A question about a career in meteorology

[kvskelton]

Greetings all! I know this may be a topic better placed in another forum but I wanted to run it by the TN Valley crew since I at least have a passing acquaintance with some of y'all. 

 

The question is not for me but for my daughter. She's about to begin her sophomore year at ETSU. She made the Dean's List both semesters of her Freshman year and that included Honors Calc 1, which I'm pretty sure is actually Egyptian Hieroglyphics disguised as mathematics (and as a surveyor, I'm a trig guy!). She has always been interested in a career in meteorology but followed the maximum scholarship dollars to ETSU and loves the school. So now she's looking to transfer to another school after her Sophomore year to follow her goal of a career in atmospheric research.

 

My main question is about her path to that end. Is it better to transfer to a school that has a dedicated BS with a focus in meteorology (UT Martin comes to mind)? She's currently on the Engineering transfer track for UT-Knoxville next fall with the intention of getting an undergrad degree in Environmental Engineering (she's currently a Physics major at ETSU) and from there getting a Masters Degree in Atmospheric Science. I know the University of Missouri offers one and I'm sure others do as well. Her thoughts on this route are that she always has the Engineering degree to fall back on. Makes sense but to me it also makes sense to get your undergrad in your preferred field. 

 

Any thoughts y'all might have are very appreciated. Oh, I also should add that my wife works for UTK and as such my daughter (her step-daughter) gets a really nice discount on tuition to any TN Board of Regents school...so I'd like to keep her in that system at least through her undergrad if possible! 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Kevin

[Mr Bob]

By all means get the EE first...Meteorology careers are tougher and tougher to come by. There is a thread in the met only forum on finding jobs and it is pretty bleak for a lot of the kids that have just graduated. Very few are finding jobs...She would do much better career wise if she would stay in the EE field but it is tough sometimes to tell a kid what to do. If she really wants to do research then she may as well be prepared to go through PhD level because she won't find mch of that without it. University of Alabama at Huntsville has an excellent program as does Ga Tech, NC State, FSU and quite a few others. Good Luck.

[kvskelton]

By all means get the EE first...Meteorology careers are tougher and tougher to come by. There is a thread in the met only forum on finding jobs and it is pretty bleak for a lot of the kids that have just graduated. Very few are finding jobs...She would do much better career wise if she would stay in the EE field but it is tough sometimes to tell a kid what to do. If she really wants to do research then she may as well be prepared to go through PhD level because she won't find mch of that without it. University of Alabama at Huntsville has an excellent program as does Ga Tech, NC State, FSU and quite a few others. Good Luck.

 

Thanks Bob. Very beneficial information that I'll pass along to my daughter. You're right about it being tough to tell a kid what to do but I believe I can steer her into keeping the EE as her undergrad so if all else fails she will have that to fall back on. Don't think I can completely dissuade her from going for the Grad degree but as long as there's a backup plan, I'm okay with it.

 

Thanks again! I appreciate your input!

[Mr Bob]

EE has a good future...My daughter is entering her sophomore year and she has changed from Chem E to EE just because of the job potential...she would really like to get involved with solar energy production and the field is wide open for females. If your daughter remains a dean's list student the offers will likely be incredibly tempting when she graduates....Also, don't forget about Cookeville too...Tenn Tech is a an excellent engineering school also...plenty of their grads work here as well as UTK grads.

[Carvers Gap]

You know the tough thing about choosing a job these days is that automation is likely to eliminate many professions within thirty years.  Librarians, many jobs in meteorology, even engineering jobs...are quickly being taken over by computers.  As teachers, one of the things that we consistently say is that we are preparing kids for a future in which their job probably doesn't exist yet.  I think the best rule of thumb is to find a place where your gifts and society's needs intersect.  I began my college career in engineering and just was miserable with too much Math.  Now, I am very good at Mathematics...but just didn't want to do it all day, every day.  I should have given architecture a shot - that is my passion.  The Lord, however, had other plans.  So, I went into teaching.  Good teachers make huge impacts every day they set foot in the classroom.  So, I feel that my gifts to intersect with society's needs.  But I would recommend that anyone choose a job in a field that they enjoy and are passionate about.  I think about Steve Jobs.  The man started Apple in his garage.  He never looked back.

[kvskelton]

EE has a good future...My daughter is entering her sophomore year and she has changed from Chem E to EE just because of the job potential...she would really like to get involved with solar energy production and the field is wide open for females. If your daughter remains a dean's list student the offers will likely be incredibly tempting when she graduates....Also, don't forget about Cookeville too...Tenn Tech is a an excellent engineering school also...plenty of their grads work here as well as UTK grads.

 

Bob, thanks again for the response. I agree that EE has a very good future. Being a surveyor with a municipality, I'm privileged to work with several classes of Engineers including 2 that have focuses in EE. They've been very helpful. I also agree about Tenn Tech. Both my sister and her husband are TT grads (he's a PE now in California, she's a teacher). In my experience, TT engineers tend to be a little better right out of the gate than UT engineers...but that's just my opinion. We also have a fair number of Virginia Tech engineers working for the city. They're very competent. Thanks again for the response and congrats on your daughter's accomplishments so far and best of luck to her in the future!

 

 

 

You know the tough thing about choosing a job these days is that automation is likely to eliminate many professions within thirty years.  Librarians, many jobs in meteorology, even engineering jobs...are quickly being taken over by computers.  As teachers, one of the things that we consistently say is that we are preparing kids for a future in which their job probably doesn't exist yet.  I think the best rule of thumb is to find a place where your gifts and society's needs intersect.  I began my college career in engineering and just was miserable with too much Math.  Now, I am very good at Mathematics...but just didn't want to do it all day, every day.  I should have given architecture a shot - that is my passion.  The Lord, however, had other plans.  So, I went into teaching.  Good teachers make huge impacts every day they set foot in the classroom.  So, I feel that my gifts to intersect with society's needs.  But I would recommend that anyone choose a job in a field that they enjoy and are passionate about.  I think about Steve Jobs.  The man started Apple in his garage.  He never looked back.

 

 

Thanks for the response, Carver's! I agree with your assessment of the job outlooks in the future. It's amazing how many folks work in fields other than their degree. I surely never started out to be a surveyor. Just sort of fell into it after going to college for Banking and Finance. Seriously. If you ever meet me, that should blow your mind. LOL Like you and engineering, I found banking/finance just wasn't the place to be so I ended up going another, very circuitous route.

 

I have heard that architecture is a tough row to hoe as well. These days they are as much project managers as designers, in my limited experience with them. Sometimes our paths are chosen for us and I am sure you are an asset to the teaching profession as a result! I must say, having two very good friends that are high school teachers, that y'all are the most underpaid, unappreciated and critically important profession that exists today. My daughter's first love is music (currently a Music Minor and receiving a Choir scholly at ETSU) but she could just not bring herself to teach. She doesn't have the patience for it, I don't think. LOL I have done my best to keep her from limiting her goals, though I do input suggestions to encourage her to think objectively about them from time to time. As some of you know, tough being a parent to an "adult" these days. I still find it difficult to believe I was entrusted with the lives of two young people to begin with! 

 

I believe it was Richard Bach who wrote: Argue for you limitations and sure enough, they're yours...

 

Thanks again for both of your replies!

 

Kevin

[nrgjeff]

Two brief thoughts. Teaching science and math at the high school level might be rewarding for someone with little patience etc. Those kids are self motivated if they are in elective math and science classes. In many states one can begin teaching math/science while becoming certified, depending on the supply of math/science teachers. Plus I hear high school teaching actually pays more than say a junior college instructor. Teacher with a master's degree (anything not necessarily education) actually gets decent pay.

 

Engineering, Meteorology and other science majors have to suffer through a lot of calculus in school. However, in the real world, computers do all that number crunching. Good thing, cause I could not derive a meteorology equation to save my life! Humans will still have jobs, but more as a manager of the computer output. Engineer/MBA is a good combo. Also I hear Meteorology/Econ masters do well in some industries (commodities/banking). The Engineer/Met should have opportunity in some of the green energy fields. Though a simple BS/BA Met faces hurdles, I figure a combination that blends science and management still has a bright future.

[kvskelton]

Two brief thoughts. Teaching science and math at the high school level might be rewarding for someone with little patience etc. Those kids are self motivated if they are in elective math and science classes. In many states one can begin teaching math/science while becoming certified, depending on the supply of math/science teachers. Plus I hear high school teaching actually pays more than say a junior college instructor. Teacher with a master's degree (anything not necessarily education) actually gets decent pay.

 

Engineering, Meteorology and other science majors have to suffer through a lot of calculus in school. However, in the real world, computers do all that number crunching. Good thing, cause I could not derive a meteorology equation to save my life! Humans will still have jobs, but more as a manager of the computer output. Engineer/MBA is a good combo. Also I hear Meteorology/Econ masters do well in some industries (commodities/banking). The Engineer/Met should have opportunity in some of the green energy fields. Though a simple BS/BA Met faces hurdles, I figure a combination that blends science and management still has a bright future.

 

Thanks for the reply, Jeff! All that makes very good sense. Agreed about teaching. I have a friend who's a high school Econ teacher in the Atlanta system who says pretty much the same thing.

 

As a surveyor I've worked with many different classes of engineers and they have pretty much all told me exactly what you said about calculus. It's sort of like trig for surveyors. You have to know what to do if the computer goes down, but as long as it's okay you're not doing calculations in your head. Heck, you still have to know how to calibrate a steel tape due to heat and cold on the TN Surveying Exam (the coefficient of steel is .00000645, btw) even though we haven't pulled a steel tape in decades.

 

I've pointed my daughter to this thread and she's very thankful for everyone's thoughts, as am I! 

 

Kevin

[LocoAko]

I'll add that, the state of the meteorology job field aside, if she is determined to go to grad school in atmospheric science the undergraduate engineering degree will serve her plenty well. Some of the students that succeed the most in grad school don't have a B.S. in meteorology but rather in math, physics, etc. Of course there's a bit of a "weather" learning curve up front but I've always known those from different backgrounds to do just fine. Diversity in degrees/education is pretty beneficial -- she'll have the EE to fall back on should she choose to do so, and even if she does go into meteorology there are plenty of areas that would have some overlap (for example, hydrology/flash flooding mitigation, wind energy, etc.). Good luck to her! 

[kvskelton]

I'll add that, the state of the meteorology job field aside, if she is determined to go to grad school in atmospheric science the undergraduate engineering degree will serve her plenty well. Some of the students that succeed the most in grad school don't have a B.S. in meteorology but rather in math, physics, etc. Of course there's a bit of a "weather" learning curve up front but I've always known those from different backgrounds to do just fine. Diversity in degrees/education is pretty beneficial -- she'll have the EE to fall back on should she choose to do so, and even if she does go into meteorology there are plenty of areas that would have some overlap (for example, hydrology/flash flooding mitigation, wind energy, etc.). Good luck to her! 

 

Thanks for the comment, LocoAko! Great insight. It's looking more and more like getting her undergrad as an EE is the best route for her. Hopefully that will lead to a graduate degree in meteorology and a career in the field of her choice. Regardless of which profession she finally enters, having that EE degree can only serve to widen the prospective opportunities she'll have available.

 

Thanks again to all who've taken the time to read and/or reply!

 

Kevin