Choosing a career to pursue is one of the toughest choices anyone has to make. Unlike generations past, though, most Americans do not remain in their first career choice forever, and many change careers three or more times over their working lives. This is one reason why meteorology is actually a good choice, because it can be applied to a wide variety of specialties. There are some questions you can ask yourself before you decide to pursue meteorology:

1. Do I have an interest and aptitude in math, physics, and chemistry?

2. Do I have a genuine fascination for the weather and the atmosphere; do I like to read books on the subject and do so in my spare time?

3. Am I capable of conceptualizing phenomena in three-dimensional space?

4. Do I enjoy working with computers?

5. Am I flexible and willing to work in different locations and, sometimes, under a lot of pressure, such as when there is a significant storm?

You don’t have to answer “Yes!” to all of these questions to become a good meteorologist. For example, number five in the list mostly applies to people in broadcasting and forecasting fields. But you should be interested in at least the majority of these and also believe you could be at least competent in the others before you seriously pursue meteorology.