undergradly.
Major · Engineering

Engineer the subsurface where energy and earth meet

Petroleum Engineering applies physics, chemistry, and reservoir mechanics to the design of systems that locate, drill, produce, and transport hydrocarbons. About 488 degrees are awarded each year across 26 colleges, concentrated heavily in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. The five-year median earnings of $108,642 are the highest in the engineering set tracked here.

Schools offering
26
Annual completions
488
Typical degree level
Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$109k

About this major

Petroleum Engineering applies mathematics, physics, and chemistry to the systems that locate, extract, process, refine, and transport crude oil and natural gas. The CIP definition spans prospecting instruments, mining and drilling systems, processing and refining facilities, storage, transportation, and the related environmental and safety systems. In practice, a four-year program walks students through reservoir engineering, drilling and completions, production engineering, and formation evaluation, layered on top of a standard engineering math, physics, and geology foundation. Most programs are ABET-accredited, and most students take the Fundamentals of Engineering exam in their senior year as the first step toward a Professional Engineer license.

The major draws students who want engineering work tied to the physical earth — fluid mechanics in porous rock, multiphase flow up wellbores, the mechanics of drilling and stimulating formations thousands of feet below the surface. Strong quantitative reasoning matters; reservoir simulation, well-test analysis, and production forecasting all rely on numerical methods and probability. Comfort with field conditions also helps, since most career paths involve at least early-career rotations in the field rather than purely office-based work.

The scale is small relative to other engineering disciplines. About 488 degrees are awarded annually across 26 colleges, with completions concentrated heavily in basin-state programs: Texas A&M (91 completions), Penn State (68), UT Austin (61), Colorado School of Mines (28), LSU (27), and the University of Oklahoma (26) lead the list. The petroleum engineer occupation itself posts a $141,280 median wage with 1.3% projected growth — slow growth, but among the highest absolute wages in engineering.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Architectural and engineering managers $168k +3.8% Bachelor's degree
Engineering teachers, postsecondary $106k +8.1% Doctoral or professional degree
Petroleum engineers $141k +1.3% Bachelor's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$109k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if subsurface energy is the part of engineering that genuinely engages you — not as a fallback but as the specific intersection of geology, fluid mechanics, and field operations that the curriculum builds toward, and you are comfortable with field rotations and basin-state geography in the early years of a career, and you can hold both quantitative modeling and the practical reality of drilling and completions in the same headspace, and the salary potential — a $141,280 median for petroleum engineers and $108,642 five-year earnings — matters enough to accept industry-cycle volatility.

Reconsider this route if your interest in engineering is general and industry-flexibility is the priority, since Mechanical Engineering at 33,431 annual completions covers a broader employer base and Chemical Engineering at 7,914 completions overlaps significantly on process work without the same hydrocarbon tether. Reconsider also if relocating to Houston, Midland, Tulsa, Denver, or the Permian Basin sounds unworkable, because basin geography drives a large share of placements. Reconsider if you are planning a 30-year career on the assumption that oil and gas hiring patterns of the past decade will hold, since programs themselves are pivoting curricula toward geothermal, carbon capture, and subsurface storage in response to long-term demand forecasts. And reconsider if recent boom-bust history — the 2014–2016 price collapse and the 2020 pandemic both produced graduate layoffs and rescinded offers in this specific discipline — sounds like a pattern you would not want to absorb.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Petroleum Engineering

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX 0 91 91
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA 0 68 68
The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 0 61 61
Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO 0 28 28
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Baton Rouge, LA 0 27 27
University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus Norman, OK 0 26 26
Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX 0 25 25
The University of Texas Permian Basin Odessa, TX 0 17 17
University of Tulsa Tulsa, OK 0 15 15
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV 0 14 14
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Mechanical Engineering

33,431 completions/yr

Electrical and Electronics Engineering

14,891 completions/yr

Civil Engineering, General

13,488 completions/yr

Computer Engineering, General

9,312 completions/yr

Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering

8,569 completions/yr

Chemical Engineering

7,914 completions/yr

Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering, General

6,386 completions/yr

Engineering, General

5,416 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do petroleum engineering majors actually study day-to-day?
The curriculum opens with calculus, differential equations, physics, chemistry, and geology, then moves into reservoir engineering, drilling and completions, production engineering, and well testing. Upper-division courses cover formation evaluation, multiphase flow, well log analysis, hydraulic fracturing design, and reservoir simulation. Lab and field components handle core analysis, fluid PVT properties, and drilling fluid behavior. Programs are ABET-accredited four-year engineering degrees and most close with a capstone field development project. The math sits at the level of other engineering disciplines, with reservoir simulation adding numerical methods on top.
Do I need a bachelor's, or is an associate's enough for petroleum engineering?
For the petroleum engineer role and its associated earnings, a bachelor's from an ABET-accredited program is the practical requirement. The data packet shows no associate's earnings split — the five-year median of $108,642 reflects bachelor's completers entirely. Associate's programs in petroleum technology exist but lead to technician roles in drilling, completions, or production at substantially lower pay. All three tracked careers list a bachelor's or higher as the typical entry credential. Many graduates also pursue the Fundamentals of Engineering exam in their senior year as the first step toward a Professional Engineer license.
What kinds of jobs do petroleum engineering graduates end up in?
The most direct destination is petroleum engineer at a $141,280 median wage with 1.3% projected job growth, working in operating companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron or in oilfield services like SLB, Halliburton, and Baker Hughes. Specific subroles include reservoir engineer, drilling engineer, completions engineer, and production engineer. The major also feeds architectural and engineering management at $167,740 median, the senior leadership path reached after a decade or more. Postsecondary engineering teaching is a tracked outcome at $106,120 median but requires a doctoral degree. A growing share of graduates is moving into geothermal, carbon capture, hydrogen storage, and pipeline integrity roles.
How cyclical and geographically concentrated is the job market?
Both factors are real and shape the entry experience. Hiring tracks oil and gas prices closely — the 2014–2016 price collapse and the 2020 pandemic both produced rescinded offers and graduate layoffs in the discipline. Job concentration follows the basins: Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, the Appalachian region, the Rockies, and Alaska account for the bulk of openings, with Houston, Midland, Oklahoma City, Denver, and Pittsburgh as primary hubs. Projected growth for petroleum engineers is 1.3%, which is slow relative to other engineering fields. Graduates willing to relocate to active basins generally place faster than those tied to a specific region.
How is the energy transition affecting this major?
The discipline is actively pivoting. Many programs have rebranded or expanded curricula to cover geothermal energy, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, and subsurface energy storage — a recognition that the subsurface skill set extends well beyond hydrocarbons. Several departments now market themselves as 'energy' or 'subsurface' engineering rather than petroleum specifically. Long-term forecasts from the IEA and others point to peak oil demand within the coming decades, and institutional investors are tightening fossil-fuel exposure. The near-term hiring picture in oil and gas remains active, but planning a 30-year career around the same employers and basins as the prior generation is no longer a safe assumption.
Is petroleum engineering the right fit, or should I consider a related major?
Petroleum engineering is the right call if you want subsurface and energy work specifically and you are comfortable with the cyclicality and geography that come with it. Mechanical Engineering at 33,431 annual completions offers the broadest industry flexibility and overlaps significantly on thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. Chemical Engineering at 7,914 completions covers process engineering for refining, petrochemicals, and adjacent industries with a similar quantitative profile. Civil Engineering at 13,488 completions is the path if pipeline, infrastructure, and geotechnical work appeals more than the well itself. For a science-rather-than-engineering route, geology programs cover the earth-science side without the engineering credential or licensure track.
What's a realistic earnings picture after a petroleum engineering degree?
Five-year median earnings run $108,642, the highest among engineering majors tracked here, reflecting bachelor's completers in active basin employment. The petroleum engineer occupation itself posts a $141,280 median wage — the gap to the five-year figure reflects experience-building and the reality that not all graduates enter the occupation directly. The career ceiling extends to $167,740 for architectural and engineering managers, a path that typically takes a decade or more. The headline median masks a bimodal pattern: graduates from top programs in active hiring cycles place at the high end, while regional programs in down cycles can see softer outcomes. Earnings volatility is part of the package.