Nuclear Engineering
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Types of Degrees Nuclear Engineering Majors Are Getting
The following table lists how many nuclear engineering technology graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.
Education Level | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Bachelor’s Degree | 145 |
Associate Degree | 73 |
Undergraduate Certificate | 2 |
What Nuclear Engineering Majors Need to Know
In an O*NET survey, nuclear engineering tech majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.
Knowledge Areas for Nuclear Engineering Tech Majors
This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Skills for Nuclear Engineering Tech Majors
The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to nuclear engineering tech:
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Operation Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Abilities for Nuclear Engineering Tech Majors
A major in nuclear engineering tech will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:
- Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Perceptual Speed - The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Nuclear Engineering?
Racial-Ethnic Diversity
At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of nuclear engineering tech majors is as follows:
Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 2 |
Black or African American | 6 |
Hispanic or Latino | 13 |
White | 119 |
International Students | 0 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 5 |
How Much Do Nuclear Engineering Majors Make?
Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary
The median early-career salary of nuclear engineering technology students with a bachelor’s degree is $84,153 a year according to 2019-2020 data from the U.S. Department of Education. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $84,153 (25th percentile) and $84,153 (75th percentile).
Note that some of these people may have jobs that are not directly related to a nuclear engineering tech degree.
Salaries According to BLS
Nuclear Engineering Tech majors often go into careers with median salaries of $79,970. This median refers to all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.
To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.
Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Nuclear Engineering
Some degrees associated with nuclear engineering tech may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.
Find out what the typical degree level is for nuclear engineering tech careers below.
Education Level | Percentage of Workers |
---|---|
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED) | 30.8% |
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production) | 18.5% |
Some College Courses | 7.9% |
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 37.2% |
Bachelor’s Degree | 6.5% |
Online Nuclear Engineering Programs
In the 2020-2021 academic year, 14 schools offered some type of nuclear engineering technology program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.
Degree Level | Colleges Offering Programs | Colleges Offering Online Classes |
---|---|---|
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year) | 0 | 0 |
Certificate (1-2 years) | 3 | 2 |
Certificate (2-4 Years) | 0 | 0 |
Associate’s Degree | 13 | 4 |
Bachelor’s Degree | 0 | 0 |
Post-Baccalaureate | 0 | 0 |
Master’s Degree | 1 | 1 |
Post-Master’s | 0 | 0 |
Doctor’s Degree (Research) | 0 | 0 |
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice) | 0 | 0 |
Doctor’s Degree (Other) | 0 | 0 |
Is a Degree in Nuclear Engineering Worth It?
The median salary for a nuclear engineering tech grad is $79,970 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.
This is 100% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $801,400 after 20 years!
Top Ranking Lists for Nuclear Engineering
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Majors Related to Nuclear Engineering
You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to nuclear engineering tech.
Major | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Industrial Production Technology | 11,906 |
Electromechanical Engineering Technology | 10,593 |
Drafting & Design Engineering Technology | 8,964 |
Environmental Control Technology | 8,690 |
Electronics Engineering Technology | 8,592 |
Engineering-Related Fields | 6,736 |
Mechanical Engineering Technology | 6,013 |
General Engineering Technology | 4,676 |
Construction Engineering Technology | 4,330 |
Quality Control Technology | 3,824 |
Computer Engineering Technology | 3,595 |
Engineering Technology (Other) | 1,768 |
Architectural Engineering Technology | 1,290 |
Energy Systems Technologies | 1,256 |
Civil Engineering Technology | 1,187 |
Engineering-Related Technologies | 989 |
Mining & Petroleum Technology | 445 |
Nanotechnology | 114 |
References
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
- College Factual
- College Scorecard
- National Center for Education Statistics
- O*NET Online
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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