Occupations of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science M.S. and Ph.D. graduates from the last 10 years are depicted below. This is merely a snapshot as of 1 January 2024; most of the graduates in this time period have already changed jobs at least once; transitioning from a postdoctoral scholar position to a more permanent position is the most common transition. Most of those in the “postdoc” category would have graduated in the last 2 years.
M.S. Graduates from 2014-2023 (as of 1/1/2024)
27% Continuing toward Ph.D. at Penn State
18% Private Sector
16% Government
10% Earned Ph.D. at Penn State
9% Earned Ph.D. elsewhere
8% Unknown
5% Academia
4% Other
2% Continuing toward Ph.D. elsewhere
1% Military
Ph.D. Graduates from 2014-2023 (as of 1/1/2024)
31% Government
25% Academia
18% Private Sector
16% Postdocs
5% Unknown
4% Other
1% NCAR
A large fraction (48%) of our M.S. graduates continue on for their Ph.D. degree, whereas positions in government and the private sector are the most frequent career choices (34%). A small minority of M.S. students obtain positions in academic institutions (5%). For Ph.D. graduates, a little more than half are employed in the government or academic sectors (56%), though a substantial fraction enters the private sector (18%). The data above represents merely a snapshot of where graduates from the past decade were employed as of the time of this writing. A significant fraction represents newly minted Ph.D.s, many of whom (16%) are currently postdocs who will later transition to more permanent employment in the government, academic, and private sectors.