My D applied to a few colleges in the midwest and NE, and a few in California (and Pennsylvania). She returned from a NE visit yesterday and announced she was no longer going to consider any cold locations. (Mind you, she previously refused to apply to Georgia/Florida/Texas “because it’s hot”). Do you think I can convince her Pennsylvania isn’t as cold?
weeping
If she was here in PA this week, nope, you would not be able to convince her! We just returned from visiting our D in CA and it was sunny and 80º every day. She loves her school and the weather.
Where in NE was she? Boston area?
Tell her this is extremely unusual record-breaking weather. Yesterday was the day after a second blizzard and the whole city was shut down. I have lived in NE my whole life and the only time I have seen this much snow was the famous blizzard of 1978. Apparently there was a lot of snow in 1994- 20 years ago.
The cold temps yesterday along with wind chill (very windy still from the blizzard) were also record-breaking.
Most winters include a lot of bare grass and pavement and temps in the 30’s, sometimes with breaks in the 50’s.
It is a shame that your daughter does not understand that this is a very rare kind of winter, twice in 50 years, and very rare stretch of cold temps (plus wind yesterday, not typical).
She should come back in few weeks if she can.
My daughter had three criteria for her college choices…good sciences, being able to play in the university orchestra as a non-music major, and pleasing climate…meaning no snow, and no really cold temps.
She looked only at colleges south of the Mason Dixon line and in CA Bay Area and south.
You know…every time it snowed, she sent beautiful pictures of flowers and Palm trees from her college.
No, I don’t think you can convince your daughter that PA is a warm climate.
Not this winter!!!
Then again, the threat of tornados and earthquakes is significantly less than in some other parts of the country.
It’s all a tradeoff.
I am almost hoping for a small tremor when we visit Cali to bring the 80% of other schools back into consideration 
no damage of course
And he was visiting a friend in Vermont. No Vermont colleges on the list, but…
My D was rather excited to experience her first earthquake last year. (Something fell off her roommate’s shelf.) There was one day her team couldn’t practice outside because of smoke from a fire in the mountains though, if that helps your case.
It was very cold in PA last winter also. I am seriously considering becoming a snow bird when H retires in a couple of years.
Did Vermont get all these snowstorms? I think they may have been coastal, but not sure. If he was in Vermont, he might have gotten a more realistic picture of winter there than Boston this week 
I am not driving until spring: even if I could dig my car out, I wouldn’t be able to find another spot when I returned.
No. And I’d encourage her to run as far away from the snow as possible.
There were several earthquakes while my kid was an undergrad. She was annoyed because she actually didn’t feel the earth shaking.
But the weather in the east bay was gorgeous…almost all the time.
I’m feeling bad because I loathe cold weather, but also I am frustrated, because I couldn’t talk her into Delaware or even Georgia schools. If she truly sticks to this course, there’s only California left, and only 1 chance for merit (versus a really big merit offer in PA) May be time for a ‘gap’ year. Anyone know of any California schools with late deadlines and merit?
I don’t think they got the blizzard, just the winds created a chill in the negative teens
My daughter’s top two college choices were in southern California and Vermont. They were top of the list because of their individualized major and flexible grading policies. I don’t think she picked the southern California school because of the weather but it certainly has made her happy over the years. I wasn’t thrilled when I got a sunburn at her graduation; it was 86 degrees by the time the ceremony finished at noon on a Saturday in April. And I miss her; we have a tight relationship but Mom and family home in Wisconsin aren’t sufficient competition for friends and warmth and no snow in southern California, so that’s where she decided to stay.
There are always tradeoffs. Even though this is a brutal winter in the NE, its almost always going to be cold and episodically snowy in the winter. Those classes held on the lawn and frisbee playing will typically occur Sept/Oct and April/May. Nov-March will be less fun. The south can get hot an humid, and my s’s weathered a few “hurrications”, but hurricane season has been calm the past few years. Now they are in earthquake land. Southern Cali has the fires fueled by the santa ana winds and mudslides. A mom’s worrying never ends.
I guess I am a bit spoiled, living here in DC. We have generally mild winters, disgusting summers, no real hurricanes, very rare tornadoes or earthquakes, no real flooding, no wildfires.
^ … but you had Marion Berry… b-(
All politicians suck, imo, and DC is full of our own local ones and the bigger fish. DC also has no schools which appeal to D…even UMDCP was too close<15 minutes away
I don’t know; what are her scores? 
I’m guessing that a side effect of the East Coast blizzards may be applications for the class of 2016 above the usual trend line for CA colleges. Maybe lower than what would normally be expected for HYPM?
If there’s only one school on the west coast that she can get into that you can afford, I’d point that out to her. It’s all very well and good to be concerned about the weather–I, for example, would have to be bound and gagged to live in most of the South --but if the choice is to learn how to deal with a different kind of weather or not to go to college because you can’t afford it, I think the decision is pretty clear.
I, for one, would be highly reluctant to pay $30K more per year so that my kid could avoid buying a parka and some gloves. It might help to have her look up some average weather stats for the various locations. That would make it clear how unusual the current weather pattern is.
Note to self: Consolation is off the invite list [-X
When S was applying to college, I discouraged him to apply to California schools. (I think he applied to a single LAC in California at that time.)
Neither of us knew back then he will go “home” in this state now. Not sure whether he himself will consider relocating to the west coast in the future. (He has known how nice the weather here is now.)