2023 Most Focused Colleges for Petroleum Engineering in the Rocky Mountains Region

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Schools Highly Focused on Petroleum Engineering Major in the Rocky Mountains Region” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Petroleum Engineering is the 223rd most popular major in the country with 1,256 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, petroleum engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $83,917 and had an average of $25,780 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Rocky Mountains region, there were 164 petroleum engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $88,574 and $27,110 respectively.

This year’s “Schools Highly Focused on Petroleum Engineering Major in the Rocky Mountains Region” ranking analyzed 4 colleges that offered a degree in petroleum engineering. This a ranking of the schools where the largest percentage of students has enrolled in petroleum engineering.

Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Petroleum Engineering Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Schools Highly Focused on Petroleum Engineering Major in the Rocky Mountains Region” list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Schools Highly Focused on Petroleum Engineering Major in the Rocky Mountains Region

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools Highly Focused on Petroleum Engineering Major in the Rocky Mountains Region”.

Top 4 Most Focused Colleges for Petroleum Engineering in the Rocky Mountains Region

1

Montana Technological University
Butte, Montana

$63,042 Average Early-Career Earnings

$21,800 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Montana Technological University. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools Highly Focused on Petroleum Engineering Major in the Rocky Mountains Region list. Montana Technological University is a public institution located in Butte, Montana. The school has a small population, and it awarded 34 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.

Read full report on Petroleum Engineering at Montana Technological University

2

Colorado School of Mines
Golden, Colorado

#1 overall quality in Rocky Mountains

$72,191 Average Early-Career Earnings

$24,861 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Colorado School of Mines. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools Highly Focused on Petroleum Engineering Major in the Rocky Mountains Region list. Mines is a medium-sized public school situated in Golden, Colorado. It awarded 86 ’s petroleum engineering degrees in 2020-2021.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.7% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 92%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Petroleum Engineering at Mines

3

University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming

#16 overall quality in Rocky Mountains

$44,258 Average Early-Career Earnings

$20,793 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Wyoming. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Schools Highly Focused on Petroleum Engineering Major in the Rocky Mountains Region list. University of Wyoming is located in Laramie, Wyoming and, has a fairly large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 41 ’s petroleum engineering degrees to qualified students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 3.5% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Full University of Wyoming Petroleum Engineering Report

4

University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah

#9 overall quality in Rocky Mountains

$51,388 Average Early-Career Earnings

$20,883 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Utah. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Schools Highly Focused on Petroleum Engineering Major in the Rocky Mountains Region list. Salt Lake City, Utah is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s petroleum engineering degrees to 3 students in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 89%.

Read full report on Petroleum Engineering at University of Utah

• Most Focused Colleges for Petroleum Engineering

Notes and References

References

• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.