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Authority's comprehensive list of the most affordable colleges can be explored here.
In-state students can anticipate paying around $10,300 for a degree in petroleum engineering. That price increases dramatically to a median of $25,600 for the out-of-state public-school student. Our pick for the university with the best value for petroleum engineering: Colorado School of Mines. Through this link you can see our comprehensive list on the universities we believe to be the best value in general. Bear in mind, this list is predicated on out-of-state tuition costs. A discussion of value changes when it comes to in-state tuition, but we do not know in which states any one student has residency.
Earnings for petroleum engineering majors differ a lot, but within two-years of graduation graduates will typically make around $79,900. While there is a lot of variation in earnings; highest paid earners can enjoy pay up to $140,300. Straight out of college, the lowest end jobs within the petroleum engineering field make $45,800, which is an alright wage. The top earning graduates for petroleum engineering graduated from Colorado School of Mines and if you want to find the universities with all of the highest earning graduates, Authority has that too.
The all-around diversity of petroleum engineering is on the higher end, falling in the 66th percentile of all majors. The college with the highest composite diversity for petroleum engineering is University of Houston and here you can find our general list for the schools which have the most diversity. The financial diversity of the Petroleum Engineering major only sits within the 75th percentile of all majors. Racial diversity is greater than financial diversity, ranking in the 81st percentile. White students compose the largest proportion, 41%, of students studying petroleum engineering. Additionally, 83% of undergrads seeking a petroleum engineering degree are men.
The median score for petroleum engineering's professors is 3.6 stars, which is 10% less than the median across all majors; this is a subpar score. If you are looking for the most popular petroleum engineering instructor in the nation, take a look at Aditi Marwaha from University of Houston. This might come as a surprise, but the highest ranked instructors for petroleum engineering from student rankings come from Arizona State University-Tempe. As we including data beyond just rankings we find that the college with the overall best instructors for petroleum engineering is The University of Texas at Austin. You can find an explanation of our ever evolving ranking methodology of the best overall professors here, along with some of the top instructors in the country.
Finally, the most difficult college to get into for petroleum engineering is The University of Texas at Austin. While we do not necessarily see the value in it, we do have an extensive list of the hardest colleges to get into. But, we hope you believe that looking at the education process from examples mainly formed from superlatives might cause problems. We hope you explore our other pages on different schools and peruse a few of our helpful background pages on beneficial details to consider as you continue your college search.