Graduate School Programs for a Career in the Gas and Oil Industry

I’ll be back next week with the final segment in my series on Online Learning Programs. 

This week, however, we’re taking a short break to look at the educational requirements of a career in the gas and oil industry.  The field offers a number of high paying opportunities, and even with the current economic crisis, these jobs are still in high demand.  That’s the good news.

The less good news (well, only if you’re not the perpetual student type) is that most of these positions require an advanced degree — at least a Master’s Degree, and preferably a PhD.  A 2006 survey by the Society for Petroleum Engineers shows that engineers with advanced degrees earn an average of 30 percent more than those with just an undergraduate degree.

Good disciplines to consider include Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, as well as Geology and Earth Sciences.  See Job Monkey’s extensive list of schools with top rated graduate programs in gas and oil industry fields.

Apropos to our ongoing conversation here about online degrees, there are a growing number of distance learning options for the gas and oil industry as well. Like your course of study at a brick and mortar school, online classes will cover the managerial and technical aspects of oil engineering.  Other academic subjects may include geology, geophysics, drilling methodology and seismology.