Life of a Meteorology Student

Growing up I always wanted to be a meteorologist, I will admit now though that I had no idea what it would take to make that happen. I had always loved math… but to me math was algebra. What on earth was I to do with all of this calculus? I was skeptical at first, all I could think was "why on earth do I need all of this to be on TV?" As time has passed I'm understanding more and more about why all of these hard classes are required (keep in mind understanding is much different than being happy about it.)

I've decided that we should get to add engineer onto our tagline of meteorologist. When I tell people I want to be a meteorologist most of them think that I go to school to learn about TV, and that is the farthest thing from the truth. The first two years of our program we take all the same classes as engineers…. All four calculus classes, differential equations, applied statistics, engineering physics 1 and 2 (I'm sure you get the point) It's a lot of science and math… but those are just the prerequisites so that we can begin taking our meteorology classes!

This year I'm in the junior sequence of the meteorology program, also known as the "unholy trinity." We've taken all of our math and physics courses to prepare us, but now we have to put all of that together and apply it to meteorology. So this semester I'm enrolled in Dynamics, Thermodynamics, and Measurements (also an African Dance class for one of my general requirements.) If you're thinking "what does all that mean?" you're asking the wrong person, because I have no idea… ask me in December and I'll tell you all about it! What I know now is that this is supposed to be the hardest semester of my college life… YIKES. We have graded homework, homework that is ungraded but "strongly encouraged," quizzes every week, computer programming projects and lab reports that take from what I've heard 20 hours to complete!

I've apologized to my friends and family ahead of time for the crazy busy schedule I'm expecting, hopefully they'll still put up with me! I foresee lots of late night crying phone calls to my mother rambling on about equations that she's never heard of, running to clear my mind, and lots of bubble baths. But that's just how I handle stress! Luckily I'll be able to come into News9 every week and be reminded of why I'm putting myself through all of this!

So is that what you thought it took to be a meteorologist? Let me know on Facebook or on Twitter @ShelbyWX