Expert: Donald Rosenfeld - 8/30/2011

Question
Meteorology, especially with regard to tropical cyclones, has always been my greatest interest. I follow pretty much every tropical system that develops in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins from beginning to end, and try to determine myself whether they will strengthen or weaken based on IR and water vapor imagery, and read every forecast discussion issued by the NHC. However, in college I felt that there wouldn't be enough career options for meteorology, and I majored in physics and that I would go into something with that. I am now reconsidering this. How many job opportunities are there for a meteorologist specializing in tropical meteorology? I imagine not that many people can possibly work at the NHC, and I guess the other option would be a research scientist at a university? I'm somewhat concerned about this though because I've been reading a lot of bad stuff about how difficult it is becoming to actually get tenure in academia nowadays, and that it's just not worth it. Also, since I pretty much gave up on meteorology in college, I don't have any internship experience in it or research, so even though I have a B.S. in physics, which I understand is a typical undergraduate background for applying to graduate programs in atmospheric science, would I be able to get into a top program? I have good raw academic credentials: I graduated with a 4.00 GPA and got a 1510 on the GRE, 720 V and 790 M, with 5/6 in the writing section.

Answer
Hi Anthony

First, I think you are very qualified academically to pursue a graduate degree in Meteorology at a top school.

Secondly, to get answers to all your questions, go to:

http://www.weatherknowledge.com/become.html

and for an excellent site for tropical storms, go to:

http://www.hurricaneknowledge.com

After looking over the "become" page you have any questions, feel free to ask!