Major track in college

[Dan Hildebrand]

Thanks for the tip. BTW Mr. Smith, I am in the process of reading your book. The other night I kept reading until I forced myself to stop, around 3 am. I'm not much of a reader either. I can't wait to be able to discuss it once i've finished.

 

[Dan Hildebrand]

Lets say i do go forward with the Meteorology track. I'd still want to gain some other skills that would make me more marketable to employers should i not get a job in meteorology. What should i focus on? If i recall, met majors are only required to take one C++ class

 

[Devin Bryant]

I'm a junior at the Univerisity of Alabama majoring in GIS and am applying to grad school for professional meteorology at OU and Mississippi State. I visited the OU school over spring break and the asst. dean advised me to go with the GIS route then meteorology. It's essentially the same core classes and GIS is projected as one of the top 3 growing career fields over the next 20 years. Rebekah isn't sunshine pumping GIS for no reason at all. Seriously consider it.

 

[Zack Hargrove]

I would NOT take FORTRAN. It is rarely used outside academia. You'd have many more options with C++ and related.

For what it is worth, we do not hire geography majors as meteorologists but I am speaking for my company only.

I agree with the Fortran statement if you're interested in going straight to the work force. However, if you plan on going to grad school, then Fortran can be very valuable. You are correct in your statement that C++ will be more valuable overall, however. Also, I'd like to add more about the non met major/met minor thing. I would agree... you probably will not find a classic meteorology job if you are not a meteorology major. However, if you are a non met major and a met minor, then that would open up meteorology grad school for you still and then you could have a meteorology job.

 

[Dan Hildebrand]

Yeah.. I think I will at least start as a met major and see how the classes go. Dr fogt suggested I take my math courses my first year then the physics the second year, so how well I do in math will gauge the my ability to succeed with the physics