To Master or Not to Master? The Question Remains the Same.

Questions on career advising for undergraduate meteorology students were posed in an interactive poster at the 25^th Symposium on Education in 2016. We were motivated at that time by the informal observation that a graduate degree had become favored over an undergraduate degree in the hiring practices for private sector and government positions. Over the past two years, we have observed a shift back toward hiring undergraduates.

As we educate our students in the foundations of atmospheric science, how do we prepare and advise them for the job market? Has the graduate school climate changed from the discussion of Nielsen-Gammon, Avilés and Joseph (2009) and our 2016 poster? We asked about the need for advanced degrees in a variety of career paths, the role of GPA (and the seemingly now defunct GRE), the skills needed and provided by an advanced degree, and the issue of funding for graduate work. Nine years later we are revisiting many of these same questions and some new questions in a post-COVID, AI-thinking world.

This interactive poster will pose questions, seek responses, and reveal our 2016 answers.