Help determining best option for petrophysics

[ChaseRLewis]

I've been working for an oil-company for the last 2 years as an LWD field engineer. My goal is to move back into the city and would like to pursue a petrophysics career.

I have a degree in Chemical Engineering, but I am told geophysics is the best way to pursue this. Is there any way to obtain a geophysics degree through correspondence or would I have to move back to the city? Looking at the university I graduated from it would take 3 to 4 semesters to graduate since I have about 60% of the credits already finished. However, I'm unsure if it is at all possible to go back to school while maintaining a reasonable job. I'd be fine with an intern level position but at least something where I can continue to build experience in the oil and gas field (trying to talk to my company about that currently).

I know in Chemical engineering a lot of people that came back to do their degrees would do a co-op or maintain a part-time work for a local engineering company but petrophysics is largely a career focused with the major oil companies so I'm unsure even where I could get part-time work like that without waiting a year or so after beginning to pursue geophysics.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[VantagePoint72]

Looking at the university I graduated from it would take 3 to 4 semesters to graduate since I have about 60% of the credits already finished.

Careful on this point, you don't typically get to reuse credits you have already received a degree for if you start a second one. You might get a waiver for those courses, but a waiver isn't a credit—it just means you get to skip the prerequesite. Unless your school is very different from any I've ever seen, you will almost certainly still need the complete the same number of courses as everyone else.

 

[ChaseRLewis]

Careful on this point, you don't typically get to reuse credits you have already received a degree for if you start a second one. You might get a waiver for those courses, but a waiver isn't a credit—it just means you get to skip the prerequesite. Unless your school is very different from any I've ever seen, you will almost certainly still need the complete the same number of courses as everyone else.

Hm, I figured it would be similar to transferring schools. I'll definitely look into. I mean I know people that double majored and were able to use the same class twice. I imagined I could basically do the same thing if I used my original classes. I mean I'm still in the university system and can register for classes without any additional applications or anything like that, so register as a double major then just take the specific courses I haven't taken yet. Regardless, I'll look into it.

 

[VantagePoint72]

Hm, I figured it would be similar to transferring schools. I'll definitely look into. I mean I know people that double majored and were able to use the same class twice. I imagined I could basically do the same thing if I used my original classes. I mean I'm still in the university system and can register for classes without any additional applications or anything like that, so register as a double major then just take the specific courses I haven't taken yet. Regardless, I'll look into it.

Whether or not you've already graduated makes a big difference. Double majoring is one thing—and even then there are typically rules about how much you can "double dip"—but once you graduate it's like you've cashed out, in a sense. In the event they do let you reuse some credits, I think it's very doubtful they'd give you credit for over half the degree.

 

[ChaseRLewis]

Hm, got an e-mail from a guy within my company that I contacted. He said that my resume would be enough to be hired and said that they are more interested in having 2+ years LWD experience then any actual geology experience though they do sometimes hire geophysics majors out of college but an engineering degree with LWD experience is plenty sufficient. Only looking for senior petrophysicists (5+ years experience and whatnot) at the moment but I should keep checking in.