If I join the Navy's Nuclear Propulsion Program to be a nuclear reactor engineer will I earn a master's degree?

Question

I heard that the training and course work at the Naval Nuclear Power School is so tough that they give the officers master's degrees when they finish.

Answer 1

Naval Nuclear Power School is an excellent school for learning how to run the nuclear power plants on navy ships. However, it is not so good for learning the basic math and physics needed to understand the theories that support the nuclear sciences. A nuclear engineer learns about more than just how to run a specific power plant. The curricula ranges from radiation detection to radiation shielding to vector calculus to thermodynamics to isotopic separation. Safety analysis topics are covered such as fault tree analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, and other hazard analysis techniques.



Think of it like learning to fix a certain kind of car. If the only car you ever worked on was an eight cylinder, manual transmission, rear-wheel drive, Ford Mustang then you might not be suited to working on a car with a rotary engine, continuously variable transmission and front wheel drive.



As a nuclear engineer with 17 years of experience in the industry, I have spoken to several former Navy guys (and one girl) about their experience. Some of them went on to get degrees (and I had to endure their curve-busting performance in class), but most didn't. They support what I have said.

Answer 2

If you enlist and become a nuke, some colleges will give you credit. RPI used to give about 30 credits towards a BS in Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics, which still required three years of classes to complete the degree.

As an officer, you'll learn watered down graduate level material. Several universities (ODU and Catholic) will give you credit towards a master's in engineering management. After serving onboard as an officer in a nuclear division for a minimum of a year, you will go on to qualify as an Engineer on your ship; the closest equivalent to that in the civilian world is becoming a PE.

Answer 3

I don't know if you will earn a masters degree, but I do know that most of the Navy school programs qualify you for college credits. I was talking to a Navy recruiter yesterday, and he was telling me about how the Navy tries to get all of there classes standardized by the same agency that standardizes college classes... That might have came out wrong since I was half dead while he was talking to me.



The overall picture is, most of the training classes you get from the Navy, are also transferable for college credit.

Answer 4

It is tough.



The government does not give out degrees.



Degrees are only given out by universities.



However as an enlistedman, if you finish nuc school, you should be close to a B.S. degree. Once in the fleet you could finish your B.A. just doing on course at a time, in a year or tow.



I have worked with many nucs, some of them did get their degrees. However many simply did not want to put in the work to finish their degrees.

Answer 5

no. this is not true. if you go in enlisted, you will be very close to a bachelors degree upon completion of the three schools you go through. and with the officers, again, they dont give you a degree for finishing this schooling. but you will have enough training that it will translate into credits toward a degree, which will put you very close to a masters, being that you already have a bachelors.

Answer 6

no. you will have to see how many credits the training a particular college will give you TOWARDS a degree. the Military does not award degrees.