Petroleum Engineering Masters Programs

[cg1992]

Hey everyone. I've recently graduated from Penn State in petroleum engineering. The job search has been miserable after having my internship pulled before my senior year due to the drop in gas prices. I've decided to apply to graduate school and I was just wondering if anyone knows what the prospects are like during the downturn. I know more people coming from undergrad are applying to grad school but I wasn't sure if they've ditched petroleum programs and chose other engineering disciplines or if the applications for petroleum programs are actually increasing. Thanks for any help and good luck to everyone!

[The Dark knight]

I think the applications have actually increased because of the downturn. More and more petroleum undergrads are going to grad schools, and the openings are filling out fast. When did you decide to apply to Grad schools? Did you take the GRE? What universities are you applying to?  

[The Dark knight]

Have you already applied to schools? I think the deadline for most of the top petroleum programs was either December 1st or December 15th. UT Austin was Dec 15th, Stanford was Dec 13th, USC was Dec 1st, and your own Penn state was Dec 1st I reckon.

[cg1992]

I've applied to UT so far and plan on applying to TAMU and LSU also. I took the GRE. 163-Q, 155-V, 4.5-W. I studied at USC for a year before Penn State. GPA between the two was 3.43 and a 3.63 in my petroleum engineering classes. Unfortunately I have no research or work experience which I feel may really hurt my chances. My letters of rec are the strongest part of my app.

[The Dark knight]

Many applicants to Petroleum programs are non-petroleum undergrad majors. So, your lack of experience might not be as big a problem as you think (make no mistake, it is a negative, but not as big a negative as you think). Your GRE score, on the other hand, is a problem. If you see on the UT Austin website, the average quant score for admitted students is 165 for Fall 2016 and 166 for all semesters 2015. So, you will be in the bottom half of the admitted students in the last two years. The case is similar with the verbal score (Avg for 2016 was 156). Coming to your GPA, 3.6 - 3.5 is good enough for UT Austin I guess. The average on their website is 3.68 for Fall 2016 admits; So, you are clear there. Overall, your profile would place you in the bottom half of the UT Austin applicants. So, your letters of recommendation should catapult you to the top half for you to be admitted and considered for funding. I hope this helps.  

[cg1992]

Yeah I knew where I sat GRE wise. I didn't really give myself much time to prepare for them. My letters of rec are coming from professors who know my work individually, in groups, and in extracurriculars. Plus they have  affiliation with the schools I'm applying to, either receiving their PhD there or teaching there so I'm really hoping that can give me a nice boost. Rough time for petroleum but I don't want to quit yet. Thanks for your help!

[andrew]

up again so everyone applying for Petroleum ENg will see this thread

[cg1992]

I'm interested how many are actually applying. I checked UT's numbers from 2015 to 2016. Applicants in 2015 were 632. For fall of 2016 they were 343. 2015 includes spring semester also but I'm not sure what the difference usually is in the number of applicants between semesters.

[The Dark knight]

I am not sure either, but, it is usually low compared to the number of Fall applicants. I would guess maybe 100 - 150 fewer candidates applying for spring.

[andrew]

upuppu