Expert: Donald Rosenfeld - 7/23/2007

Question
"Hey there. I am 24 years old, and actually have a degree in Business and
Economics. However, recently I have been thinking about changing careers to
Meteorology. My question is; I need help determining the place for me to go back
to school. I was thinking of going to a community college because it would be
cheaper, since I have already invested so much into my internal degree in
business. However, I worry that a degree from a community college (which would
be in earth science, because they don’t offer a specific degree for Meteorology)
may make it difficult to gain an initial job. So please let me know what you
think. Do you think a general degree in Earth Sciences from a community college
would make it much harder for me to find a job coming out of school? And if so,
do you think doing my first two years of course work at a community college and
then transferring to a university would help?"

Answer
Hi Stuart

I think you could get a job at a private weather forecasting company and use your Business / Economics knowledge to be employable.

To be a meteorologist you really need physics and math so I would think a community college might not be enough.

There are meteorological courses at Suffolk County Community College via Prof. Scott Mandia who might answer any questions you have via mandias@sunysuffolk.edu .

A very helpful link for you is:

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

Good luck with your pursuit!