My future as a hurricane forcaster might have a kickstart

[DoctorHurricane2003]

PSAT is just mainly for the National Merit Scholarship. Otherwise the schools see the PSAT score as a 'benchmark' and won't act on anything until they see some hardcord SAT/ACT scores.

[Scorpion]

I am a junior and am not getting that great grades and hate calculus and chemistry with a passion. Would becoming a meteorologist be trouble for me?

[Derek Ortt]

if you are poor calc, you have little chance at getting through met school, since the high level met classes are based upon multi-variable calculus

[Scorpion]

Oh great . I am a good arithmetic person but the calculus just boggles my mind. I wish I could just skip the calculus part since it doesn't seem I would need it in a career involving researching and forecasting.

[DoctorHurricane2003]

Get tutoring Scorpion.

I myself have my troubles with Calculus II. If you can do I and III well (high B and/or A) and pass II with a high C or low B, you should be fine. From my experience, most of my professors don't use anything from Calculus II (integration by parts, trigonometric substitution, infinite series) often at all.

And dig through your Chemistry, I know its tough, but at least try and get a B in it.

[Derek Ortt]

some of the formula derivations in the dynamics classes do use calc 2, especially taylor expansions

however, calc 3 is the big one

[WxGuy1]

I would have to agree with those who say the PSAT doesn't really affect college admissions. It's good practice for the SAT, but I certainly wouldn't not study much for the SAT because you did well on your PSAT. I don't know of a single college or university that requests PSAT scores. Also, howeverw well you do on your SAT or ACT, always take it twice! Well, I guess, if you get a 1600 on your SAT or a 36 on your ACT, you don't need to take it again. However, it's definately worth two shots. I improved my SAT score by several hundred points the 2nd time (I was sick during and the week before the first attempt).

Taking AP physics won't help you much unless you take calculus-based physics. Many high school AP physics classes are algebra-based, not calculus-based. I know at OU, and I assume most other programs, you'll need 8 credits (or 2 classes) of calculus-based physics. AP chem is nice, but so is AP US history and/or AP Economics (especially since there are two AP economic exams -- microeconomics and macroecon -- you can kill 2 birds with one class!). AP classes won't only possible give you credits to give you a head start in the program, but it'll save you a lot of money!

If you don't like math, then, honestly, I'd consider another major. LOL not meaning to be blunt, but there's a lot of math in meteorology, and if you want to do any sort of graduate work, you better at least be able to stand it. ODEs will rule you by graduation, and PDEs will try to in graduate school!

[Shoshana]

Congrats

Best use for the psat, becoming a National Merit Scholar and getting scholorships, being able to put it on your college app.

More info: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/tes ... about.html

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

SAT is more important than PSAT for admissions..it's just psat can get
you scholarship money-- but sat's are weighted more. But if you do well
on PSAT the SAT shouldn't be much trouble, it's just a little bit more challenging.

[inotherwords]

Take it from experience, if you're not good/don't like math, then you don't want to major in science. Been there, did that, am doing something else completely different 20 years later

I did not realize people were being offered scholarships based on PSATs. I had extremely high PSAT scores and never was approached. PSAT and NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) were also completely different entities, maybe that's not the case anymore. PSAT was supposed to predict SAT scores but my SATs were not as good as my PSATs. I could have taken them over but I had the number I needed to qualify where I wanted to go.

Colleges admitted based on SAT scores back then, along with overall GPA, and things like AP courses and internships. Be sure to take the AP courses, very important. Not only will they help you get admitted, any college credit upon admission is worth $$ in tuition money saved.

Don't forget to look for relevant internships. Schools are looking for well rounded students these days and many require detailed essays upon application.

[Scorpion]

I will probably end up in a non-scientific field but will do meteorology and research as a hobby.

[Agua]

If you do high school right, it should be harder than going to college because in high school you have to be in school longer, do more busy work, and deal with more annoying peers. Use your time there to its best advantage, get into the university of your choice and failing that the best you can, and good luck.

That was my experience with law school as compared to undergarduate. FAR more work involved in college because you're responsible for EVERYTHING you were assigned to read as well as the material covered in the lectures. At law school, you're really only responsible for the material covered during class.

[jeff]

Calculus and Physics must be your friend to get through the met dynamic classes. Computer science is also of importance to get through the lab parts of some of those classes.

Personally I think most of those exams (PSAT, SAT, ACT) are a waste of time and effort and do not at times show the full potential of a persons abilities. It is hard to gage a persons depth on understanding on a timed exam.