Ahhhh, thanks.
So Rochester has the snow man/snow angel advantage.
Have a great time at NEU! I know the OP has decided, but I’m going to comment on the weather for the benefit of other readers.
I grew up outside of Boston, have lived in NYC and the the suburbs just north of NYC for many years and my son is considering Rochester, so I’ve looked at the weather.
Winters in my NYC suburb seem, on the whole, warmer and less snowy than my winters growing up in Wellesley, which is right near Waltham. However, I’m more inclined to chalk that up to climate change rather than to the fact that NYC is south of Boston. I strongly suspect the average weather in Waltham isn’t terribly different from the average weather in Westchester County, where I live now.
When I was looking at historical averages for weather for Westchester County, vs Rochester, the avg high and low temps were nearly the same. No one is going to be able to feel a real temperature difference between two places where the averages are within 2 degrees of each other. So, for people considering the Boston suburbs vs Rochester, assume the temps are about the same. The snow on the other hand. . .Rochester gets a lot more snow than we do. A LOT. Some people will decide they can’t cope. Some will find it fun. Some will decide to just get good snow boots and deal.
I would note that the weather in Boston is actually a bit more temperate than the weather in the western suburbs of Boston, which include Waltham and Wellesley. Being closer to the water means Boston will generally be a bit warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than Waltham and that Boston will generally either get a bit less snow or sometimes have rain when the suburbs have snow. The differences aren’t huge and I don’t think it’s enough toqualify as even a small factor in a decision between, say, Brandeis and NEU, but I’m throwing it out there in case anyone cares.
As an aside on weather, I’m going to mention Chicago. I grew up in Massachusetts, went to college in Connecticut and then went to grad school in Chicago. Yes, it was cold, but I was used to cold. Yes, it was windy, windier than I was used to, so there were days when the wind chill was really unpleasant, but none of that bothered me. What bothered me was that it was grey all winter. In New England and New York, there’s nothing unusual about a very cold winter day with lots of sunshine and blue skies. Personally, I found the constant grey of the Chicago winters unpleasant and depressing. I was only there for a winter and a half and maybe those were flukes, but if someone is likely to be sensitive to the lack of sunshine, they should check info on sunny vs cloudy days fir any cold weather schools they’re looking at.
There is a phenomenon called “lake effect snow” that the Syracuse/Buffalo/Rochester area is known for. It not only adds snowfall, but extends the length of the snow season. The 20-year seasonal average for Rochester is even higher than in the post above - 99 inches!
https://weather.com/science/weather-explainers/news/lake-effect-snow-great-lakes-explainer