Earning a meteorology degree?

Question

Are there schools that offer meteorology degrees in or close to Manatee county,FL? How about online? Sources?

Is there a website where I can do a search?

Answer 1

Here is a good website for you to check out:

http://www.ametsoc.org/amsucar_curricula...

Florida State

University of Miami

are the bigger meteorology schools in FL

my weather website: www.stormchaoswx.com

Answer 2

Probably the easiest thing to do is a Google search for universities in Florida. Once you have a list, each university will have a homepage with and "Academics" link somewhere on it (or something similar.) From there you can look at a list of colleges or a list of majors. You will be looking for meteorology or atmospheric sciences.

Once you get a look at whatever glorified summary they university gives to prospective students, you should try to find a list of courses in the program. A lot of meteorology programs have relatively few actual forecasting classes, and instead offer more classes in atmospheric dynamics, chemistry, and climate. You will inevitably have to take a bunch of these courses, but if you are not interested in them, look for a school with lots of forecasting classes you can take for your electives.

Second, you want to take a look at the individual faculty webpages. All professors tend to bias whatever class they are teaching toward what they do in their research. If the professors are all into math, then their teaching is going to be mostly a bunch of equations thrown up onto a chalk board. You want to look for a university with a wide variety of professors. Also check to see if any of the professors have won awards or done really big projects. Typically, the more successful a professor is at researching, the worse they are at teaching, BUT once you get out of college and apply for jobs, those are the ones every employer will ask about to see if you had a class with them.

Also, if you are interested in meteorology, be prepared to take a ton of math and physics courses. I went to Texas A&M where my freshman class started out with 80 atmospheric science majors, and dropped to about 20 by the time we graduated. Most people left because the math was too hard. We used to joke that the major was actually "Atmospheric Engineering" because we took all the same math and science classes as the engineering majors.

Finally, I would not recommend getting a degree online for two reasons. First, they don't get much respect. Second, if you need help with something, it is a lot easier to go knock on your professor's door than trying to reach them by email.

Answer 3

Florida State University has an excellent undergraduate and graduate program in the state of Florida.  I know many people who got their degrees there and had no problems seeking good employment as a meteorologist.

North Carolina State University is another good school in the southeastern part of the U.S..

http://www.uscollegesearch.org/atmospher...

Answer 4

As a meteorology graduate from SUNY Albany in New York state, I can't tell you about schools in Florida, but I CAN tell you that if you're looking into a career in meteorology, keep in mind you will be taking a TRAMENDOUS amount of math and physics courses. If you're not strong in these subjects, do yourself a favor and pick something else.

Many people going into atmospheric majors believe that they will be taking courses on clouds and rain...honey, this is NOT the case. The courses are very in depth and very hard, about anything under the sun, from cloud physics to air parcel synoptics to atmospheric chemistry, not to mention all the dynamic courses where you will learn about the Vorticity and Omega Equations. It really takes a completely devoted student to excel in the program. The only people that make it all the way through are the ones that are absolutely, one hundred percent devoted to this subject. My class began with 37 hopefuls and ended with 13 graduates. Good luck to you, because this major is very, very difficult.

Answer 5

I'm earning my meteorology degree online at Mississippi State University.

Here's a link to the department.

http://www.distance.msstate.edu/geoscien...

Their meteorology program has been around for many years, originally for the military but now open to everyone.  Because of its longevity, it is extremely well structured.

Johnas...