Changing Your Major to or from Meteorology

Jon Ahlquist, 9 September 2010

This essay is intended for those who are thinking about changing their major to or from meteorology. The most common majors that transfer to meteorology are engineering, physics, and math. If you are thinking of transferring out of meteorology because of academic difficulties, consider Environmental Science as a possible new major. It is somewhat less mathematical than meteorology. See www.eoas.fsu.edu for more information.

First, think about why you are considering changing your major. Three common reasons are academic difficulties with your current major, a change of interest, or the suspicion that a new major has much better job and/or salary opportunities. If you are having academic difficulties, how much is due to lack of discipline, and how much is genuine difficulty with what you are studying? If the problem is lack of discipline, that problem will still be there if you change your major, and you will have just as much difficulty with a new major. Therefore, you will have to gain some discipline if you want to stay in school, independent of whether you change your major.

If you have genuine difficulty with your current major or your interests have changed, then that is certainly a reason to look at a new major. If you are thinking about changing to meteorology because of academic difficulties with engineering, physics, or math, you will probably find meteorology just as difficult. Meteorology is just as hard as any other technical major.

If you like both meteorology and some other field, you might consider a double major. If you are sure that you want to change majors, you may be able to apply the credits earned in your current major toward a minor in that field.

As soon as you think about changing your major, start by talking with your current academic advisor. Talk about your status in your current major, and ask for your advisor’s advice.

After talking with your current advisor, talk with an advisor in the major you are considering. Among the questions you can ask are the following:

Does the new major have any entrance requirements? If so, do I qualify?
What sequence of courses do I need to take?
What minor is usually chosen for this major?
How long will it take to graduate if I stay on schedule with the new major?
What jobs are available after graduation? What are the starting and long‐term salary prospects?

The FSU Career Center can help match majors to career interests. See http://career.fsu.edu/occupations/matchmajor/index.html.

If you decide to pursue a different major, it is to your advantage to switch officially as soon as possible so that you can be advised by someone in your field of interest and so that you can get started in the proper sequence of courses. Obviously, it is important to select a major in which you will do well and which is interesting to you. Choose carefully!

The procedure for changing your major is described at http://advisingfirst.fsu.edu/faq.html, where it says:

Where do I change my major?

Most Freshmen and Sophomores:

In order to begin your major change process, you must speak with an advisor from the department for the major you wish to change into to have a major change form completed. Once you have a completed major change form (signed by your academic advisor), you can then take your major change form to Advising First (UCA 3200) for processing.

Juniors and Seniors:

You must visit the academic dean’s office for the major you wish to change into to have a major change form completed. The major change form must [then] be signed by both your [current] academic advisor and your [current] academic dean. You can then take your completed major change form to the Registrar’s office (UCA 3900) for processing. If you are unsure, call the main Advising First office at 644-3430.

If you decide to change majors and the other major is in the College of Arts and Sciences like meteorology is, then you can handle almost everything in the Arts and Sciences Office located in Room 110 Longmire Building (644‐1081). The College of Arts and Sciences also has a Web page specifically devoted to changing majors. See this link.

Good luck!