Studying for a semester or year abroad while an undergraduate student at Rutgers provides an invaluable opportunity to be exposed to other cultures, additional faculty and educational opportunities, and to expand your horizons. As a Meteorology major, you can study abroad for a semester or a year at any program you want. We will work with you to determine the equivalence of courses you take with those required for graduation in our program. There are many places around the world where you could study Meteorology, and in many different languages. We are in the process of examining the different opportunities to design programs that fit into our curriculum. So far we have done this with the biggest Meteorology Department in the United Kingdom, at the University of Reading.
University of Reading
The University of Reading is in Reading, England, which is much like New Brunswick. It is along the Thames River, rather than the Raritan, and is only a 30-minute train ride from downtown London, one of the great cities of the world, rather than New York and Philadelphia. But from London, it is an easy train ride or cheap flight to the rest of Europe.
The Department of Meteorology offers a three-year B.S. degree, and teaches a variety of undergraduate courses, which they call modules. These can be taken instead of required courses at Rutgers to satisfy our degree requirements at several different stages of the undergraduate program. Because the University of Reading operates on a trimester system, which they call terms, and we operate on a semester system, some adjustments may be necessary. Because Reading offers modules spanning more than one term that we offer in one semester, it would not be easy to spend just one semester there and satisfy our degree requirements in a timely manner in the sophomore or junior year, but you could spend the entire sophomore or junior year there, or the fall semester of your senior year there.
Sophomore Year: If you take MT11A Introduction to Atmospheric Science and MT11B Weather Systems Analysis, which are offered over two terms, autumn and spring, they would satisfy our requirements for the following courses: 11:670:101 Introduction to Meteorology, 11:670:102 Introduction to Climate Science, and 11:670:211 Meteorological Analysis. You could then take other Reading modules to satisfy your other course requirements at Rutgers, including chemistry, math, and core courses. One complication is that Reading does not offer Physics, so that you would have had to complete your Physics courses by the end of your first year (including Summer Session) to be prepared to take 11:670:323 Thermodynamics of the Atmos. at the beginning of your junior year.
Junior Year: If you take MT24A Atmosphere and Ocean Dynamics and MT24B Atmospheric Physics, which are offered over two terms, autumn and spring, and attend the thermodynamics portion of the MT11B Weather Systems Analysis module, this combination would satisfy our requirements for the following courses: 11:670:323 Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere, 11:670:324 Dynamics of the Atmosphere, and 11:670:431 Physical Meteorology. MT24C Numerical Methods for Environmental Science, offered in the Autumn term, would satisfy our requirement for 11:375:303 Numerical Methods in Environmental Science. You could then take other Reading modules to satisfy your other course requirements at Rutgers.
Senior Fall Semester: If you take MT37E Dynamics of Weather Systems and MT24D Weather Case Studies and Forecasting, they would satisfy our requirements for 11:670:433 Synoptic Meteorology. MT37H Atmospheric Science Field Course and the autumn term of MT36E Boundary Layer Meteorology would satisfy our requirement for 11:375:421 Principles of Air Pollution. MT37D Remote Sensing Methods and Applications would satisfy our requirement for 11:670:451 Remote Sensing of Oceans and Atmosphere. We would have to waive the requirement for 11:670:461 Climate Dynamics [or satisfy with independent study?]. Rutgers requires 30 of the last 42 credits be taken in residence, so if you already have completed 112 credits by the beginning of your senior year, and plan to take 16 credits in your spring semester as a senior, you could still satisfy this requirement. Students considering this option will want to verify with the study abroad office that their experience at Reading would still allow them to graduate on time.
Additional opportunities: There are several modules offered at Reading that we do not offer, and you could also take them while there to enrich your meteorological education. These include MT23E Surface Energy Exchange (summer term), MT26F Atmospheric Analogues (summer term), and MT4XH Atmospheric Science Field Course (summer). Note that the summer term runs from mid April to mid June, so it is not really the same as Rutgers Summer Session.
Practical aspects: The cost for the program is described at the Rutgers Study Abroad web page. In addition, room and board costs are decribed at the Reading accommodation costs web page. If you choose to stay for the summer term, you would have a three-week break after the spring term in which to explore the UK and the rest of Europe.