<p>I am a rising senior right now, and I have always done very well in math and science. Recently I have been looking into these majors, and I have heard chemical and nuclear engineering are very promising careers right now. I have always enjoyed chemistry and physics, and was considering working with nuclear reactors out of college. Another career goal would be an MBA after a few years of work experience. Does any one of these degrees seem like a better fit then the others?</p>
<p>I would say that given what happened in Japan, nuclear engineering is not likely to be a good field in the future.</p>
<p>Yeah but there are also some promising new technologies like the traveling wave reactor which could do amazing things in a few years.</p>
<p>I’m a chemE, but I looked into nuclear engineering a couple months ago because a good friend of my dad’s is a nuclear physicist and he suggested it as a possible concentration for my degree. I was able to go to a conference for nuclear engineers/scientists and I was EXTREMELY disappointed by what I learned there. It seems like most of the funding in academia in that area is for nuclear non-proliferation (i.e. how to develop sensors to detect if Iran/North Korea have nuclear missiles) and nuclear waste management, both of which I find to be incredibly boring. There’s hardly any funding in the potential development of nuclear fusion, or in making fission reactors a large part of the energy production in this country. So disappointing…</p>
<p>Alright good to know. Getting your chemE degree did you have the opportunity to study any of the nuclear stuff?</p>
<p>I’m only in my second year actually, but my school has an option to have a joint major with nuclear engineering, so the option is there for sure.</p>
<p>It seems to me like the popularity of nuclear would fluctuate with the political climate. Star out in one of re other two and you can switch I guess if you find out it’s right for you.</p>
<p>Because of the overlap of ME and NucE coursework, some universities offer the ability to easily double major.</p>