Internship available?

[wxman57]

So do any y'all work with/ know any meteorologists that went to Tech?

One of my classmates went to Texas Tech for a year before completing his degree at A&M because A&M had an undergraduate met program. I wasn't aware that Texas Tech had an undergraduate meteorology program.

[TexasMetBlake]

Texas Tech doesn't have one.

[weatherguy425]

Well what exactly is the differnece between atmospheric sciences and meteorlogy? Tech does offer majors and minors atmoshperic sciences, which is what I was planning on doing.

[TexasMetBlake]

I think the only difference is nomenclature to be honest with you. Atmospheric Science is Meteorology....and I wasn't aware that Tech had one. As of four years ago, they did not.

From the Texas Tech website:

We offer a program of study leading to the Master of Science degree in Atmospheric Science and the Ph.D. degree in Geosciences. In addition, courses in Atmospheric Science are offered at the undergraduate level to meet the general education requirements at Texas Tech University. A minor in Atmospheric Science is offered for both B.S. and B.A. students

[Ptarmigan]

I don't see any Statistical classes for meteorology majors. I have done a lot of statistics in school.

[weatherguy425]

I think the only difference is nomenclature to be honest with you. Atmospheric Science is Meteorology....and I wasn't aware that Tech had one. As of four years ago, they did not.

Yeah, they've added quite a bit i nthe last few years. During my Freshamn year at high school I was leaning towards A&M, but after Ike I loved the "data gathering/ storm intercept" that Tech's storm research team did in Galveston which lead me to look into them more in depth and now I love the place!

[weatherag]

As wxman57 stated, you can't really learn to 'forecast' in school. Most met programs are going to be heavy on the math and dynamics.....that's just the nature of the degree. The math is intense no doubt, but the actual math you do in your met courses isn't so bad. The program at A&M is somewhat slanted toward atmospheric chemistry and physics, however there are a lot of opportunities outside the class room to get some experience with forecasting. When I was there (graduated in '08), I got to write weekly forecast discussions for Bryan/College Station, run the radar on campus, and launch weather balloons from the campus golf course. That was all great experience and really got me interested in the operational forecasting side of things. Definitely visit the NWS or take wxman57 up on his offer. And I definitely recommend interning somewhere when you're in school (especially weather service if you want to go that route).

[South_Texas_Storms]

Howdy!

I am currently a fourth year meteorology major at Texas A&M University and I hope to get an internship in Houston this summer. I am interested in making forecasts and writing weather discussions for private companies or the NWS. I have a good analytical background from school as well as an operational background; I have a big Facebook following and I write weather articles for examiner.com and have a weather blog on The Eagle website (College Station's newspaper). What are some of the options for interning at different companies in Houston this summer?


Justin Petrutsas

[Belmer]

Hi Snowman,

I am currently a Junior (by credits) at Texas State University in San Marcos. I'm a double major in Physical Geography and Physics with a minor in Mathematics. I've been wanting to to be a meteorologist since I was at least four years old. I absolutely love the weather and find it so fascinating. It is my passion and never lost it. So you may ask why I am going to a school that doesn't offer meteorology? Well, as you probably know, only two schools in the state of Texas offer that degree, which is A&M and Texas Tech. Nothing wrong with those two schools as they both have good programs, but this being my second year here at TXST, I didn't want to major in what I'm doing anymore because I'm done with my climatology, oceanography, and meteorology courses here at my university. And after thinking long and hard for two years, I decided to transfer to OU (University of Oklahoma) in Norman in the Fall of 2013 to finally begin my dream and major in Meteorology at one of the best meteorology schools in the nation. I do live in TX, Pasadena (SE of Houston) being my hometown. So out of state tuition will kill me, but in the end, I find that my degree will be more rewarding as I will further my education in getting my masters somewhere else.

....side note: I didn't want to attend a community college at home for personal reasons to get my basics done, which is why I went off to TXST. I never really had plans to graduate from this school, as I knew I would want to transfer after I got most of my basics done to either Colorado, Washington, PennState or OU for my meteorology degree.

Anyway, I went on a NWS tour in Norman (which is located on campus at OU) back in late October of 2012 and just fell more in love with weather. I'm not sure if I would want to work for a NWS or a private firm, but I still have time to decide for that. With that said, I highly recommend taking tours before deciding where you want to go and whichever feels more "home", that is probably your school. Whether it is in state, or out of state have a good mind where you will want to spend your 4+ years at because college is the best time of your life (from what I have been told by what seems a million people) and so far it is. Keep your options open in schools and do lots of review. Out of state is very expensive, but if you find that you can handle being far away from home and you have the expense covered, go for it. Make your education the best of it.
I love Oklahoma, it's where all the severe weather and exciting stuff is (besides worrying about a hurricane making landfall near you). It is one of the main reasons why I chose OU because it will have so much to offer and most of your meteorology classes will actually be in the NWS building. It's really neat!

As far as internships go (I guess to actually answer your question) I looked into those as well my junior and senior year of high school and I really couldn't find anyone. As others have stated, you really need to be a junior or senior in college when you have more experience under your belt with such type of classes like math, physics and meteorology.
I can't really say so much on the classes meteorology offers, because I've only taken one here at TXST and it was just basic meteorology. But I did talk to the director of the NWS at OU when I went on a tour and basically like others have said. Math and Science. I'm currently taking Calculus I, and will be taking Calculus II and Calculus III back at home over the summer at my community college (this summer will be a nightmare, pray for me!). The NWS director encouraged me to begin Calculus IV when I start at OU in the Fall as it will be easier in my other meteorology and physics classes I have to take. Math is not my best subject, but it's something you just can't give up on. Math is very critical in meteorology and it's not just about making a "good grade" and moving on to the next course, it's about understanding it and applying it.

Here is a neat link for internships in atmospheric science:
http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.cfm


Whatever you do, and Andrew as well, Good luck to the both of you and make senior year of high school a memorable one. College is very fun, but challenging as well. As long as you are committed, you will do just fine.

-Blake


Edit to add: after re-reading what I just typed, I realize I was a little scrambled in everything. I apologize, it is 2am and I have to be up in a few hours to get ready for class and can't find myself to go to sleep. Hopefully what I said made sense. I typed all of this on an iPhone, so I couldn't see everything in order while I was typing since obviously an iPhone screen is much smaller than a computer screen. Also, I hope we don't have any grammar freaks out on this forum, I'm sure I made a few with iPhones awesome (not) autocorrect. Anyway, I must try and sleep so the sandman can come my way before I dread all my classes tomorrow.

[LatvianTwist]

Hey guys, was shown this forum by my mom as I've always had a fascination and love for weather, and am planning on majoring in Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology once I get to college. Found this thread, read through it, and it looks like an amazing resource, especially for someone in a similar situation as I am.

Like the OP, I'm a junior in HS, straight A (mostly) student, and with the whole top 10% rule, will go to A&M if I want to (which I do). Have a general understanding of weather but am not completely familiar with the more detailed ideas (but I haven't had access to any of those either). The required courses list here is what I've been really looking for for a while, and I want to try and base my HS courses around that (and knock out as many credits now as I can - already have several). I'm sure you all know about APs in high school now, and I've been taking as many of those as possible (made 5s on Computer Science A and World History so far, and am taking Chemistry, Lang, and US History now).

Reading up here on how A&M is more of a mathematical degree is actually something that bodes well for me, as math and physics (science in general) are my two strongest subjects and the only classes I genuinely enjoy. I'm planning on taking AP Physics as a senior, and I'm debating between AB and BC Calculus (AB is Calc 1 only, BC is 1 and 2 condensed into one year), leaning towards BC though. Looking at the course list, I think I'll be fine with English and History classes if I even have to take them at all, but I'm not worried about those regardless (pretty much guaranteed to get a 3 on the AP exam for Lang, and both AP Lang and Lit count for ENG 104, the only required English listed). The history classes confuse me though, not sure what's meant by U.S. History elective (and I'm assuming POLS 206 is AP Government?). I know that even getting the AP credit doesn't guarantee me credit for those classes, but I'm going on a visit to A&M sometime soon and hope to figure out those problems there. So basically what I'm asking is what classes I can take in HS to prepare myself for the courses I need to take in college, and what I'm going to have to take in college regardless. At the moment, I'm focused more on the classes that aren't as important as the math and science classes, as those are the ones I want to knock out before I even get to college if I have the chance (which I do).

Just for reference, here's the AP courses and exam scores A&M accepts, and what classes you get credit for - http://studentsuccess.tamu.edu/testings ... les/AP.PDF

As for a career, I had kind of figured out what was said, in that there are three main branches (NWS, corporations, and TV). TV certainly isn't my thing as I'm a bit of an introvert and terrible on camera, and I've been leaning towards the corporations part of it. Obviously it'll be a struggle just starting out, but that's to be expected with pretty much any job.

Any feedback would be awesome, especially being new here. This isn't just a phase for me, it's something I've been thinking about for a long time and want to seriously pursue, and I think I can find some great resources here and that it'll really help me going forward. Hope I can gel and be a part of the community here, very much looking forward to it.

Also, I was wondering if I should be looking for an internship or not at this point. It obviously can't hurt, but at the same time my schedule is packed as it is with keeping my grades up and playing two sports. Even if I wanted to, I really have no idea where to start or even look (besides the suggestions already made here). So any feedback there too would be much appreciated.

Sorry if these questions have already been answered, but with most of the info being almost 2 years old, I want to make sure it hasn't majorly changed over that time. I did read through the entire thread and got quite a bit out of it, but still had a few questions and just wanted to make sure on some things.

Thanks,
LT

[Andrew]

To answer some questions about A&M and a Meteorology degree in general, the main focus is on math, physics, and science. The biggest part of the degree plan, is of course math (as mentioned before multiple times). The most updated degree plan states that you have to take math all the way up to Stat 211 ( A specific stat class). This includes everything from Calc 1 up to differential equations. Calculus three and differential equations are the most crucial aspect of the ATMO related classes. Many of the classes will involved math where you have to differentiate one term from another in a series of equations. Luckily the professors at A&M are dedicated to explaining these concepts in a detailed manner that makes learning easier. The major is small, which is nice, and tends to favor the learning side of things. The main thing that needs to be focused on in high school are math and science. While I am not saying forget about the other subjects, if you do pursue a Meteorology Degree they will have no bearing on the degree specifically (outside of meeting University requirements). Math, science, and physics are the three categories that dictate meteorology and the classes specific to it. While taking AP in high school is nice, many advisors will stop you from skipping too many math classes because they want to make sure you know your math before you get too deep in the major. A lot of individuals elect to take Physics off campus due to A&M's reputation of having difficult physic classes but it is possible. College for many (including myself) can be a wake up call at first for the amount of work you will have to put into some of your classes. This major is comparable to Engineering and your study habits will have to reflect that. Some of the courses (just like high school) will be harder than others and require more time. If you want to secure the most success in college I would focus on Sciences (specifically chemistry) and math in high school.

Another thing that many people do not recognize with this field is the lack of hiring that is currently taking place. I have heard countless stories of individuals getting degrees without being able to find a job. The economy is partly to blame but at the same time this is not a huge field. As a result you need to do everything possible to differentiate yourself from your peers. Try to search for internships as soon as you can in college and don't be afraid to ask professors how you can get involved. Make sure to keep up your grades (especially in the major classes) and get to know as many people as you can. No longer does getting a degree secure you a job. I am currently looking at getting a second degree in Computer Science or at least a minor along with a possible master to help distinguish myself. It is these type of things that could be the deciding factor in the future. Overall though if you have a good work ethic and you are dedicated/ enjoy the classes you should be fine.

Below I have posted a link to A&M's Course Outline which should give you a general idea of the classes you will be taking. This will similar with most schools that offer an ATMO degree. If anyone has any other questions about A&M or Meteorology in general please fill free to ask here or PM me.

http://roadtodiscovery.tamu.edu/degree_plans/atmo.pdf

[LatvianTwist]

Awesome, thanks. Physics, Math, and Science are my strongest subjects, so hopefully it won't be too much of a challenge for me.

Thanks for the link as well, that's exactly what I was looking for.