Overview
University Name – Pennsylvania State University
Campus Setting – Small city
Petroleum Engineering Department Name – John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering
Department Website – http://www.eme.psu.edu/pnge
Contents
Pennsylvania State University had its humble beginnings in 1855 as a Farmer’s High School in Pennsylvania. Today, it is amongst the top 1% of universities worldwide and is one of the “Public Ivies”, a university that is publicly funded yet offering a level of learning that is on par with elite Ivy League schools.
Penn State, as it is commonly called, has more than 160 undergrad offerings and the same number of postgrad qualifications. As part of the school’s “2+2” program, freshmen begin their year in one of the university’s 24 campuses and then later on transfer to University Park, the flagship campus of Penn State, or to another campus altogether.
The Pennsylvania State University ranks 50th overall in U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 “Best Colleges” rankings. The university’s online program, in the meantime, ranks a high No. 8 for “Best Online Programs” and No. 4 for “Best Online Graduate Engineering Programs”. The Wall Street Journal also ranks Penn State as the Number 1 school for producing the best prepped and most well rounded graduates who are most likely to succeed in the actual workplace. This was based on a survey of almost 500 corporate recruiters in 30 industries.
Apart from its academic excellence, the Penn State is also fondly called the Happy Valley. This is due to different factors like a student body hailing from all states and 85 countries, 1,000 clubs and organizations, and the very popular THON, the largest ever student-run charity and philanthropy in the whole world. Almost 15,000 students participate in a dance marathon where students dance for 46 hours straight without sitting or sleeping to raise funds for pediatric cancer research and awareness.
Penn State’s Petroleum Engineering program has the complete package offering as it makes available undergraduate, masteral, and PhD degrees. Unique to the university is the option to choose an integrated Bachelor’s and Masteral degree that can be completed at a shorter duration than normal. As expected, this program is more intensive in terms of course schedule, research work, and time.
Graduates of the program are trained in all aspects of the industry including drilling, production, evaluation, transport, and storage, and later enter the industry as petroleum and natural gas engineers. This is made possible with onsite research and teaching facilities that include a multi-phase fluid flow system lab and a drilling rig simulator.
Key Stats
| Key Stats | 2014-2015 |
|---|---|
| Ninja Ranking | 5 |
| Student Population | 47,040 |
| Student/faculty ratio | 17:1 |
| Admission rate | 51% |
| Retention rate | 93% |
| Graduation rate | 86% |
| Forbes Best Value | #95 |
Pennsylvania State University Petroleum Engineering Degrees Awarded
| Degrees Awarded | 2012-13 | 2014-15 |
|---|---|---|
| Bachelor's | 70 | 137 |
| Master's | 29 | 24 |
| Doctoral | 15 | 24 |
Estimated Tuition Costs and Living Expenses for the 2016-2017 Academic Year
If you are enrolling to the Pennsylvania State University, expect a slight increase in school expenses especially with out-of-state tution. We can see the most inflation in books and happily, the least change in in-state tution and fees.
| Estimated Expenses | 12-13 | 13-14 | 14-15 | 15-16 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - In-state | $16,444 | $16,992 | $17,502 | $17,514 | 0.1 |
| - Out-of-state | $28,746 | $29,566 | $30,452 | $31,346 | 2.9 |
| Books and Supplies | $1,568 | $1,696 | $1,760 | $1,840 | 4.5 |
| On Campus | |||||
| - Room and Board | $9,702 | $10,116 | $10,548 | $10,926 | 3.6 |
| - Other | $4,140 | $4,788 | $4,788 | $4,788 | 0 |
| Off Campus | |||||
| - Room and Board | $9,702 | $10,116 | $10,548 | $10,926 | 3.6 |
| - Other | $4,140 | $4,788 | $4,788 | $4,788 | 0 |
Video
See the University’s history as a land-grant institution and the Petroleum Engineering program’s history as one of the oldest in the nation in this vivid montage of vintage photographs and very informative narration by industry experts.
