Nuclear or Industrial? Senior major crisis

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>I am a fourth-year engineering student at the University of Florida. I originally chose engineering, like many students, because of my aptitude for math and problem solving. I originally started in Materials (hated lab work, switched) and chose Nuclear after my 2nd year because of the challenge and skills involved (math & programming). Essentially, I am a year behind on tracking (5-year BS bc of late switch)</p>

<p>I still have a 3.5 (3.3 engineering) after my first 'upper division' Nuclear Engineering semester, but it has come at a high cost to my time, social life, health, etc. The nuclear dept here is falling apart (one faculty quit mid-semester), and I have other reservations that I'll list below to be more clear. </p>

<p>The obvious choice would be to grind out 3 more semesters and get my degree, since it is VERY late in the game at this point (I have not yet thought about graduate school). The only other viable option where I could graduate on time seems to be Industrial Engineering, which from what I understand, besides being the "joke" of engineering freshman and sophomore year, has the same job and pay prospects as any other type. </p>

<p>What should I do? Below I list some extra information, I hope I am not making too long of a post</p>

<p>My personal skills and interests:
math (high)
computers (medium)
business (medium)
electronics (medium-high)
science (medium-low)
general problem solving (high)
social/team skills (high, esp for an engineer)</p>

<p>My personal pro/con for Nuclear:
+ already in it
+ people are impressed by it (immature, but it's nice)
+ high pay out of college
+ good job prospects/market from what I understand
- not too interested in the science
- computation is becoming more and more esoteric
- classes are hard and very time consuming
- I am scared of not working in a metropolitan area (important to me)
- too focused of a discipline</p>

<p>My personal pro/con for Industrial:
+ much easier course work, seemingly equal job prospects
+ can work pretty much anywhere and in many roles
- seemingly not as good of a degree "on paper"
- it almost feels like a waste having taken so many hard classes that won't count if i switch
- it's always hard to pick up and start over</p>

<p>thank you so much for anyone who replies</p>

2

<p>Another quick question for anyone who can help:
seeing as I haven’t particularly found my niche, how much ‘lateral movement’ would be allowed with either degree? I mean to say, if I get a nuclear degree, would it be easy to work in other engineering fields, or even finance?</p>

<p>Also, if i keep my nuke major and intern for an EE (electrical) position this summer, is it a huge waste of my time job-wise?</p>

3

<p>I am currently in nuclear engineering, and it is my opinion that it is not a very versatile degree to have. The departments intro freshman course was designed to outline the opportunities in the field, and to them it may seem impressive, but to me it looked very limited. I would have a hard time seeing how you could take your skills to a vastly different area outside of nuclear, but if someone else could enlighten me on this subject that would be appreciated. I am currently trying to make a similar decision as to whether I will continue nucelar or go into another discipline.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for replying. </p>

<p>The skills you learn in nuclear engineering can aid you in working for most energy systems (solar, coal, etc). So yes, hope you enjoyed learning fortran like I did. Glad to have someone in the same boat, btw</p>