Best School In UK For Meteorology?

Hi everyone! I'm new to this site, but I've been reading through lots of posts and have learned a lot already 

Before I get into my question, I'll give you a bit of background. I'm currently working on my BS in physics in the US. I've got three years to go until I'm done (I'm on the 5 year plan). I've started planning my postgraduate education since I want to go to the UK for it, and the more time to get everything in order, the better, right? I think I have a decent idea about how to pay for it all, and getting my visa shouldn't be too much of a problem when the time comes. The only thing I'm missing is where I'm going!

I'd like to go to grad school for meteorology, and I've done a bit of research into possible universities in the UK that offer it, but I've had trouble finding much. So my question is, does anyone know of good schools to attend for getting a masters in meteorology? Any help would be very much appreciated!!!

As far as I know, the best masters courses in Meteorology are at the University of Reading and the University of Birmingham.

I also have an undergraduate degree in Physics (and a masters in geophysics/natural hazards) and I am now a Meteorologist/Forecaster for the UK Met Office (in training actually... it's my first day actually forecasting for real on the bench today!).

In my case, I went straight into training at the Met Office without a meteorology degree, but my roommate (a fellow trainee forecaster) has a masters in meteorology from Reading and one of the forecasters I work with has a masters in meteorology from Birmingham (when my roommate called the Met Office a few years ago to ask how she could work for them as a forecaster/meteorologist, they recommended the masters at Reading).

Thanks so much for your response!

I've looked into both Birmingham and Reading and was very pleased with what I found. I'm also glad that the Met Office recommended Reading since that's the one I'm leaning towards 

Do you know how willing the Met Office is to take on someone who would need a Tier 2 visa? Due to the tightening of the immigration laws, Tier 2 may be the only option I have once I get my masters, so it'd be good to know where I can start looking when the time comes.

Thanks for all your help, and I hope your first day of forecasting went well!! 

I've looked into both Birmingham and Reading and was very pleased with what I found. I'm also glad that the Met Office recommended Reading since that's the one I'm leaning towards 

The meteorology department at Reading seems to have a lot of ties with the Met Office (in terms of researchers, professors, ex-Met Office employees etc.), especially as Met Office HQ used to be in Bracknell, which is only about 10 miles from the University.

Do you know how willing the Met Office is to take on someone who would need a Tier 2 visa? Due to the tightening of the immigration laws, Tier 2 may be the only option I have once I get my masters, so it'd be good to know where I can start looking when the time comes.

The thing with the Met Office is that although I believe they are registered Tier 2 sponsors, they are also a UK government organisation and are part of the Ministry of Defence... so you may have to meet certain nationality requirements and need to have lived in the UK for a certain number of years before applying (it was 5 years when I applied).

Before I started the job I had to sign the UK Official Secrets Act and get UK government security clearance (which took 6 months to go through)! I also had to list every employer I'd had and every school I had attended in the past 5 years and they contacted each one of them for references, on top of the 2 personal references I had already provided (so I think that was 6 references in total!). I had spent 18 months living in the US as a student in the previous 5 years before applying, so I was worried that it would affect my chances of getting the job. Luckily, it didn't seem to as the UK was still my permanent home during that time, but I did have to acquire police certificates from the US for the security clearance.

Thanks for all your help, and I hope your first day of forecasting went well!! 

No problem - it's nice to meet someone with such a similar background to me. The forecaster training course I was on at the Met Office College for the last few months was full of Geography graduates, and I was the only Physicist!!

Today wasn't as bad as I thought - I was in work at 6 a.m., but was not 'on the bench' until 9 a.m. (as the morning is a bit crazy - we have to get the first forecasts out by 7 a.m. and then give 5 formal briefings between 7.45 and 8.20). I had to issue the official forecast documents and answer the phone/queries from customers during the day. I currently work on a military base (RAF), providing forecasts for helicopter pilots. Next week will be tougher - I'm on the night flying shift... 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. and I will have to start giving squadron briefings as well  .

Hm, maybe the Met Office won't work out then. I definitely wouldn't be able to get the clearance needed. But I'm sure there are other places that need meteorologists in the UK. That's the great thing about weather. Everyone needs to know what it's doing 

Also, after looking at the occupation shortage list, it seems like I might have to branch out into the more general field of geoscience, so that'll be helpful too since it'll open up more job possibilities for me. I plan on keeping an eye on that list too in case it changes so I'll know what route to take when the time comes.

I've had the same experience of being the only physics person in the geosciences. No one in my year is even remotely interested in it. They all want to do quantum mechanics. I like it though because it means I don't have as much competition for jobs 

Your job sounds pretty intense! It sounds like a lot of fun too though  Good luck with the night shift! Hopefully it won't be too rough on you 

Hm, maybe the Met Office won't work out then. I definitely wouldn't be able to get the clearance needed. But I'm sure there are other places that need meteorologists in the UK. That's the great thing about weather. Everyone needs to know what it's doing 

Yeah, there are quite a few other companies - I have been given a long list of rival meteorology/forecasting companies that I am not allowed to work for for at least a year if I ever leave the Met Office !

Also, after looking at the occupation shortage list, it seems like I might have to branch out into the more general field of geoscience, so that'll be helpful too since it'll open up more job possibilities for me. I plan on keeping an eye on that list too in case it changes so I'll know what route to take when the time comes.

A lot of the shortage occupations on the list are for very high-up positions and so it is difficult for recent graduates to get any of them . My original aim was to be a geophysicist and I just spent 2 years looking for a job in geophysics with no luck at all (despite me being a UK citizen with 2 degrees and the job being on the Tier 2 shortage list).

Every single geophysics/physics job advert I found between August 2008 and September 2010 was for project manager/expert positions... they all wanted a minimum of a PhD and/or 10 years experience working in the field . One night I searched through 500 science jobs online and could not find a single job I was qualified for  .

Just a note though, that the immigration laws and visas are constantly changing, and it may be that by the time you are ready to apply for jobs, Tier 2 visas and the shortage occupation list may not even exist, or they may exist in a completely different format with different requirements - so I wouldn't tailor your education to what's on the list now (because those jobs might not be on it anymore by the time you finish your degree), but instead just study what interests you the most .

I've had the same experience of being the only physics person in the geosciences. No one in my year is even remotely interested in it. They all want to do quantum mechanics. I like it though because it means I don't have as much competition for jobs 

Ugh, quantum mechanics was pretty much the bane of my life for 4 years! I started learning about wave-particle duality in high school and then had to take quantum mechanics classes in every year of my degree, each class building on the last... I thought I would never understand it, until I spent my third year of university studying physics in the US and suddenly it clicked .

I've also always been interested in the geosciences though - I did 6 months of meteorology in geography classes when I was 16 (although it was so basic compared with what I've learned in this job!) and ever since I studied plate tectonics in Geography class when I was a teenager, that was what I wanted to do... I found out that I would need to study maths and physics in order to study earthquakes, so I did! I ended up with an undergrad masters in theoretical physics, a postgrad research masters in Science of Natural Hazards (my research was in seismology) and I started a PhD in the US in Geodynamics in 2008 (hated it though, so I left the PhD program after only a few months and came back to England - it was all computer programming, modelling stresses and strains in the mantle, and not much fun stuff).

Your job sounds pretty intense! It sounds like a lot of fun too though  Good luck with the night shift! Hopefully it won't be too rough on you 

It is pretty intense - the first 6 months were a really intense training course (9 to 5 of lectures/classes each day with up to 3 hours a night of studying), and now I'm out on the air force base for 4 months doing on-the-job training... and I'm the only female in my office, with everyone else either in their 50's or late 30's . After I qualify I'll be headed to a different air force base for a minimum of 2 years.

Well I'm glad there are indeed other places to look into when the time comes. Hopefully they don't all require the things the Met Office does!

That's unfortunate about the geophysics jobs  Though I'm not too surprised to be honest. I plan on keeping my eye on the changing immigration rules and all that fun stuff. I'm really worried that by the time I can look for a job and start working towards becoming a citizen the borders will be closed completely. The possible change of study subjects would only be a very last resort since I very much want to be a meteorologist, and I have since I was a kid.

I'm still trying to decide if I want to work or go for my PhD once I finish my masters. The PhD would be helpful and I want to get it eventually anyway, but I'm worried about burning myself out if I don't take some time off. But if I'm going to burn out, I might as well do it in the country I want to be in, right? 

My physics teacher in high school spent two years introducing me to quantum mechanics. I would spend my lunch periods and time after school with him learning everything I could about it, which was mostly just theory due to my lack of upper level math skills at the time. I thought I was going to enjoy it in college, but after having a semester of it this spring, I hate it. It never really clicked for me, though I think that was largely due to issues everyone was having with the professor. I plan on retaking it though so hopefully I'll enjoy it more the second time around 

I've wanted to be a meteorologist since I was 12 or so. My science teacher at the time sparked my interest and it's been growing ever since  I'm working on a physics degree because the school I wanted to go to for undergrad doesn't have meteorology. I took a pretty basic class in it though this year and loved it! I can't wait to study it more seriously.

I never thought a meteorology job would have such intense training, although I guess it makes sense since you're on a military base. It sounds like an awesome experience though 

And I hear ya about being the only woman. There's only a few of us in my major. I remember shadowing at two different meteorology offices here in the US during high school and there were very few women there too. It can be a nice advantage though 

Well I'm glad there are indeed other places to look into when the time comes. Hopefully they don't all require the things the Met Office does!

Most of them are private companies so they won't require as much stuff for the job - with the Met Office, because you're dealing with sensitive information and working with the military, they have to be sure you can be trusted not to leak any secret information. There is so much security involved - you need a security pass just to get into the buildings, you can't plug any USB devices or other media into any of the company's computers without permission from the security department, and if you want to work from home, you have to get a government-approved laptop with about 10 different passwords .

That's unfortunate about the geophysics jobs  Though I'm not too surprised to be honest. I plan on keeping my eye on the changing immigration rules and all that fun stuff. I'm really worried that by the time I can look for a job and start working towards becoming a citizen the borders will be closed completely. The possible change of study subjects would only be a very last resort since I very much want to be a meteorologist, and I have since I was a kid.

I guess you're quite lucky studying in the US for your undergrad degree because you can change subjects if you want to, whereas I had to chose to study physics when I was 16 (here you have to chose your degree subject before you even apply) and if I'd wanted to change subjects, I would have had to start a new degree from scratch!

I'm still trying to decide if I want to work or go for my PhD once I finish my masters. The PhD would be helpful and I want to get it eventually anyway, but I'm worried about burning myself out if I don't take some time off. But if I'm going to burn out, I might as well do it in the country I want to be in, right? 

With my PhD, I just found that it was going to be such a long, drawn-out process to even get the degree and I wasn't even enjoying it that much... in the UK, you can do a PhD in 3 years and it's pure research from the word go, but in the US it was going to take me 4-6 years (with 2 years of classes and lots of teaching)!

My physics teacher in high school spent two years introducing me to quantum mechanics. I would spend my lunch periods and time after school with him learning everything I could about it, which was mostly just theory due to my lack of upper level math skills at the time. I thought I was going to enjoy it in college, but after having a semester of it this spring, I hate it. It never really clicked for me, though I think that was largely due to issues everyone was having with the professor. I plan on retaking it though so hopefully I'll enjoy it more the second time around 

I think it does depend on how it's taught. The way we learned it in my UK university, it was basically so much integration and wave function stuff that my head was spinning - I just had no idea what was going on. But in the US, we were taught it by way of Dirac notation, matrix calcuations and operators - so everything was expressed in operator notation rather than multiple integrals - much easier to get my head around!

I've wanted to be a meteorologist since I was 12 or so. My science teacher at the time sparked my interest and it's been growing ever since  I'm working on a physics degree because the school I wanted to go to for undergrad doesn't have meteorology. I took a pretty basic class in it though this year and loved it! I can't wait to study it more seriously.

For me, it was a toss-up between going into Physical Geography for my degree (and heading towards the more meteorological side of things) or doing Physics. Originally I wanted to study Geophysics, but it was suggested to me that having a broader physics base first would be more beneficial and then I could specialise at postgraduate level. Then again, I was also told that as a woman in physics, I wouldn't have a problem getting a job... guess the job market was much better 10 years ago than it is now!

I never thought a meteorology job would have such intense training, although I guess it makes sense since you're on a military base. It sounds like an awesome experience though 

As the Met Office is the UK's national weather service and a world-leading research institute, they specialise in being 'the best' for forecasting... so their training involves 14 weeks of intense meteorology training (the physics and theory behind forecasting) - the idea being that if all the technology goes down we can still use our theoretical knowledge to forecast by hand instead. Not everyone works for the military though - some people go into the Operations Centre at HQ, which forecasts for the general public and various private customers (such as retailers, utility companies, local councils and governments etc.), others go to military bases (both in the UK and abroad), and some go into TV broadcasting for the BBC.

And I hear ya about being the only woman. There's only a few of us in my major. I remember shadowing at two different meteorology offices here in the US during high school and there were very few women there too. It can be a nice advantage though 

From what I can tell, there are more women in the Operations and TV side of forecasting, but not so many out on the bases (but in terms of my forecasting course, we had 3 girls and 3 guys going into military forecasting). In my physics degree, there were only 12 girls out of the 64 students on the degree course, but in my masters we had more girls than guys  .

I didn't read all the above... but just wanted to echo the Reading recommendation. Back when I did my MA there (another field entirely), I was friends with a German woman who did her MSc in meteorology. I'm not in regular touch with her now, but she's doing well in Germany. That MSc opened a lot of doors for her.

Well it's good to know the military is secure. I'm ok with not being able to work for them if it means things are safe 

I'm too far into my degree to change, but that's what my masters if for 

I think if I do go for a PhD, it won't be in the US. I forgot that PhD students usually have to teach until you mentioned it, and I surely don't want to do that and research at the same time! I'd much rather do pure research and just get it done. I think the research for my masters will decide if I go for the PhD or not. If I like it, then I'd happily go for the PhD, and if not then I think I'll just go straight into work.

Speaking of how long it takes to get certain degrees, it still blows my mind that people get a MSc in the UK in a year or two. I know people here who spend 4 or 5 years on it! It'll be really interesting to experience a different method of getting the degree. I have a feeling I'll like it better than if I were to do it here. What my friends went through for those 4 years just did not seem fun. It made me really nervous about even attempting grad school! Hopefully the faster pace will be better 

My quantum physics class was the same. The professor just threw math at us and expected us to be able to do it. It didn't work. Hopefully it'll be different the second time around. And if not, I'll just find a class mate to help me out 

I decided to do the same thing with starting broad and then specializing. My physics background wasn't too strong so I figured it'd be good to strengthen my basic skills and then focus them. And I was told the same thing about being a woman in the sciences. Hopefully the market will improve soon so it'll be helpful again!

It's good that they train you guys to work without the technology if need be. I think it would be awesome to try to forecast the weather by hand. I've always enjoyed doing things that way. I don't even use a calculator if I don't have to 


Thanks for the recommendation balmerhon! I'm glad to hear your friend has had success with her MSc. It's sounding like Reading is probably the best choice. I think I'll research it a bit more and find out as much as I can.

I think if I do go for a PhD, it won't be in the US. I forgot that PhD students usually have to teach until you mentioned it, and I surely don't want to do that and research at the same time! I'd much rather do pure research and just get it done.

Yeah, that was what I didn't like about it - I got to the US and 2 days later was told: 'you're teaching an Geology/Enviromental Science lab starting next Friday'... I had never even studied Geology in my life and had no idea how I was supposed to teach it ! I had to sit in on the other labs being taught by other TAs just to see what I was supposed to teach (i.e. I was teaching a rock identification lab and I didn't even know what the rocks were myself!). Luckily though, a lot of the environmental science topics were things I'd learned back when I was about 15, so I just had to dig back into my memory of high school to do it .

In terms of the structure of the research in the PhD, I basically would have had to turn in 2 research proposals and go through 'comps', but that wouldn't have been until a year after I'd started the PhD program! In comparison, when you apply for a PhD in the UK, the research project titles are already decided and put forward by the professor, so you apply to study that particular project (i.e. you don't come up with it yourself)... which means that you start working on the research project from the day you begin the PhD and you don't have to take any classes unless you want to or would be beneficial to your research (plus, if you do TA, which a lot of UK students do, you get paid extra on top of your research funding, rather than teaching being the main source of your income). Only problem with doing a PhD in the UK if you are a foreign (non-EU) student is that you won't qualify for UK research council funding, so unless you can get funding/sponsorship from somewhere else, you may have to fund the entire degree yourself.

Speaking of how long it takes to get certain degrees, it still blows my mind that people get a MSc in the UK in a year or two. I know people here who spend 4 or 5 years on it! It'll be really interesting to experience a different method of getting the degree. I have a feeling I'll like it better than if I were to do it here. What my friends went through for those 4 years just did not seem fun. It made me really nervous about even attempting grad school! Hopefully the faster pace will be better 

Yeah, I was really surprised by the differences in Masters degrees in the US and UK. Many masters in the UK are 12 month-long, taught degrees. So you just turn up in September, take some classes, write a research project, turn it in by September of the next year and you're done. Usually the 2-year masters are degrees with work placements in them as well, so you spend several months working for a company in the middle of the degree.

My masters was a research degree, so in the first term, I took a few classes (but they weren't graded) and then I spent January to September doing research in my office...  then I got kicked out of the office in September due to the next Masters course starting, so I spent the next couple of months working from home, handed in my thesis in December, defended it in January and then moved to the US a week later! Back then (2006/07), we had 2 years in which to hand in the thesis after the end of the course, but now I believe they have changed it and the students are given a deadline of September 15th to complete their research and submit their thesis (i.e. they have to finish within 12 months).

My quantum physics class was the same. The professor just threw math at us and expected us to be able to do it. It didn't work. Hopefully it'll be different the second time around. And if not, I'll just find a class mate to help me out 

 I could understand the maths, but it was grasping the concepts of what was actually happening to the particles that I didn't get... and in that respect, the maths didn't help my understanding. But when it was approached in a different way, it made much more sense (still lots of maths, but it gave a better picture of what you were trying to calculate) . I actually ended up doing my 2-year research project on quantum semiconductors!

I decided to do the same thing with starting broad and then specializing. My physics background wasn't too strong so I figured it'd be good to strengthen my basic skills and then focus them. And I was told the same thing about being a woman in the sciences. Hopefully the market will improve soon so it'll be helpful again!

Yeah, luckily my job should be guaranteed for at least the next 2 years because we have a commitment to work as a forecaster for at least 2 years after qualifying, before we can change jobs or leave the company... if we do leave before then, we have to pay back a good chunk of the cost of our training (which is a lot of money!).

It's good that they train you guys to work without the technology if need be. I think it would be awesome to try to forecast the weather by hand. I've always enjoyed doing things that way. I don't even use a calculator if I don't have to 

Yeah, someone told me about one of the forecasters working with the troops out in Afghanistan - the computers went down one day and she had to give a forecast to the pilots purely from looking at the sky and using her theory knowledge!

Sorry for the delay in response. I just moved back to Massachusetts for the summer and so things have been hectic!

That's what I don't like about our PhD program structure here in the US. I want to do my research, get my degree, and get out. It seems counterproductive to make PhD students do so much extra stuff. I would much rather start my research on day 1 instead of waiting over a year. I also like that they come up with the topics. My biggest concern with grad school is not knowing what to research. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out the funding thing when the time comes. I've got some time to figure it out  

I hope I'll be able to get everything done in 12 months. Sounds tough! I think I'd rather do that than waste 4 years to get the same thing though.

Everyone in my quantum mechanics class had the same problem. The professor focused on the math and never explained what was happening physically, so it never made sense. Unfortunately she figured that out in the last week of classes so no one did too well.

It's nice that your job is basically guaranteed for two years. It's always nice to know that your job is secure.

That's what I don't like about our PhD program structure here in the US. I want to do my research, get my degree, and get out. It seems counterproductive to make PhD students do so much extra stuff. I would much rather start my research on day 1 instead of waiting over a year. I also like that they come up with the topics. My biggest concern with grad school is not knowing what to research. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out the funding thing when the time comes. I've got some time to figure it out  

The good thing about UK grad school (PhD at least) is that the project titles and research projects are already there... you just have to pick which one you want to do and apply - you don't have to try to think of a research project title yourself (unless you want to).

I hope I'll be able to get everything done in 12 months. Sounds tough! I think I'd rather do that than waste 4 years to get the same thing though.

You won't really have a choice though - you basically either finish the degree within the 12 months or you don't get the degree at all. Most masters courses are 9 months of classes and 3 months of research/dissertation project, with a non-negotiable deadline at the end (although my masters was a research degree, so it was 3 months of classes and 9 months of research).

With the MSc in Meteorology at Reading, all the classes are taken between October and March, with exams in January and April, and then the thesis must be submitted by August - this year's course has a final thesis deadline of 12pm on August 15th 2011. Failure to meet the deadline will mean you are penalised unless there are exceptional circumstances - if you are more than a week late in submitting you will get a mark of zero for the dissertation.

As an example, here are the 2010/11 degree dates for the MSc courses at Reading (from the MSc Handbook: http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/intranet/student/msc/docs/mschandbook.pdf):

2010

- 11 October: Programmes begin.

- 29-31 October: Weekend field course in Dorset.

- 15-19 November: Analysis of field course data

- Early December: Selection of advanced optional modules for Spring Term.

2011

- 12-14 January: Departmental Examination on the Autumn term modules.

- 17 January: Advanced modules begin. Discussions concerning your dissertation topic are started.

- 21-24 February: Team project

- End Spring Term: Confirmation of dissertation or Diploma/ essay topic.

- Early/mid April Examinations on most Spring Term modules.dates to be finalised). Final registration for MSc/Diploma will be taken after these examinations.

- Late April: Work begins on your Dissertation or Essay.

- Early Summer Term: Four-day Forecasting Course run by the UK Met Office

- End Summer Term: All students give a brief, unassessed (10 minutes + 5 minutes questions) presentation of their dissertation.

- 01 July (AM/AOC): Diploma Essay must be submitted by 12 noon.

- 08 July (DA): Diploma essay must be submitted by 12 noon)

- 15 August (AM/AOC): MSc dissertation must be submitted by 12 noon.

- 22 August (DA): MSc Dissertation must be submitted by 12 noon.

- 01 September: Return all course-assessed material and project work to the School Taught Postgraduate Office.

- Mid-September: Examiners Meeting. Day on which provisional results are available. You are required to be present in the Department on this day (date will be advised during the Summer term)

- Late-September: After the Examiners Meeting you may be required to make corrections to your dissertation. To graduate in December, one corrected and bound copy must be handed in to the School Taught Postgraduate Office by the end of October.

- Mid-December: The graduation ceremony for MSc and Diploma students is held on a Saturday in mid-December.

Everyone in my quantum mechanics class had the same problem. The professor focused on the math and never explained what was happening physically, so it never made sense. Unfortunately she figured that out in the last week of classes so no one did too well.

Yeah, that doesn't sound good. I think with our course, it was mostly a case of the lecturer standing at the front of the lecture hall and scribbling a load of equations on the board... we copied them down in silence and then left at the end of the class .

It's nice that your job is basically guaranteed for two years. It's always nice to know that your job is secure.

Yeah, at least I hope so! It was a bit of a stressful time getting the job in the first place. I first interviewed in October 2008 - didn't get the job, but was put on the reserve list in case anyone dropped out. So I applied again for the next round in February 2009 - interviewed in April 2009, got a rejection letter in May 2009 (put on the reserve list again). Then in July 2009, I got another letter stating that I had been given a place on the April 2010 course... so I spent the next few months getting references and security clearance, signed the contract in December and booked a 2-month trip to South America for Feb/March 2010.

A week after I'd given in my notice at my old job and a week before I was due to fly to New York for my travels, they called me to say that the contract was being withdrawn due to the economy and there was no job for me . So I had to beg my manager for my job back  request 9 weeks of unpaid leave and go travelling. When I got back to the UK in April, I spent 6 months looking for another job, with no luck. Finally in September 2010, I got a call from the Met Office again, offering me a place on their October 2010 training course... and now I finally work for them . I just hope I don't get messed around again in the next 2 years .

Sorry for not responding for so long! Work is eating up all of my time lately 

The degree sounds like a lot to get done in one year, but I think it seems intimidating just because it's so unlike how things are done here. I still think it's a much better system though. I'd rather work my butt of for one year than drag it out over three or four! I'm also hoping to start doing research next summer as part of my undergrad degree so that might be able to give me a taste of what it'll be like. Either way, it's a challenge I'm looking forward to 

Getting your job sounds like it was a rough ordeal! I'm glad things worked out for you in the end though. Not messing with you for the next two years is the least they could do after all that they put you through!

The degree sounds like a lot to get done in one year, but I think it seems intimidating just because it's so unlike how things are done here. I still think it's a much better system though. I'd rather work my butt of for one year than drag it out over three or four!

Yeah, definitely - 1 year is better! My flatmate said that her masters at Reading was a lot of work, but it sounded like she really enjoyed it. She also said there was quite a bit of physics in it (cloud physics mostly), which should suit you. She didn't have any physics background really, so she struggled with that part and it was a bit of an issue for her getting the Met Office job - I was put on the reserve list for the job because my meteorology was lacking compared to other candidates, whereas she was put on the reserve list because her physics/maths was lacking compared to other candidates.

I'm also hoping to start doing research next summer as part of my undergrad degree so that might be able to give me a taste of what it'll be like. Either way, it's a challenge I'm looking forward to 

I did 2 years of research during my undergraduate degree - although since it was mostly deriving mathematical equations, it wasn't really 'research' in the traditional lab sense (I was calculating scattering and screening effects on 2D electrons in semiconductors due to the presence of both finite and infinite quantum humps and wells!).

My postgrad degree was much more about proper research - I spent 9 months collating research papers, analysing seismic data for evidence of shear wave splitting and seismic anisotropy and then plotting the results and interpreting/analysing them. I even managed to submit an abstract and poster presentation to the 2007 AGU Annual Fall Meeting in San Francisco... unfortunately I couldn't go myself (due to applying for my US student visa at the time), but my supervisor presented it on my behalf (I got first author though ).

With the degree at Reading though, the research part is much more contained - you only have about 3 months to start and complete the entire project, so it won't be nearly as in-depth.

Getting your job sounds like it was a rough ordeal! I'm glad things worked out for you in the end though. Not messing with you for the next two years is the least they could do after all that they put you through!

Yeah - we actually had the Director of Operations come to visit us at work yesterday (he used to be a forecaster himself and also used to teach on the forecasting course I just completed) and he said that in hindsight, they never should have made the decision to cancel the course last year and that he feels really bad that we had to go through all the hassle of it.