I know it sounds petty…but especially in the winter, do you think the weather (dark and gloomy) ever affects its students? California sounds much more attractive…
Where have you been growing up?
The longer hours of darkness affect some people… but oh, the wonder of a beautiful snowfall, the colorful leaves in autumn, the forsythia and daffodils of springtime! Have a snowball fight and sled down a hill, take a drive or hike to see the fall foliage, congregate in the quad on the first warm day of spring. Depends what you like, really-- always warm or multiple seasons?
Also be aware that the climate varies throughout the East Coast, and throughout California. LA is different than San Francisco, Boston is different than Washington DC, etc. Check the climate data for the specific locations of the colleges that interest you; you might find some East Coast locations acceptable, and some California locations unacceptable.
ETA: from your post I’m guessing you are thinking about the northeastern part of the US, but technically the East Coast includes the entire coast…that means Florida, North Carolina, etc. so certainly plenty of schools on the true East Coast don’t have dreary dark winters!
From your other threads it appears that you’re a senior now. Do you live in CA? Their publics don’t offer much aid to OOS students so you’d likely be full pay there. Where have you applied?
Winter in the NE isn’t dark and gloomy every single day. It may be overcast for a couple days when we get a storm, but then the sun comes out and the sky turns blue. When the landscape is bathed in snow and the sun glitters off the surface or sparkles through the icicles dripping from the trees it’s quite beautiful. People with seasonal affective disorder and/or those who don’t get outside much can find it depressing, but I think most people do just fine.
^Yeah, I was going to say this. You still get sun during Northeastern winters; it’s just cold(er). In fact, I would say most days during Northeastern winters are sunny days. They’re just cold! It does get dark earlier during the winter, and for a few weeks the sun may set as early as 4:30 pm in some places. But most of the northern part of the U.S. (upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest) has this issue as well, and you honestly don’t get THAT much more sunlight in the Southern U.S. (the sun sets around 5-5:15 in the Southern U.S. during the winter).
I’m from the Northeast and I found the winters in Michigan darker than in the East.
I grew up in the Northeast and when I think “dark and dreary” it’s more about reduced daylight hours and old dirty slush or snow piled up, or dead lawns looking sad, than it is about whether the sun actually shines. Sure there are plenty of sunny winter days in most parts of the Northeast and I love fresh snowfall and ice storms (as long as I don’t have to drive anywhere), but there are also downsides to winter. Full dark at 4:30 pm gets old, trudging through mud and slush gets old, etc. It’s great for some people and terrible for others. But again “Northeast” is still a large enough area that winter can be a very different experience in different parts even within the same state, so it’s important to research the climate around each school of interest.
I live in the northeast and I’m just gonna say it. Yes. Yes it’s dreary. New fallen and untouched snow is very beautiful, way more beautiful than much of ugly brown CA, but city snow is ugly and gross and dirty and gray and in your way.
CA has much, much better weather and light than we have. It isn’t necessarily prettier though.
That said, you do actually need sunglasses here in the winter. It can be very bright and the reflection off the snow can be great.
A positive attitude about where you are is everything, though, so that will really determine how it is for you over anything else.
Also, depending on where you are, the air can feel very clean here, and you’ll want to breathe deeply. But that’s depending on where you are.
You could always go to school East Coast at U of Miami, no doldrums there!!
Even within a state there are big differences: western PA is much greyer than eastern PA. Upstate NY is colder than the Hudson Valley in NY. And…not all of California is lovely weather all year round- SF can be just as grey and damp and chilly as a lot of the east coast, and I know people who have moved away from Seattle simply b/c of the grey.
Where you have water you have clouds. Southern climes have more daylight in the winter. I would just avoid the most depressing areas like Syracuse, Seattle and Buffalo. If you like to ski and/or other winter sports your opinion is going to be a lot different. The areas around the Great Lakes have a lot of clouds, but weather changes quickly so it isn’t as bad.
“Despite all I have seen and experienced, I still get the same simple thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow in a high mountain gully and feel the same urge to climb toward it.”
– Edmund Hillary
There is an old saying in Boston: “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute”. The weather changes a lot in New England. One day it rains, the next is warm and sunny.
I was a bit concerned about the same thing when I moved back from California to Boston many years ago. However, the weather here has not bothered me. Occasionally you have days when you stay inside, or you wear a good coat and boots to walk to class. IMHO this just makes the next day or the day after (when the weather turns nice) more enjoyable.
My daughter grew up in an area with more than 300 sunny days per year - more than San Diego. Went to school in Boston, grad school in Washington DC, worked in NYC for years.
Her answer to your question:
“Yes. But
a) you get used to it
b) there’s so much to do on the east coast you forget it’s gloomy
c) the weather is convenient for spending a ton of time in the classroom/library studying.”
We live for the glorious days, the high, blue sky, bright sunlight, regardless of temp or what’s on the ground. We joke that, when the mid winter temp hits 38, people are out in shorts or no jacket, just a sweater, for short runs. Grey days can be a comfort, a peaceful null. Some of us love the bare trees. And it all pays off with the first days of spring, when, in my area, it seems everyone is outside. (Coming back here, I was surprised that it’s not fall,but spring, that excites people.) But during the worst of it, we lean on each other, we’re inside with them, friendships can develop differently…
You get used to bundling up, college dorms are warm.
Seriously, I love coastal California. I never got bored with that weather. But it gets dark at 4:30 pm there, too, in winter. And you do have to deal with smog, sometimes vast views of it.
Here in central Ohio we are on the western edge of the eastern time zone so it gets dark almost a full hour later than eastern Mass, NYC, etc. The sun won’t set tonight until almost 8PM. On the flip side, it’s still dark longer in the morning.
Something to consider with east coast/midwest schools I suppose.
My husband and I went to Syracuse and I think the school would be a great fit for my D. But she has grown up in CA and I don’t know if she can handle the weather. H and I were at least from the east coast so it wasn’t as much of a shock as it would be for her.
To answer the question directly, yes, weather does sometimes affect students, especially if they go from a warm, sunny place to a dark cold one. But this depends on the person. Some are better at dealing with the change than others.
As others have said, you’re dealing with two issues: how could it is and how dark it is. Some places are cold but sunny. And in some places you won’t see the sun for days or weeks. That can affect mood and even lead to seasonal affect. It depends how willing you are to experience a change in weather along with everything else that college brings. Sometimes preparing yourself mentally and in your clothes (warm jacket, layers, hat) can take the sting out of the cold. As a Californian who spent years in the Northeast and Midwest, I can tell you that warm hats are very important.