I think the OP just wants her son to sort of enjoy the tour so it is easier to get him to go on more of them. But I would go ahead… he really has to visit colleges. You might chat with him ahead of time about a list of things to look for at a college. And that the weather may be atypical, and also that he is unlikely to see the admissions people or another annoying student/parent on the tour again if he attends – so to try not to let it influence his impression of the school too much.
Keep in mind that whether the sun shines or not impacts on the decision making of 17 and 18 year old people. They obviously are unaware of the impact of the sun on their choices but the stats suggest the link. So parents, consider that when your kids are weighing different schools they just visited.
You also get an idea of what they pay for upkeep. My younger son and I visited Bard and Vassar on the same day in February. Bard’s paths were covered with ice and we saw a student slip and land flat on their back right in front of the library. Meanwhile Vassar’s paths were immaculate. Now Bard’s campus was probably a lot better for the environment, but if students can’t stay upright they’ve taken it too far.
OTOH the same kid refused to look at the U of Chicago campus till spring. (He got in EA). It was the only place he applied that wasn’t within driving distance, so he wanted to get as favorable an impression as possible. It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend and the campus looked fabulous and he was very, very tempted, though in the end he went elsewhere.
My older son chose Carnegie Mellon over Harvard even though it rained the whole weekend at CMU and the weather was perfect at Harvard.
And when we went on college tours this past summer, we faced temperatures in excess of 90F (and we were coming from Alaska), so basically the flip side of the OP’s issue. Unless you’re touring a campus that has an utterly firmly set tour route,* though, it doesn’t necessarily matter what the weather is like—and it can actually be a useful datapoint to see how a college’s HVAC system handles local extremes.
- Yes, University of Kansas, I'm looking at you. I agree, the core of your campus has beautiful buildings—but would it kill you to let your tour guides walk through the equally beautiful air conditioning once in a while?
Son attended Open House at North Carolina A & T on a cold rainy day And still wanted to apply to the school. At Virginia Tech Open House it was very cold. He ,liked the school and applied there also. Sometimes schools don’t look the same as they do on the brochure but the visit can still be positive.
I remember giving a tour of UC Berkeley during the summer. The day was crystal clear, with bright blue skies and temps in the high 80’s. (For those not in the know, summers in the immediate Bay Area tend to be cool and often overcast.) I kept telling my friends – OMG, it’s never like this! They clearly didn’t believe me.
I don’t see anything wrong with visiting during a cold spell, especially if it’s weather that you are accustomed to. I will add, however, that the weather does affect kids’ views of a campus. If you visit campus A on a cold day, people might be huddled indoors, rushing outdoors to class, etc. If your visit to campus B is on a wonderful, warm day, you might see kids studying outside on the grass, kids throwing a ball around on the quad, etc. When it’s time to choose, many kids would prefer the “vibe” they saw at campus B, when in reality the difference may only be due to the weather. If campus B is always warm and sunny, then that’s one thing. But if the two colleges have similar weather it can influence a decision even when it really shouldn’t be a factor.
We saw Bowdoin (!) on a day when it was nearly 100 degrees. No AC… volleyball coach blew off meeting with my kid, I think they thought we wouldn’t come because it was too hot. But it was raining cats and dogs all day when she visited the college she ended up attending, and she still really liked it. She was able to see through the weather to pick out a gem of a college.
Yup: my daughter picked her school after visiting on a horrible day. It was raining and blowing so hard, our umbrella got ruined.
OTOH, I have a friend whose son got into Stanford and Yale, dad’s alma mater. He really, really wanted his son to pick Yale too. The day they visited Yale it was freezing and snowing. One week later they toured Stanford and the kid just gaped at Stanford women in shorts and bathing suit tops studying by the pool. Yale lost that legacy…
Thank you for the follow up. Yes! I’m so glad some understand…I really want son to enjoy the whole tour experience. I’m sure it will be fine, I just wanted it to be fun and enjoyable day.
Borrow a coat, and don’t cancel. Love the poster from Indiana. Yes, there is nothing warmer than a day at 36 when its been 20 or below for the last few weeks:-)
Yes, I agree…however we have had an usually warm spring for Wisconsin. 50s and even 60s the last couple weeks, so 36 will feel pretty chilly!
The hike up the hill at Hampshire in 5 degree weather with a wind chill and heavy snow did not endear the campus to us. Ultimately, that wasn’t the reason D rejected the school, however.
I agree with the idea of going at a time when the weather is not the best. We’re from California and my son was considering a school in the snow belt. We were attending accepted students day in April, when believe it or not it snowed! I think it was the best thing that could have happened, because it’s one thing to like the concept of snow and another to like snow itself! Funny enough, he did like it and that’s where he attends now, and had no trouble with being there over a full winter!
I recently went on a grad school tour in a snowy state. It was snowing as some other prospective students and I were walking to the building we had to be at, and one from Arizona was like “Oh my gosh! It’s so cold! I can’t believe this!”
Since I currently live in a snowy state, I told her: “You’re gonna have to get used to it if you come here. And this isn’t even bad compared to what can happen in January and February.”
Meanwhile, a week later I was visiting a school in Florida and I was actually dying because it was too hot. So, it can go both ways!!
My best friend and I visited UMass when it was around 0 with wind chill. Before the tour started almost everyone in our tour group ran into the store and bought hats and gloves! We survived and the weather didn’t change our opinions - she loved the school and I didn’t.
I’m confused as to why this is an issue if it’s the climate you live in. These questions make sense for the Florida kid trotting off to New Hampshire or something - but you live in this same climate; why would walking around in 36 degrees be a big deal? Presumably you all have proper clothing for where you live?
I agree that it doesn’t make sense to cancel a tour due to bad weather, but a really uncomfortable tour can be off-putting. My MA-born and bred son wasn’t thrilled about his frigid, windy tour of BC and while that was not the only reason he didn’t apply, it did help cement the school in his mind as a place where he wouldn’t be comfortable.
There’s something to be said for seeing a place the way it’ll be most of the time. It’s realistic. If you look at Bowdoin in May, you’ll be in for a shock your freshman year when you realize that the snow that fell a week before Halloween will still be there on Easter. OTOH, it’s hard to appreciate or fall in love with a campus when you’re staring at the ground, trying not to fall on the ice, or are slogging though rain and mud to get from one building to another. It won’t be like that every day either.
With that said, given the difficulty of scheduling visits (when classes are in session, if that was part of your agenda), I’d forge ahead with the plans that have been made. Since you know it won’t be nice, you can bring the “right” clothes for the weather.
I can understand not wanting to go in cold weather. I live were its cold. I went to school where it’s cold. But those tours where at many school you stand outside where the tour guide talks were MISERABLE. Northwesten was struck from my kids listed after an hour long tour where we were only inside for about 10 minutes of it on a 49 degree day. It was hard to concentrate on all the good thongs about the school. It was just so unpleasant. On the other hand UMich ran us from building to building on a very cold day, speaking only once we were inside and we never felt uncomfortable. The UMich experience is actually closer to what it’s like as a student. You aren’t doing most of your school experience outside. Your just out in the cold to get from one place to another.
Some schools do a bad job on their tours though and forget this. Most kids can’t help being influenced by a bad experience even if going to school won’t be similar. The classes won’t be outside after all.