Meterology Studies In The US??

[Willie Dines]

Hey guys , how's it going?

Ok, I've finally given in, I've decided that I would like to come over to the US, to take meterology studies, and I was wondering if you guys could tell me the best place to go to, in order to enroll next year?

Also, do any of you know of any particular visa requirements, and if any of the universites like OU, can help with this?

Any help/info is greatly appreciated, as I've been studying tornadoes for about 16 years now, and I would rather start learning alot more, and be able to put it to good use, that being to help try and save more lives

I hope that you guys can help, and I thank you all in advance

Willie

 

[Jason Boggs]

As many on here will say, OU is the best of the best when it comes to a Meteorology degree.

 

[Justin E. Reed]

By far OU is the best in the country, and one of the best in the world. For Broadcast Meteorology, you can't beat Mississippi State.

 

[Patrick Martin]

Some other options as well.
Lyndon State College (northern VT)- http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/
Metro State College (Denver, CO) - http://www.mscd.edu/~eas/

 

[Angie Norris]

Willie, http://admissions.ou.edu/studabrd.htm
Good luck and hope to see you around campus!!!

 

[Mike Smith]

As many on here will say, OU is the best of the best when it comes to a Meteorology degree.

Based on what?

Since I visit many campuses recruiting meteorologists I can confidentaly say that every meteorology program tells its students that it is "the best."

I just returned from a week in Reno at the NWA annual meeting and there were a number of people lamenting the fact that there are few federal jobs for forecasters at the moment (I don't know whether that is true, I am simply reporting what I was told).

I can tell you that the private sector is hiring for good jobs and good salaries but many of the departments do not turn out graduates with the skills needed for private sector employment. To give an example, communications skills are paramount at WeatherData Services, Inc., numerical modeling skill (in our operaton) is not valued.

We have excellent positions open for meteorological programmers right now. We are looking for Linux and C++ (most meteorology departments still teach Fortran) and would love to have applications from anyone on this board that is qualified.

My advice to anyone looking to get an education in meteorology for the purposes of a career is to determine what you believe you would like to do when you graduate (research, TV, forecasting, etc.) and then pick a school that excells in that area. Some of the smaller schools like South Alabama have excellent programs in, for example, private sector meteorology.

Trust me, this is excellent advice as I see things from the employer's point of view.

For the record, I am an OU graduate.

I love to see young meteorologists do well and succeed. If there are any questions, please post and I'll try to answer.

Mike

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

Mike is right on the money. Figure out what area you would like to go into and start looking at what programs will offer you. If you easily get lost in the numbers (of students), you may want to avoid the larger schools and go with a smaller program (Tech, ISU, UND, those listed above, etc.).

OU would obviously NOT be the place to go if you want to learn oodles and oodles about lake effect snow. Consider what outside opportunities exist. Internships are a very good thing, they'll often teach you plenty of skills (computer) that will help you in the real world.

 

[Willie Dines]

Hey guys

Thank you all very much for your replies, I really appreciate the feedback very much

It's kinda funny that m,ost of you have mentioned OU, as that is where I have been looking into first, but I haven't contacted anyone yet, other than you guys about it, as I wanted to get some input from you guys, especially since most of you will either be familiar with where is the best known college, and also what graduate programmes, are available

My main interest is in tornado structures, dynamics and behaviour patterns, e.g. when a tornado experiences a sudden downdraft and weakens, and therefore causes the tornado to either decrease/increase in ground speed, suddenly shift left or right, etc, and also at finding ways to determine a tornado's overall intensity, by recorded the tornado's ground speed as well, and how much it effects the rotational upflow in the tornado itself, and what speed the inflow winds are and at what altitude, etc

The one thing that would worry me, is not having a drivers licence, as I've got round to learning yet, but I hope to change that within the next few months

I have many other interests, but mostly I would like to be able to just get out there and learn as much as I can, and put what I can learn to good use

Thank you very much guys for your replies and links, they are all very much appreciated, and if any of you have any other pieces of advice, etc, then I would really appreciate them

Willie

P.S. Thank you Angie, I hope to see you around campus also, and feel free to send me a PM anytime

 

[Alex Lamers]

Well one thing I will mention about OU is that in the Fall Semester we do get a group of exchange students from Reading in England. Perhaps it would help to connect with someone from your general area in your first year over here.

If you're interested in tornadoes then OU is probably a good place to go. A couple of things to note. I'm not sure if you're going for an undergrad or grad degree but tornado dynamics seems like something you would delve into more during graduate studies. Just saying that it'll take awhile to get to tornado dynamics if you're coming in as an undergraduate (years, not months). Also, while being the one of the best, OU will probably be one of the more rigorous programs as well. Just some things to consider.

Also, if you're looking for a lot of one-on-one interaction with professors and such, you'd probably want to look at one of the smaller programs (i.e. not OU, Penn St, etc). There are plenty of excellent smaller programs sprinkled around the country. For instance, I've heard Iowa State has a really nice campus and a good program.

All that being said, I attend OU and I love it here. I would recommend it, but be sure to evaluate your needs and interests first.

AJL

 

[Blake Michaleski]

I went to The university of Louisiana - Monroe for a while. Great school with great professors. I just didn't feel that I was getting what I really wanted and that was real world operational training.

I transferred to the University of South Alabama and haven't looked back. Synoptic class here is excellent, and we offer classes that many schools dont at the undergraduate level, including mesoscale meteorology.

Yes I am biased but if Operational forecasting is your thing then South Alabama is your school. Oh and as far as broadcast goes, we're building that track in meteorology rather rapidly. We now have 3 WSI consoles and a green screen.

In April we will have our 5th annual Southeastern Coastal and Atmospheric Processes Symposium (SeCAPS). Previous speakers have included Dr. Charles Doswell, Jon Davies, Dr Frank Marks and many others well known in the meteorological community, all who seemed quite impressed with what we have.

So while we may be a small school we're the real deal at over 120 majors and about half that many minors. The professors are very approachable and love to talk weather. They will know you by name and are always willing to help.

Feel free to contact me via PM or email, I can tell you all about it.

http://southalabama.edu/meteorology/

 

[Jayson Prentice]

Willie, I have to suggest that before you get a bunch of opinions on schools, etc. from people that you make your own list. Include the type of class sizes you want, any certain location (ie. plains, coasts, etc.), what is your main hope for an undergraduate degree, etc... I say undergraduate degree because some of the stuff like tornado dynamics as Alex mentioned aren't going to be taught until senior year if not graduate level. I'm going to take it you want to go into something severe weather as the priority of your education. There are great lists that have every school in the US that offers a Met degree and with those you can go ahead and visit the schools webpage. See what they offer for classes, etc...

It's a big choice and one that you should make, without influences of others who are mainly biased.

 

[Glen Romine]

My main interest is in tornado structures, dynamics and behaviour patterns, e.g. when a tornado experiences a sudden downdraft and weakens, and therefore causes the tornado to either decrease/increase in ground speed, suddenly shift left or right, etc, and also at finding ways to determine a tornado's overall intensity, by recorded the tornado's ground speed as well, and how much it effects the rotational upflow in the tornado itself, and what speed the inflow winds are and at what altitude, etc

As was mentioned earlier, these are very specific details within the field, and this level of specialty generally would require a PhD (and often several more years afterwards as postdoc) to get into the tornado research field. This particular field is actually very small - I'd estimate fewer than a dozen that full time try and study only tornado dynamics. This suggests two things in particular, 1) There is very little monetary support for tornado research efforts, or else there would be far more people studying it 2) Most people interested in studying tornadoes actually end up specializing in some other area. The latter option isn't really that bad, and increases your prospects for employment upon finishing your degree(s). And, if you select an appropriate cross-over specialty, you may still be able to dabble some in severe storms, as a much larger body of scientists do.

In selecting an undergraduate program - I'd agree with much of what has already been said - know what your end goal is and go somewhere that will appropriately prepare you for it, and that you can reasonably afford. If you see yourself definitely going to graduate school, then I'd worry more about the quality of the math and physics education at your school of choice, and keep in mind that you will be expected to switch schools at some point for your graduate education. Also, you will need to network with the appropriate experts in your field of choice before graduate school. Then, if you graduate near the top of your class, have excellent GRE scores, and have made positive contacts at the best programs, you'll have a good opportunity to succeed in graduate school.

As you get near the end of the education process, doing excellent science will trump pedigree, but having both may increase your chances of getting into your specialization of choice (particularly if you want to be a university professor). Many graduate students study severe storms and tornadoes, but given how few get jobs applying that specialty, it is perhaps better to focus on a unique study approach that could be applied to solving other types of problems as well. For instance, Harold Brooks is an expert in tornado climatology, but his skills in statistics could easily be applied to investigating other problems, such as forecast skill assessment, which is another area he works in.

Good luck,
Glen