Reale WX

Yeah, the paid positions at SUNY Albany went from 12 down to 6 for fall 2009. Don't know what it was this year. 3.5 should be more than enough. I applied to four schools in total (NC State, SUNY Albany, Penn State and Univerisity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and only got accepted to NC State (without funding no less!). It was a tough year for met majors.

Thanks for sharing the info, catocin. Networking does help a lot as well if you can talk to the right people

Ellinwood, are you still at NC State? It is probably the top school on my list I would like to go to next year for grad school was wondering if you had any thoughts/advice?

Ds get degrees, at least that was the case at my university, some of the bigger ones like PSU, OU, Wisconsin that is not the case, notice to all....if you are weak in math I'd strongly advise going to one of the smaller schools, they tend not to have the C or C- requirement for core courses and generally are more forcast based....nobody is going to ask for your transcript the majority of the time outside the NWS and even if they do they could give a rat's booty about your Ds in math if your Met class grades were good.

Thats not true your math grades are extremely important, I only pult B+s - Cs in all my math classes but my math minor helped get me a job... not to mention if you ever want to get into grad school you better start caring about your math grades

A few people mentioned looking outside of meteorology and have positions there i.e. oceanography, hydrology. Can you offer any specific advice as to what to do to better yourself to be qualified for those position and how to go about applying for those jobs with a degree in meteorology (also have a math minor). My interest is within meterorology but I looking to expand my options.

Also, any thoughts about grad school in general and how to make the most of it? I know a few things were already mentioned in this thread.

Thanks!

I will try to simplify the original rant and some of the comments and advice from others:

1. Get an advanced degree. Plan to go to grad school.

2. Get a student internship or something similar. Getting your foot in the door and making "inside connections" is an obvious plus. This is one of those things that people love having, but people who don't have it often get very frustrated about it.

3. Make yourself marketable. Every applicant to every meteorology job has a meteorology degree. If that's all you have, then you don't have anything. Do you know GIS? Do you know Java or Python (Is there a class or classes offered at your school? Take them! But a whole big double major in comp sci isn't necessary, IMO). Are you proficient in Unix (again, take a class)? How about leadership? Are you president of your local AMS Chapter (volunteer to take on a role, any role)? Did you help some boy scouts get their meteorology merit badges? What about social science? That's a bigger one than most people would imagine, but you'd probably need some help from someone "in the know" about how to effectively market yourself with that particular combination. Any of those things are great, and you don't need all of them. IMO, a math degree is pretty much useless if you looking to get ahead for a forecasting position. Forecasters don't do math. Ask yourself if you are supplementing your met degree with something practical. Meteorology is cross-disciplinary.

4. Prove your ambition. This can be grouped with item 2, but is also separate. Did you do any research as an undergraduate? It's even better if it was published or presented. It's not as if you have to be the first author or even the presenter. Your professors are well-entrenched in the world of academia. More than likely, they could use someone to do some grunt work for them for their research. If you're a quality student, they'd probably trust you to do it or at least trust you to help. During your time in the meteorology department, do you have anything to show for yourself besides a piece of paper that says "B.S. in Meteorology"?

This is the only way to go about your time as an undergraduate and if you can do this effectively (take on internships and any opportunity that presents itself) you will become marketable. Based on my experience, the people who put that extra time in with unpaid internships have been able to at least land part time jobs right out of college or at least get interviews. Thinking about it now, there are 4-5 of us in that category of part time/full time jobs and we all sacrificed time and money working at the NWS, private companies, or broadcast stations while at school.

A degree in meteorology on your resume says nothing. That along side a minor, an internship or two, a research project, some minor forecasting experience, and some kind of leadership position at school says you are motivated, enthusiastic, and can handle alot at once which is what every employer looks for. Right off the bat they dont have to ask if that person fits the criteria we are looking for, they know it. That should at least get you an interview.

This is just a perspective from a recent graduate... cant speak much for what will lie ahead. Hope this helps some of the young guys.. BE INVOLVED WHILE AT COLLEGE and do not waste your time. Enjoy it too, it really should be the best time of your life.