Best Meteorology Undergraduate Programs that I can get into?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I am a girl and my GPA is about a 98.5. My SAT scores are a 2170 (800-math, 710-reading, 660-writing) I finished all the math courses at my school and for my Junior and now Senior year taking Calculus classes at a nearby university.

My SAT II scores: MathII - 790, Chemistry-780

AP classes:
F - Statistics
S- Chem, Calc, World History
J- Physics, US History, Lit
Sn- Biology, Macroeconomics, Language

I also have completed 5 years of Latin and gotten 3 gold medals on the National Latin Exam.
I am part of National Honor Society, Science Olympiads, Mathletes, Varsity Tennis (all-County 3 years, all-leauge 1 year), Winter and Spring Track, Orchestra, and Latin Club.

What are the best undergraduate programs for meteorology and atmospheric sciences? And which ones do I have a chance at getting into? I want to go to a prestigious school but I am not sure which schools have the right programs for me that I can get into.

Thanks for any help!

2

Penn State

3

For operational meteorology the best programs are not at top-ranked schools: Penn St., UWashington, Oklahoma and Miami come to mind. If you broaden things to earth sciences, or earth and atmospheric sciences, then an entirely different set of schools comes into play. You have solid credentials, so it depends largely on what you want.

4

@renaissancedad I am interested in earth and atmospheric sciences. What schools are top in those fields?

5

Consider some of the following:

  1. MIT - Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Also includes collaboration with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

http://eapsweb.mit.edu/academics/undergraduate

  1. Stanford - has a prominent school of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, and an interdisciplinary Earth Systems Science major with different tracks. Also has the Woods Institute for the Environment, and the Hopkins Marine Lab.

https://earth.stanford.edu/ess

  1. Columbia - has the Earth Institute and an undergraduate program in Earth and Environmental Science, as well as affiliations with the Lamont-Doherty Observatory and the American Museum of Natural History.

http://eesc.columbia.edu/programs/undergraduate-program

  1. Cornell - the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has a department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences which offers an Atmospheric Sciences major. There is also a broader Science of Earth Systems major which is available to Engineering and Arts and Sciences students as well.

http://www.eas.cornell.edu/eas/academics/undergraduate/index.cfm

Cornell’s program is probably the closest thing to a true meteorology/atmospheric science program within an Ivy caliber institution.

  1. Georgia Tech - the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences major combines meteorology with atmospheric and environmental science:

http://www.eas.gatech.edu/academics/prospective

There are big differences between these schools in terms of how much of a meteorology/atmospheric science emphasis they have, but all have strong programs. Harvard, Princeton and Duke also have strong programs, as do Penn St., Michigan and the University of Washington. I’d take a look at those programs as well as the ones listed above.

Caltech has a very strong earth sciences program that is often listed #1 in rankings, but it’s very hard core science and not for everyone, and has more of a geology/planetary science focus than atmospheric or environmental science focus. It’s worth taking a look at, but Caltech is not for everyone.

6

@renaissancedad thank you so much!!! This was so helpful. Do you think MIT, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell and Georgia Tech’s programs are too competitive for me?

7

I suspect you would have a pretty good shot at most of those places. You should look into them in depth and see if you want to apply.

What part of earth and atmospheric sciences do you have a particular interest in?

If it is meteorology, you will want to add the University of Washington to the list.

8

I don’t see why you shouldn’t be in the running for some of those. I’d also take a hard look at Duke. Stanford, MIT and Columbia are all very tough, but you have the basic credentials to have a shot. Your GPA/class rank, curricular rigor and standardized scores are all in the right range. 2170 is around or slightly below the 50% mark for Columbia (2100-2330, as of 2011), Stanford (2040-2330), Duke (2020-2300) and MIT (1990-2340), but above or near the 75% range for Cornell (1930-2230) and Georgia Tech (1860-2150). Your SAT II’s are fine, and you have solid ECs. Your latin background is a plus, and you have a clear focus. With good essays and recommendations, I think you would have a strong shot at Cornell and Georgia Tech, and a decent shot at the others.

9

Hey, I’m also interested in earth and atmospheric sciences! You’re one of the only other people I’ve seen on here interested in that :slight_smile: I’ll second all of Renaissancedad’s suggestions (particularly Cornell - it has the only atmospheric science department in all of the ivy league schools) and I would suggest adding UCLA to your list, as they have a top-notch atmospheric science department. I went to a program this summer for atmospheric science and we asked about 20-30 different meteorologists and other atmospheric scientists what schools they thought would be best for meteorology and we consistently heard Penn State, U of Maryland College Park, U of Oklahoma (for severe weather), U of Miami (tropical weather), and UCLA. I know not all of those are necessarily top schools overall, but they’re good to consider. And if you’re set on a top school, most at least have an earth/geological science department. We were told that if the school we wanted to go to didn’t have a meteorology/atmospheric science department, we should major in geological sciences or physics then get a masters in atmospheric science.

10

Those are all good suggestions. I think it depends largely on what you want to do. For “operational” meteorology, programs like Penn St., Oklahoma, Washington and Miami are excellent. For a broader background and more of a research orientation the more prestigious schools with more of an earth/environmental sciences focus plus a masters in atmospheric science would be a great route.

Hopefully this gives you some options as to how to proceed.

11

Thank you so much! @renaissancedad @JustOneDad and @beachykeen !!! I visited Cornell a while ago and liked it a lot. This has been super helpful!

12

@JustOneDad, I mentioned UW in post #2 above. It should definitely be on the list.

I think that a really good list would include some schools with really good operational meteorology (Penn St., Oklahoma, Miami and UW) plus schools with solid earth/atmospheric sciences (Cornell, Georgia Tech) plus a few of the upper echelon schools with strong earth sciences (MIT, Stanford, Columbia; I’d also look at Duke). That would be a diverse range of schools and also programs.

13

Just to mention that if you apply UW, make sure to apply to the Honors program, too.

14

OP is your GPA weighted or unweighted? What is your budget? Are you likely NMF? My D is also looking toward Meteorology but decided to do undergrad at a school that will offer big merit $$

15

My GPA is weighted, I am not sure what it is unweighted but it would still be pretty high. I am looking at an ROTC scholarship for college but I still want to apply to undergrad schools that will give me full merit aid. I heard Miami gives a lot of merit aid.

16

Best meteorology programs are at Penn State, OU, Washington, FSU. Other great programs are Iowa State, University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Purdue, MIT, UC Davis, Wyoming. There is a contrast in education so I would not pick a crappy school unless you struggle with math and still want a meteorology degree.

I went to OU. Their math department leaves a lot to be desired but the School of Meteorology, amazing. The national weather center is quite amazing. They have mostly excellent professors at the top of their field, although I had one who was horrible. Overall, OU’s program was as good as they all say.

If I were you, I’d stay in state, get your meteorology degree and do well, then apply for graduate school. In graduate school, you will be on an assistantship meaning they will pay your tuition and you will receive a stipend for doing research or teaching. If I could do it all over again, I would have taken this route. With your grades, grad school is a must.

If I were you, brush up on your math and physics, and do some computer science. Work on computer languages like MATLAB and Python. Meteorology is a very tough major, just as tough as engineering, maybe harder, but very rewarding. You will do a lot of fluid dynamics (tons of physics), thermodynamics that involve differential equations, and possible partial differential equations. It’s not so much about forecasting in undergrad at those amazing schools, it’s more about atmospheric dynamics, thermo, radiation, etc. While learning this, you will pick up forecasting.