I have already read up on the website as well as reviewed all course grade distributions for the past 3 years. Now looking for anyone who might have taken courses, or better yet majored, in this department for any information at all.
It doesn’t look like anybody knows here. What type of information do you want? Job prospects? Information on courses?
One option would be to ask one of the Facebook groups, there is a chance you might find someone in that major there. The groups are called “UW-Madison Class of XXXX”, where XXXX is the graduating year. They are closed groups but people are usually added quickly.
Or ask the department themselves: http://www.aos.wisc.edu/education/undergrad/contact%20and%20resource.html
Nope, just looking for personal experiences in the department, from a student’s perspective.
Given the numbers, or lack thereof, of UW students who post in this forum plus the numbers in that major it may be unlikely to get responses. There will be plenty of time once you are campus to learn about various major specific courses/professors et al.
From the website, you can glean a certain amount of relevant information. For example, the department has a relatively small number of undergrads (the directory lists 28 and the website indicated that about 20 majors graduate each year.) I’m not sure if this means more attention and research opportunities for undergrads, or whether the larger number of grad students will squeeze out the undergrads for faculty attention. Also, at least two of the 14 faculty members were recipients of teaching awards.
The website does invite inquiries and visits: “If you are interested in majoring in atmospheric and oceanic sciences, please send us an email about yourself and let us know if you have any questions about our program. We welcome visits by students and their families. Feel free to contact us if you would like to schedule a visit.”
You could email the department’s faculty advisor for undergraduates. You also could ask her if she could put you in touch with some undergrads in the department (probably the preferred way to contact them, rather than doing so directly since the department also lists emails for its undergrads). You’d then have an opportunity to ask them about the undergraduate student experience in the department (e/.g., quality of teaching, quality of advising, access to and interactions with faculty, research opportunities, internships, department “culture,” jobs and grad school recs, etc.
Popular AOS professors Jonathan Martin and Steven Ackerman have a weekly column (Ask the Weather Guys) and are on a local radio station.
Nice, thanks, @madison85. We’re going to try to get in next week.
I know Professor Martin and his family, and one of my kids had him for the intro course that many business school students take for science credit. He also was (or still is) a regular speaker at SOAR for the parent portion of the program - very friendly, personable man. If the future college student has some questions, he/she should introduce him/herself in an email and ask Professor Martin.
http://www.wisc.edu/directories/person.php?name=JONATHAN+EDWARD+MARTIN&email=jemarti1%40wisc.edu