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Geology is a GREAT field to be in! The demand for geologists is expected to grow considerably over the next 5-10 years, as well. A lot of Geologists are also nearing retirement so there will be a lot of opening because of that too.
Missouri University of Science and Technology, Petroleum Engineering (http://petroleum.mst.edu/prospectivestudents/undergraduatedegree/pe_bachelor.html - broken link)
vs
University of Missouri - Rolla, Department of Geological Sciences & Engineering (http://gse.mst.edu/geologygeophysics/curriculumcourses/geologygeophysicscurriculum.html - broken link)
My advice - everyone has advice, take it for what its worth - based on your two questions, geology and/or petroleum engineering: major in one, minor in the other...
I'm prejudiced, but will state that I prefer Geology, and have a minor in it [major is Metallurgical Engineering] - but that is just me. Good luck
From the department of labor website it seems most of the geologist jobs are in oil, water, and teaching. The same was found on careerbuilder. I don't know enough about the geology field beyond what I read, but what other jobs are out there beyond big oil?
Well, I was a geology minor (could have doubled if my scholarship had been extended for a 5th year) and I have a lot of friends in that field. Almost all of them went straight to grad school or did research for a year and then went back to school. There are entry level jobs (a friend of mine work for an environmental consulting agency, looking at ground composition for construction companies and the like), but they usually don't pay that great and are tedious.
The real money (and fun) comes once you have your Ph.D. Since it's a science, it's pretty standard to get fully funded for grad school, although it's fairly tough to get in depending on your concentration. Once you graduate, you can go the teaching route, which is fun (you get paid to take students camping!) or you can join the professional world. Petrologists make a TON of money working for oil companies, but they don't get to do as much of the fun stuff. I have several plans who are doing their Ph.D.s in planetary geology, which is a pretty good field. They all interned at NASA for undergrad and one of them worked on the Mars rover project one summer.
You will need to know chemistry, math and physics because mineralogy and tectonics will require those disciplines. I always told myself that if my theater career didn't pan out, I'd go back to school for geology. So far I haven't had to fall back on it, but I do still enjoy going hiking and being able to explain the great natural phenomena I see.
but I do still enjoy going hiking and being able to explain the great natural phenomena I see.
That was my fantasy about being a geologist. Going out in the middle of the woods to get a sample in hopes it was something special. Kinda like a super hero of geologists.
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