A Career In Meteorology

[The watcher]

It is probably too late for me to go and get a degree in Met, but I do enjoy maths and physics. Might go down the OU path though. Would like to do something overseas as an apprentice or assistant, anything climate or weather related.

[icbinb]

I enjoy maths. I have to say Maths, Physics and Geography would be my specialist subjects at GCSE. A, A and A* projections in them- I was wondering whether you needed A* in Maths and Physics to be considered for meteorology Nick?

Also, I'm interested into how Geography plays into it? Is having Geography a bonus or not needed?

I'm not Nick, but I can say that GCSE'S results were of secondary importance to getting good A-Levels in Maths and Physics. At the moment Reading requires B's in both, but that is subject to change. Geography is a bonus I would say, not a requirement to get on a Meteorology course. But it is good if you decide to go down a more geophysical science route.

The maths can be a bit of a grind at times, but when it all starts to link together as the course goes on it gets a lot better.

[Relativistic]

I love maths, physics and geography, and am thinking of doing meteorology at university. Thanks for all the info people have been putting up here, it's really useful.

[Isolated Frost]

Thanks BFTV

Got an A* in Geography GCSE- hopefully Reading focuses more on that in the future

And yes, I thought that A-Levels were much more significant, thanks icbinb

[Nick L]

I'm not Nick, but I can say that GCSE'S results were of secondary importance to getting good A-Levels in Maths and Physics. At the moment Reading requires B's in both, but that is subject to change. Geography is a bonus I would say, not a requirement to get on a Meteorology course. But it is good if you decide to go down a more geophysical science route.

The maths can be a bit of a grind at times, but when it all starts to link together as the course goes on it gets a lot better.

Yup. GCSEs are near enough irrelevant once you've got A Levels! I got an A in GCSE maths (0.5% off an A*...). And then ABB at A Level in maths, further maths and physics. I thoroughly enjoyed maths at A Level, I would go as far as saying I found it easy. Further maths was fine in 1st year, and then 2nd year was seriously tough. Physics was a bit of a slog but in the end was fairly comfortable, if I needed to I reckon I could have pushed myself to get an A.

Regarding the maths in the Met course though, a lot of the stuff we did was in generic maths modules and most was irrelevant. We've put suggestions to our department requesting Met specific maths modules, so it will hopefully change soon.

I'm in my 3rd year now and found the maths peaked in 2nd year, it really was horrendous. Out of the 2 modules we did I failed one and barely passed the other. I just hit my wall. Thanks to maths though last year I didn't do well at all. Got a battle on my hands to get a 2:1 now, a 1st is miracle territory!

Your third A Level can have a big bearing on whether you get offered a place and your grade requirements, even if what you're doing isn't listed as a required subject. Because I did Further Maths it lowered asking requirements at some of my choices (AAB for maths at Birmingham was knocked down to ABB)

Edited December 6, 2012 by Nick L