Question by V1-Rotate: What kind of graduate degree program is needed to become a climatologist?
I am 27 and live in the USA. I have undergraduate degrees in Computer Science and Economics, but have only worked in the computer industry so far. I am interested in going back to graduate school, but am considering pursuing my life-long passion to become a climatologist.
Would I need to first complete a Post-Baccalaureate degree (i.e. would I have to go back to college and earn another Bachelor’s degree in geoscience or meteorology)? Or could I just jump into a graduate level program?
If I can jump right into graduate level, then what kind of graduate degree program would I need?
What sort of exams would I need (subject GRE’s, etc.) to qualify for a graduate program?
What sort of technical-oriented jobs can I get with climatology masters? What type of jobs are out there for climatology, from a computer/analytic standpoint? Please let me know about salary expectations as well, if you know.
I know this is a bunch of questions rolled into one, but if you work as a climatologist or are in a related field such as meteorology and can offer some insight on any one of my questions, then I would appreciate your input. Partial answers are OK too. Thanks so much!
Best answer:
Answer by Hammerhead
Computer modeling is the obvious answer. There are lots of jobs, especially in “GIS” for computer science types. Look up GIS and see if that interests you too, it would be a nice tool to have in your tool box.
You will need to take a GRE likely, but that is dependent upon what the grad program admissions require.
Look at USA jobs for federal jobs in climatology. There are private industry and academic positions, but I work in Government and that is what I am most familiar with.
You will likely need to take some background classes in climate but an entire BS would not be needed.
This is what you should do. Find some programs that interest you, contact their chairperson and get feed back as to what you need to make your application successful.
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