Admission Requirements and Application Process

Admission as a graduate student in the School of Meteorology is competitive. Prospective students must apply for admission to the Graduate College through the Office of Admissions and Records.  All materials are submitted electronically through that site (including three letters of reference-preferably from faculty, official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended, and a personal statement).

Minimum Requirements for Admission to Graduate Program

  • The Graduate College requires a minimum undergraduate grade-point average of 3.0 (B average) for admission. However, students who are accepted typically have a higher GPA.
  • Full calculus sequence (typically 12 credit hours) and a course in differential equations
  • A year of calculus-based physics courses, including mechanics and electricity and magnetism
  • The School recommends that interested students obtain an undergraduate degree in physics, mathematics, engineering, chemistry, meteorology, atmospheric science, or another one of the physical sciences. We offer an undergraduate degree program for those who are interested – requirements can be found here.
  • We prefer that applicants have a working knowledge of partial differential equations, although some graduate students pursue this after arriving at OU.
  • As of August 2020, the School of Meteorology faculty voted to remove the GRE as a requirement for application to our graduate program. GRE scores included in future applications will be redacted prior to review. This is the first step in our review of the recruitment and admissions processes to increase equity.

Deadlines and Review Process

1 November (updated):
The School will accept applications past this deadline; however, students who apply later risk losing the majority of funded GRA/GTA opportunities within the School and the National Weather Center.

15 April:
If you receive a GRA/GTA offer, you must accept or decline the offer by this date. However, students are encouraged to notify the School of their decision to accept or decline a GRA/GTA offer as early as possible. This allows the School to extend offers to other applicants.

1 September:
The final deadline for Spring application for international students currently residing outside the United States is 1 September. For the most up-to-date information regarding international-student admissions, see here.

1 November:
The application deadline for Spring admission is 1 November, but there are rarely more than 1 or 2 funded positions available. Occasionally, funding for a GRA/GTA position becomes available after the beginning of the Fall semester. For a student beginning in the Spring semester, courses will be somewhat out of sequence. However, it is generally easy to coordinate any differences.

Direct-Track Ph.D. Program 

Although OU has a policy that allows for direct admission into a Ph.D. program, the School of Meteorology strongly advises you to first enroll as an MS degree student. After you have begun the MS degree program, it is possible to switch to the Ph.D. program with permission from the School of Meteorology, if such a track is deemed to be optimal for you. For more information, please check the graduate student handbook.

Questions, Comments, or Concerns?

More information about the OU School of Meteorology’s graduate program can be found in the Prospective Graduate Students portion of our website. If you need additional information or have questions, please contact our Coordinator of Graduate Programs, Danika Hines-Barnett, at danika [at] ou.edu or 405.325.6561.