Is petroleum engineering is good?

I live in Australia and I plan to pursue petroleum engineering. Will it be better for my career if i did my degree in Texas e.g UT Austin and Texas A&M or is UNSW fine?

• I am a recently graduated student in Australia and I plan to pursue petroleum engineering. I have already been accepted in petroleum engineering programs in UNSW, University of Adelaide and Curtin University. So my questions are:- 1. Will it be better for my career if I did petroleum engineering in texas, for e.g UT Austin and Texas A&M? 2. Also how significant is a masters degree in petroleum engineering? Will I be better of doing chemical first and then masters in petroleum? 3. Also I would have to pay a lot more tution fees is any university in the USA so will it be worth it?

• Answer:

  Before I give you my opinion, I should start by saying that I'm a recent Texas A&M grad so I perhaps have some biases and I'm not really familiar with universities in Australia. To answer your question though, I think it depends on a few things. In my opinion, petroleum engineering doesn't need a masters degree as much as most other majors because you can graduate and come out making a pretty good salary. Both Austin and College Station are within about two hours from Houston which is often referred to as the energy/oil capital of the world. So, if you're willing to work in Houston after you graduate I would strongly recommend either A&M or Texas. , who often posts here on quora about energy related topics can fill you in more on the energy industry in Houston. Both Texas schools are relatively cheap by American standards so while you may go into debt to pay for schooling, it won't be astronomical by any means. Here's where I'm perhaps the most bias though. From talking to international students and traveling abroad I strongly believe that the American college experience as a whole beats every other nation. There are many things that I'll concede that other nations have us beat, but not the overall college experience. This is the case in a number of ways, but most prominently when it comes to college sports. It's something that you'd have to live in the US to understand. As far as Texas v. Texas A&M is concerned, in my opinion College Station is a better college town while Austin is a better city if that makes sense. A&M is more conservative than the University of Texas as a whole, but both schools are HUGE with very diverse student bodies. I could ramble on for a while, but if you do come to Texas you can always shoot me a message.