NE Undergraduate Degree?

[bomanimc]

Hello. I am wondering how imperative or useful it is to attain your undergraduate degree in Nuclear Engineering for those who hope to go on to do Nuclear Engineering in graduate school? Are there any other engineering fields that would transition well into a Nuclear Engineering grad program?

[eaton1981]

I'm working with a couple guys who received their masters in nuc eng. One has his bachelors in physics, the other in mech. engineering.

Anything related (e.g. physics, eng, math) will help out just fine.

What are you long-term career goals?

[bomanimc]

At this point, I am not totally sure. I think that I would like to do work with plasma or study the uses of nuclear energy as a source of propulsion. If possible, I would generally like to work in a lab setting, so I think it would be very ideal to work at a national lab. I am in my last year of high school, but I do research in quantitative biology and biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt. The lab setting is appealing and I almost definitely do not want to work at a plant.

Additionally, I am heavily focused on doing undergraduate research in Nuclear Engineering. That being said, would you say it is important for me to go to a school that offers and NE undergraduate degree?

[tolstoy]

Here's what I did back in the day and it worked out well: figure out what post-grad program you want to get in to. Is there anyone doing work that you follow? Anything particular research you like? Any papers you've read? Find out where these people work and call their department an tell them what you're interested in. Find out what they look for other than the posted requirements. Find out what kind of tests or certs would be helpful. Start making a list and go from there. I would advise that you do some kind of research or other academic extracurricular activity.  You'll be completing with a whole lot of really smart people and will want to show that you are serious and willing to go the extra mile. Good luck!

[cheme09]

check PM