I agree with the south being too hot for college. Easier to have energy in cold than heat. Can bundle up but can’t unbundle enough to handle extreme heat and humidity. Fun can be had in the snow by college students- a good experience for those who want to know before job hunting as well. Retired to FL, from WI so have seen extremes.
Addenda- it gets hot everywhere during the school year beginning and ending. I notice more lethargy in the heat- even 70’s isn’t invigorating.
Missed out on buying a “UW Ski Team- Tray Bascom Hill” patch buying opportunity decades ago- too much $$ for my meager funds. It wasn’t my snack bar job to collect trays from Observatory hill back when it was forbidden to take trays from the food service places- a few years ago they a included traying scene in the promo lit.
Most students won’t be in class during the hottest months of the summer in the south (July and August). It is nice to be able to wear shorts most of the school year.
The kids I know at FL colleges are reluctant to move away. None of us run around during the hot summer days. We even being sweaters to restaurants/ movies, as the a/c is on.
The beauty of school in FL… you could go to class when it was sunny and clear and warm. Then come out of class and its sunny and clear and warm… except the ground and sidewalk is wet because a shower came through while you were in class! Rain tended to come in spurts, not long dreary gray overcast days of constant rain. That said, we used to say there were 2 seasons… summer and Christmas day
I found it hard to walk around FL campuses with any energy. I can’t imagine rushing to classes. Lethargy, not energy seemed more prominent. Yes, summer rains are quick and variable. It seems as though restaurants overaircondition.
Great weather is one of the reasons Stanford’s application numbers are outstripping those of HYP. Lowest acceptance rate in the country. Can’t blame 18-22 yr olds for wanting top academics on a stunning campus in a safe neighborhood with gorgeous weather.
I spent three academic winters in Boston and two academic Augusts in North Carolina, and the only time weather ever dampened my academic experience was . . . an entire winter in Scotland. Piles of snow or maxed out humidity both beat 37 degrees and rainy every day for several months. But I still loved my time there and would do it again. As the Norwegians say, “There is no bad weather, only bad clothes.”
@pizzagirl, lol, I have no affiliation with either gravitas2 or Stanford. My husband deals with stanford STEM profs as expert witnesses in intellectual property cases. The first time he visited the campus, when our kids were young, he called to tell me there was no way our kids were applying to stanford bc if they got in & went, they’d never return east. Oldest may consider it for grad school but he’s been thrilled with his undergrad experience at Brown, despite this horrific winter.
Not as many schools to choose from, but the weather here in Colorado and much of the Southwest is spectacular. Sunny even when it snows (which is not much, strangely, this year), gorgeous summers.
I went to school on the East Coast (Philly and Boston), and we decided not to inflict that on our D. Great weather can be a substantial mood booster. She applied mostly to Western/Southern schools (a few in the Midwest, but I doubt we will convince her to brave the weather in Ohio or Iowa!)
When D1 was a junior, she went on a college tour which started in North Carolina and worked its way all the way to Boston. On the day they were due to return to Texas, they got snowed in in Boston. They were unable to come home until a couple of days later, and that is only because one of the girls’ parents sent up their private jet to pick them all up. By the time the weather had cleared, the airlines were so backed up that they would have had to stay even a couple of days more before they could have gotten on a flight.
D1 said no way she was attending school in the northeast. When we visited Stanford, there was an earthquake while we were in bed at our hotel. Lots of broken glasses and a vase or two.
What do kids at school in a cold climate do? They embrace the cold!
(Video of the annual Bates college puddle jump, held at Lake Andrews in January) https://vimeo.com/58487158
For those of you extolling the virtues of California, remember there are wet winters when the sun doesn’t shine for weeks at a time. Spring and summer can be cool if an onshore flow persists. My point is that committing to a 4 year experience doesn’t mean committing to life in that climate and there is a great deal of variability from year to year.
^How about this-we Northeasterners will come visit you Californians for the next month until the worst of the winter is over, then you can stay with us this summer and swim in our lovely ponds and rivers and play on our green fields!
@3girls3cats,
Overcast/cold (30-70 degree) winters are for Northern California / Bay Area. So Cal sports warm sunny winters (50-85 degrees) and about 14 days of rain. No humidity. Hence my move from Bay Area to LA. Bay Area is too cold for me! As an adult, was considering working at Stanford, but was still too cold for me as a adult.
I get it @YoHoYoHo. People talk about Stanford as if it boasts So Cal weather. I think it’s a shock when they encounter a January with nighttime freezing temps and daytime highs in the 40s. We haven’t had a wet year in far too long but there have been periods in the past when there’s rain for days and days on end. As much as I want to see the end of this drought, I’m not looking forward to the other extreme either with the mudslides, collapses, and flooding.
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