Pine trees in particular can give a campus a “summer camp in the boonies” feel. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love deciduous trees, but they are prettiest when their leaves are changing, hence all the autumn photos on the college brochures. The large old trees covering most of Lehigh’s campus are spectacular imo, but I know some people who find them oppressive and dreary.
@eandesmom and @PNWedwonk - our Ds must be triplets. Mine was raised in the coastal South near the beach. There are lots of live oaks and palm trees in our yard. D chose a college resembling a forest, on the top of a mountain with lots of fog. She was determine to escape “tan people.” Ironically, I’ve had to get her a sun lamp because she’s discovered that she suffers from seasonal affective disorder.
@Overtheedge now I’m curious, what school is in a forest on the top of a mountain surrounded in fog?
D was not going to go to college where it didn’t rain and had no trees. Just finished her sophomore year in Los Angeles and loves it. 
Of course her campus is stunningly beautiful and lined with beautiful 100 year old trees.
Son is also a mushroom, loves the rain and especially the cold. His number one choice is USC, which has a serious lack of trees.
@eandesmom - Sewanee. Lots of trees (13000 acres of them), on the Cumberland Plateau in the Appalachian mountains. It’s the worlds longest hardwood forested plateau, @1000 feet above the TN River Valley (hence the fog). The campus is gorgeous with incredible views. The fog is a mixed bag. Sometimes it lends a magical, ethereal quality to campus; other times it reminds me of a horror movie.
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D grew up in the PNW amid trees, rain and 6 months of winter gloom. There was no place local even on her radar. She determined early on to go someplace where there is a lot more sun and warmth, like the southeast. We toured in the summer in part so that she could get a sense of just how hot and humid it gets. She was in heaven.
@sseamom - lol. So often they want what they didn’t have. D complains endlessly about the humidity when she comes home.
@sseamom LOL Son has said that if a palm tree can survive on campus, so can he.
A question for you Southerners: Does one ever acclimate to the humidity? A big stumbling block for S (who is hot when it’s 40) is the weather. He’s interested in some of the southern/eastern schools but I don’t know if he could handle the humidity.
We had a situation where another college moved up (or should I say into the mix) based on a visit to a other colleges.
We live in the Chicago area and Notre Dame has quite a large presence. My son, who was in the mix for colleges in that realm, was looking at Wash U, Northwestern, and other similar schools. He was completely resisting even looking at ND.
Knowing how difficult it is to get into some of these schools, we focused part of our search on finding schools where he was likely to gain admittance. We took a trip to Ohio and visited Miami of Ohio and Case Western, among other schools.
I fully expected my academically-minded child to love CWU. (He is equally happy on a remote campus vs. city, btw, so that wasn’t an issue). Our tour at CWU was very focused on the academic and professional opportunities that were provided to students. He tried to engage the tour guide in some questions regarding “what do you do for fun on the weekends”, and “any cool traditions " type questions. The answers were less than satisfactory for him. I have to admit, we never saw the gym, or anything remotely associated with leisure or fun–and believe me, he asked about these things. After the day was over he was really quiet. I think he knew I had thought (before the tour) that this was a great option for him. He finally said…” I don’t know about this school. There was no mention of fun at all". (This is not a knock on CWU…just of his impression–for another student, the atmosphere would probably be exactly what they want!). Conversely, we went to Miami of Ohio, had a really lively fun tour guide (who was also in the honors college, so she talked to my son at length about balancing work and having fun), campus was beautiful, lots of fun traditions, seemed to have a lot of opportunities for activities outside of academics. He really liked it. (So it moved “up”, especially coupled with the automatic ACT scholarships).
At that point I advised him that if he was looking for academics, plus a school spirit type atmosphere, he really needed to get over his bias and just give ND a look. Well, we did…and that is where he is now:).
@Agentninetynine I don’t know about the humidity, but my sister left NH for AZ for college. After a year or two, she’d be freezing when she visited “back home” and it was in the 70’s. So they can probably adapt to humidity too. We’ll see how my D does.
No, you never adjust to humidity. Hair frizzes, food gets stale immediately, glasses fog up when you leave the aircon of the car or store. In Florida I spent 3 months of the year inside. Too hot for me to do anything outside.
@Agentninetynine you adapt more than you realize. I grew up in the PNW, and after college moved to Chicago for a decade where the summers are really rather nasty on the humidity scale, at least for a Seattleite.
Every time I would come home I would be absolutely chilled to the bone while my family and friends were fine. It took me several years after moving back to reacclimate.
For my part, I grew up in humidity (in the last remaining arm of the swamp they drained to build Washington DC!), and have since lived in plenty of dry places. If my inability to adjust to aridity is any indication, then no,they will never adjust to humidity.
But even so, their skin will thank them for the move, so there’s that.
I moved to SC from Baltimore. I have adapted to the humidity without any problem. Coming from an extremely cold area it may be a difficult transition.
@exlibris97 wrote in regards to architecture:
“Another parent speculated whether Hampshire was patterned after East Berlin. No kidding”
At Hampshire it’s the politics that are patterned after East Berlin. Oh, well, scratch that. Actually Hampshire is to the left of the old East Germany.
I moved from Boston to SE FL. I’ve adjusted to the heat and humidity, but definitely don’t like July & August. Every place has a/c; just don’t run errands at noon.
I could adjust to the humidity faster than I’d ever adjust to the big bugs that come along with the humidity. You can call it a palmetto bug if you want but its still a GIANT flying cockroach.
Humidity - it sounds so fun! What time of year does the real stickiness come on? And how long would it last? Through the beginning of the school year? We’re humid here in the PNW, only it’s in the form of rain.
@Agentninetynine - I’ve adapted to the humidity, but my hair has not. I’ve also adapted to the heat. I now think anything below 40 is freezing.
The humidity is the worst from mid June through mid September. You know it’s going to be a bad day when the air is really heavy in the morning. I live on the coast so we usually have a breeze which helps.