Aeronautical Engineering or Nuclear Engineering?

[Shiroe_Blank]

How did you find PF?: Via Google

Hello,
I am a new member here. Thano you for having me !
Im going through a dilemma. Next year I will have to choose a subject for higher studies. I want to work in space organisations in future and I like space researches. So basically Aeronautical Engineer would be a obvious choice. But then again, I also love chemistry and specially nuclear,atom, subatomic material topics.So there comes Nuclear Engineering as well. Is Nuclear Engineering anyhow related to astrophysics/aerospace? Or would it be better to take Aeronautical Engineering?

 

[Choppy]

Welcome to the physics forums!

One thing I like to tell students trying to figure out a course of study is try not to specialize too early. Many schools are set up so that a first year in engineering is rather generic. Just about all engineers will take a common set of courses and then specialize as they move on in their programs. Even if it's not set up this way, specifically, it's usually a good idea to choose your courses so you have the flexibility to move between programs after your first year.

Once you're at a university you can then explore, join the aerospace club, the nuclear engineering club, talk to students in those programs, look up where in the workforce students in those programs are ending up. Check out what internships are available, what the courses look like, etc.

Start general, move to specific as you need to. I realize it's great to tell your friends and family that you're enrolled in a ________ program, but really it's quite common for people to jump around. When it comes to STEM, it's not impossible that the industry you'll actually end up working in doesn't even exist yet!

 

[Shiroe_Blank]

Thats quite an understandable suggestions. I forgot about the clubs and extra curricular activities as well. Thanks for the suggestion
I have another question. Can I do anything related to astro-physics with any of these two?

 

[Choppy]

Can I do anything related to astro-physics with any of these two?

Generally speaking if you want to conduct astrophysics research, you need a PhD in that area. Whether you can jump from an undergraduate degree in nuclear or aerospace engineering into a PhD in astrophysics is an open question. It is *possible* as there is a lot of overlap between undergraduate programs in physics and engineering. But its also important to keep in mind that engineering programs tend to carry a heavy course load on their own and if you're filling your electives with courses that you'll need for graduate school in physics, there probably won't be a lot of time for much else in your life.

That said, a lot also depends on what you mean by "related to astrophysics." When you look at big multi-million dollar experiments/research programs, these are huge collaborations that involve a considerable amount of engineering to get off the ground.