2014 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[TriloBiteMe]

I'm nearly at the end of my application results and have a clear front runner from 5 previous aps.

 

I followed the news about future unconventional plays in the US and found Rick Behl at California State Uni - Long Beach, who apparently hosts an very positive and petroleum influenced program. I got some great feedback from current and previous students.

 

It seems like a bit of an obscure school but it's focus seems well fitting to my style and interests. Except the lifestyle of Long Beach worries be a bit.

 

 

Does anyone know or have heard much about the CSULB expereince?

Hey rockwell,

I'm in my last semester at CSULB for my under graduate degree. I have actually done some paid research with Dr. Behl and one of his grad students. Any specific questions you have let me, I will give you a straight answer.

 

I had a good time in Long Beach the 4 years I was here, the lifestyle is pretty laid back . Dr. Behl is definitely the professor to work with if your want to do petroleum. He is the leading expert of the Monterrey Formation, which is the primary unconventional and conventional source rock in Southern California. If you need professors for your committee ask anyone expect Dr. francis,  Dr.Grannel, or Dr. Holk. Dr. Behl is super enthusiastic about geology, but since he is the expert on the Monterrey a lot of outside professionals come and ask him for help. This makes him super busy and hard to get a hold of, so be prepared to work independently. All of his graduate students I know and worked with ended up moving to Bakersfield and working at an oil company, most of them are at occidental petroleum(OXY). You will be funded through the MARS Consortium, which is how I got paid for my research, Hoped that helped.

[turbidite]

Just curious, you don't have to answer. What is your second choice?

It was going to be OU, but after I visited both the OU and LSU departments I felt that LSU was definitely the better fit for me. Here are some of the reasons why:

 

- No financial assistance at OU. LSU gave me a 2 year TA assistantship.

- LSU's department is about the same size as my undergrad's department and I feel pretty comfortable with that size. OU definitely felt bigger. More importantly though, my advisor at LSU has 4 students while my advisor at OU has 11 (he didn't mention this on his webpage...)! So the upshot of this is that I definitely feel as though I'll get more personal attention at LSU (which is a pretty important factor for me).

- My potential research project at LSU sounds amazing. I'm sure my project at OU would be good too, but I never got that far.

- I got a more positive vibe from the department at LSU. It's hard to put into words, but it just felt right. One of those weird, gut instincts. YMMV.

 

I've already notified OU (and TCU and NAU) that I won't be attending, so hopefully I opened up spots for people waiting on those schools. I will admit that it was a difficult decision to turn down OU, mainly because it is probably the second biggest feeder into the petroleum industry (after UT). Although as GeoDude mentioned in an earlier post, the oil industry has so many available jobs that it doesn't really matter where you go to school; what matters is your expertise/skill set and how that will translate to the real world. Sorry, I just realized I totally over-answered the original question...

[Pacifico]

Hello all,

 

congrats to the ones who got admitted and good luck to the ones still waiting

 

I applied to four programs and got no answer yet. I am checking the application status and on all of them I have something to the effect of graduate school sent the documents to the Geology department and it is still under review.

The programs are Geology at UT, EER at UT, Geology at TAMU and Geology at USF (all of them for MS)

I saw here that UT sent out admissions letters, did they send out rejections too?

Any idea of what this utter radio silence means? Will I get an answer at all, or if it is rejections they will not respond at all and just let me figure it out?

Sorry I'm a little late in the game- but for what it's worth I've heard that UT isn't great with always sending rejections, so it may be in your best interest to call them directly. It also seems like their "MyStatus" check thing is on quite a delay ( there was a week lull for what I was hearing from my POI/ Grad Admissions). I also have a friend who called USF a few days ago- looks like they haven't sent out acceptances OR rejections yet. I believe their application deadline was pretty late, but geeze! Hope this helped- best of luck!

[Geologyisawesome]

It was going to be OU, but after I visited both the OU and LSU departments I felt that LSU was definitely the better fit for me. Here are some of the reasons why:

 

- No financial assistance at OU. LSU gave me a 2 year TA assistantship.

- LSU's department is about the same size as my undergrad's department and I feel pretty comfortable with that size. OU definitely felt bigger. More importantly though, my advisor at LSU has 4 students while my advisor at OU has 11 (he didn't mention this on his webpage...)! So the upshot of this is that I definitely feel as though I'll get more personal attention at LSU (which is a pretty important factor for me).

- My potential research project at LSU sounds amazing. I'm sure my project at OU would be good too, but I never got that far.

- I got a more positive vibe from the department at LSU. It's hard to put into words, but it just felt right. One of those weird, gut instincts. YMMV.

 

I've already notified OU (and TCU and NAU) that I won't be attending, so hopefully I opened up spots for people waiting on those schools. I will admit that it was a difficult decision to turn down OU, mainly because it is probably the second biggest feeder into the petroleum industry (after UT). Although as GeoDude mentioned in an earlier post, the oil industry has so many available jobs that it doesn't really matter where you go to school; what matters is your expertise/skill set and how that will translate to the real world. Sorry, I just realized I totally over-answered the original question...

I went to NAU for undergrad and loved it. But I would say both OU and LSU probably have better programs. NAU does get recruiting from some top oil companies (Chevron, Pioneer, BP, Conoco, etc...) but I think it is because the school is so close to U of A and ASU. Most of their graduate students interest in oil go to work for Pioneer. 

Edited April 9, 2014 by Geologyisawesome

[Geologizer]

ASU has zero oil/mining presence, so they definitely aren't there by proxy to ASU. And ASU is between u of a and NAU, so I don't think geography plays much of a role. NAU is a good masters school, and good enough to pull those recruiters in its own right.

[Flavia]

Thanks Pacifico and all who posted here with good discussions and ideas.

My plan is to wait to the end of next week (after the "legendary" April 15 date) and start contacting the departments after that if I don't hear anything by then.

[Geologyisawesome]

ASU has zero oil/mining presence, so they definitely aren't there by proxy to ASU. And ASU is between u of a and NAU, so I don't think geography plays much of a role. NAU is a good masters school, and good enough to pull those recruiters in its own right.

I have taken some masters courses at U of A and they do get recruitment from oil and mining companies (especially mining) but yes U of A and NAU are not that close. NAU does have strong connections with many  companies I know someone just donated a bunch of new computers and software to the school which is great. I don't really know anything about ASU, but NAU and U of A are both great geology schools!

[geologist]

Has anyone heard anything from Oklahoma State University? It is now 10th of April and it seems that they plan to make the first round of acceptances after 15th of April.  

[rockwell_]

Thanks TriloBiteMe and GeoDude.

 

I appreciate the reassuring positive ideas and food (oh man, I miss good mexican food!) for thought.

 

Many people have mentioned the Oxy link, and today I reazlied that just about any campus won't be 110% perfect.  I'm often hard to please unless I let meself accept things and just enjoy.  Probably won't be hard to do if I retain some beach life (currently I'm living on the east coast of Australia)

 

I assumed it wasn't a cozy campus like a large rural university might be, but how bad does 'Commuter School' sound?  Moving into the area from way outside... I'd still hope to enjoy a school's community.

 

Maybe I'll drop you a line later Trio.

Cheers

Edited April 10, 2014 by rockwell_

[TriloBiteMe]

Offically rejected from UT Austin today, I knew it was a long shot.

[Anatexis]

Sorry to hear that Trilobiteme, bummer. Turbidite also mentioned waiting on UT Austin, I wonder what she/he heard.

[turbidite]

Sorry to hear that Trilobiteme, bummer. Turbidite also mentioned waiting on UT Austin, I wonder what she/he heard.

Rejected as well. Oh well, life goes on. Apparently they sent out all decisions today, so everyone should have heard.

 

Congrats to anyone who got the good news!

[dmpakistan]

^{Hello All,}

 

^{Did anyone here receive an acceptance/rejection from TAMU, CSM, Tulsa or LSU in MS Petroleum Engineering program? I am very anxious. April 15 is almost here and I've not heard back from any university yet . PE guys plz share your experiences}

Edited April 11, 2014 by dmpakistan

[luthercloud]

^{Hello All,}

 

^{Did anyone here receive an acceptance/rejection from TAMU, CSM, Tulsa or LSU in MS Petroleum Engineering program? I am very anxious. April 15 is almost here and I've not heard back from any university yet . PE guys plz share your experiences}

Me too. NO REJECTIONS and NO OFFERS

[owl13]

POI from SDSU emailed me the other day saying he wanted to admit me but since Im out of state I cant be guaranteed funding, but if one of his in state students declines I can take theirs.  Not too sure why I didnt think that through when applying to a bunch of state schools.  Now I just have to wait to hear if I got funded at USU.  This whole grad school thing has been a pretty big swing and a miss so far, but I got out of undergrad debt free so I suppose paying for grad school wouldnt be the end of the world...

[RockSniffer]

CSM rejection ~~ They must have sent their offers by now? I spoke with a lady over the phone, because all I got online was "Decision made". You should call'em up and ask.

[TriloBiteMe]

I am also still waiting to hear back from TAMU and UH.

[WDE]

I'm still waiting on UH as well, has anyone heard anything from Houston? 

[Initial J]

I'm still waiting on UH as well, has anyone heard anything from Houston? 

It seems that they haven't made any decisions yet.

[wwzzxx]

Does anyone know something about the Integrated Petroleum Geosciences program at U of Alberta? I have applied, no decision came yet...

[moneygram]

Got into MS Hydrometeorology at U of Arizona. TA ship at USD 16076!!! 

[Anatexis]

Rejected from LSU. Very disappointed. But, as they say, the only failure is giving up. See you all next year!

[Initial J]

Rejected by UH, I've failed this application season.

[wwzzxx]

Rejected from LSU. Very disappointed. But, as they say, the only failure is giving up. See you all next year!

Does the geo department only accept students with available funding, even if the student can support himself?

[wwzzxx]

Rejected by UH, I've failed this application season.

Same as me. What is next step?