PBD

Congrats to everyone, I hope everyone is happy with their choices. Are you glad the process is (mostly) over?! I'm still trying to decide!

Ibbet, that's a good point about salaries. The fact that pay is high indicates that, whatever else is going on, there aren't too many nuclear engineers. That gets back to my thought about "leaving more for us". Nuclear is small, but that doesn't mean it has poor prospects. I read up on the Berkeley department, just because I was interested in why they were the only one in California. And what it came down to was that after WWII, many individuals at other universities in California were opposed to nuclear weapons research. They got out of nuclear fairly early on, or never got into it to begin with. I'm not sure what, if any, thought was given regarding nuclear power, and of course back then all the other uses of radiation, like medical , etc. were barely beginning.

Well, I've heard that any engineer, no matter the field, ought to have a backup plan. My dad was an engineer (before he switched fields entirely) and they were all crushed by the oil crisis in the '80s- but now petroleum engineering is really hot. It probably won't be again in another 30 years. It's always cyclical. So I think a nuclear engineer should have a back-up plan but I don't think we're really special that way. In some ways all the negative talk about the field has kept people out of it and that leaves more for us!

Well, I had only decided to pursue NE in the last year or two, and I come from a school that doesn't have a NE program, so I don't feel I have a broad enough exposure to the field to really jump into a PhD just yet. I told the programs (including Michigan) in my application that I'd most likely go on to get a PhD, though. One program has asked to place me into a PhD track right now, but I'd like to learn more before I commit to a certain area of study within the field. So we'll see what happens, but I'm not sad about the choices I do have so far, that's for sure! It's already more than I had hoped for. Good luck, nuckee, hope that package is a big fat admission to MIT!

Wow, I'm glad I found this thread. Was starting to get stressed about how some programs have sent funding letters & some haven't, and some don't respond... anyway, here is what I have so far. I applied for MS programs UIUC- admitted in early Feb. with an TAship for 9 mo with offer to extend to 11 mo. I am enamored of their computational engineering minor! Texas A & M admitted with a nice TA ship, same terms. Getting lots of mail from them- they do make one feel wanted, which is nice. Wisconsin- admitted, no word on funding except did ask for some info and received a letter advising me to contact profs I might be interested in working with and a form to apply for TAship- it's not much, though. Like 14k. Not encouraging, but the tuition waiver would help as I'm out-of-state. The letter was dated Feb 3 but was emailed to me last week after I asked about it. Michigan- admitted Feb 24, no word on funding, though I did ask. And a couple of other places but these are my top schools. I think I did application overkill; lol, there weren't any nuclear profs at my school so no one could really tell me much about what to aim for, so I aimed for every place.... Really want to visit some of these programs but I'm having trouble getting a response from Michigan. Is it true that I can count on being funded there, or is that guarantee reserved for PhD students?

Contact the department to which you are applying. I also forgot to add something and they were most helpful. Usually there is a department contact you can call or email. Don't bother with the university graduate studies office!

Colorado School of Mines- (their motto is Earth, Energy, Environment). This is from the EE Master's Program website: "Energy Systems and Power Electronics is focused on both fundamental and applied research in the interrelated fields of conventional electric power systems and electric machinery, renewable energy and distributed generation, energy economics and policy issues, power quality, power electronics and drives. The overall scope of research encompasses a broad spectrum of electrical energy applications including investor-owned utilities, rural electric associations, manufacturing facilities, regulatory agencies, and consulting engineering firms." The other thing about this school is that graduates generally have the highest starting salaries in the nation (though that statistic is probably skewed a bit by the large number of petroleum engineering graduates), so in terms of jobs the prospects are quite good. They have an excellent relationship with industry. Good luck!

Hello- I'm applying for programs (Phd or MS-to-PhD) in Nuclear Engineering. My school is a small science & engineering school that is generally well-regarded, especially by industry, but not very research oriented. I'm interested in computational science & modeling, but worry that the programs that have that area of research are out of my league. Here are my creds: -GPA 3.9/4.0 in Engineering Physics. I've been following the 5-year BS/MS program in nuclear engineering, so will have taken several upper-division nuclear engineering courses. But, since power generation is not my focus, I don't think my current school is a good fit & I feel weird asking them for advice about where to go. -Several small undergrad scholarships in math & science, one big one from the school. -TBP (engineering) KME (math) honor societies -Awarded a competitive fellowship this past summer to study particle simulation in medical physics at a very well-known cancer center in Texas. However, we hit some snags in the project and the results probably won't be published. -senior thesis in nuclear physics, working on a TRIGA reactor. Won't have anything published by the time I apply. -GREs VQA of 165/170/4 -will have a strong rec. from my mentor in Texas & a couple people in nuclear physics here, but my current research adviser doesn't know me that well, yet. Should I send 4 letters just in case? Applying to Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon, New Mexico, Illinois, Texas A&M. I need a safety school, but can't find one that has high-performance computing. Any ideas? Would I be better off forgetting about grad school this year, beefing up my research experience and re-applying next year? Thanks!!!

Thank you, that's the answer I was hoping to hear.

This may not be pertinent to the OP, but I did have to reschedule my test because the test center canceled my test the day before it was to take place. I was furious, but also at their mercy. There wasn't anything left for open spots that month, they got me in the next month. So if you are taking the test at a test center that isn't on a big university campus, you might want to schedule for two at a time.

So I finally got to take my GREs (the test center canceled on me in August!) My score is V/Q/AW 165/170/4.0 The 4 puts me at a 54% I am thrilled with the first two but not so much with the 4- but if I retake it, statistically speaking it's very likely that 170 will drop. I don't want to risk that, and I don't want to send in a bunch of scores if this will do. The only programs I like that have an AW cutoff say they need a "minimum score of 4", or "above the 50th %ile" so I qualify there, barely. I would like to go into nuclear engineering. I have other things to worry about since I am kind of late getting my act together- but I am scheduled for a retake this month. What should I do?