SnowGoose69

I've never heard of a school allowing you to get Ds in your core courses. I thought it was the same everywhere... I know here you need at LEAST a C for any prerequisite or course required by your major. And while they may not ask for your transcript I'd still wager it is better to have good grades.

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That's not necessarily true.

Most schools don't and most other majors at my school did not allow it, its just that the departmental staff never got together and made it policy I assume, thank goodness...I still managed a 3.15 overall, I never could grasp how I was so amazingly strong in virtually every other subject of study but so terrible mathematically...even many friends I had who struggled to get 3.0s in their liberal arts majors could get As and Bs in calculus classes.

Good news for me... I just got a C- in Calc 1.

I can't remember what I got, it was either C-, C or D+...I know that much.

The math for incoming graduates if obviously poor. There is no way around that.

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.

For all the complaining about just GETTING a job being a problem, my experience myself and among others is that often times the 2nd or 3rd job is the harder one to get...the reason being the field is so low paying, as a result even though you might have strong experience after 4, 6, or 10 years alot of the hiring companies are going to tend to go for the less experienced guy they can pay less money too.

You were one of the few lucky ones. From what I gather, it only took you 5 months to get a job, and that's during the worst recession since 1930s. It took me 2 whole years to find a private sector job that pays well, and that was with a masters degree in met and a bachelors in IT... before the recession started. It's BRUTAL out there. Good grades and experience are not going to be enough. You're right on diversifying yourself - that will get you through the door if you have good computer skills, engineering skills, finance skills, or ______ skills that the company in question is looking for.

The Met sector is not really impacted by the economy, at least that has been my experience, as I posted in one of the met job section threads, I've had more than one person who's said they felt the market is better during bad econmic times because private sector companies get more business because in a fickle economy companies feel the need to cover the weather influence on their business because it could cost them money or clients if they blow something because they try to interpret a generalized non-specific NWS forecast or don't use any forecast at all. Remember, most private weather services don't charge much for their service, so its not like its going to make a dent in said company's bottom line paying the money for it.

Thanks for the insight guys, I appreciate it. Yeah I see what you are saying Chagrin, if the attractive blonde with the certificate from MSU is more appealing than the nerdy guy from MIT then she is going to be hired for ratings. And you still go through the basic forecasting classes to get that certificate. I've heard the broadcast field is difficult to get into with the lack of openings and low starting salaries. Add that to the fact that you would likely have to move somewhere far away and it becomes a less than attractive option in the field. Personally, I don't think I am fit to be a broadcast meteorologist anyway since I am not a good public speaker...seems like going into the energy field is the best thing to do right now though I am sure that's very, very difficult to get into as well.

I was told by a TV news director about 15 years ago that women have to be good looking to get on TV...men on the other hand either have to be good looking or butt ugly...in between will get you nowhere, as a male you need to stand out in one form or the other...in other words, generally its hard to break in if you consider yourself an average looking guy without much of a TV personality

The NWS needs to open up airport offices again, thats my personal feeling...will it happen? highly highly unlikely but if it did and we could add even 5 spots at every major airport in the country with the warnings issued from there it would help alot.