What factors should prospective meteorology students consider when choosing their school?
The basic four-year program in meteorology is similar in most schools. The real difference is in what the schools specialize in. For example, the University of Oklahoma has a program with an emphasis on severe local storms, the University of Wisconsin has emphasis in Satellite Meteorology, the University of Albany and Pennsylvania State University have Synoptic Meteorology, the Florida State University has Tropical Meteorology. This means that, if you’re interesting in a career in this field, you can be selective in your specialty interest. I would also encourage any interested student to get as much info as possible from the Internet and talk to student already at these schools. The AMS web site has some great student resources on careers and scholarships, and they publish a big thick book every year called the Curricula in the Atmospheric, Oceanic, Hydrologic, and Related Sciences, which includes all of the universities and colleges in the US that offer degrees programs, a directory
