<p>I agree with kathiep’s advice. My mom as Seasonal Affective Disorder and could never life in Ithaca. I will be a student in the fall and I cannot wait. If your student wants lots of sun then Ithaca isn’t the place for him but if he wants some rain, some snow, some sunshine, and some weather that can change he should check it out. I told myself I didn’t want to go somewhere grey but look where I am ending up. I couldn’t be happier.</p>
<p>I’m off to Cornell this upcoming year and having lived in S.Florida all of my life, it will be an interesting experience.</p>
<p>I guess I’ve lived upstate so long that I don’t really notice whether it’s cloudy or sunny in the winter…the upside to cloudy is that the snow can be blinding on sunny days! I love the way the trees look in the winter though, laden with snow or naked to expose their bark and form. I like to watch the creeks flow around snow covered rocks and just watching the snow fall outside my window is very peaceful to me. There are so many things to do here in the winter - cross-country and downhill skiing, ice skating, sledding, pond hockey, etc. - I remember absolutely loving winter fun as a student. Spring does come, usually in March-April and the temperatures will be quite warm, but often winter likes to get in a final farewell with a surprise snowstorm which melts away without much effort.</p>
<p>^Agree. I’ve always loved snow in NY… because of both the beautiful scenery and, for me, the subsequent snow days.</p>
<p>Well, S2 wears shorts year-round and likes to golf - so while Ithaca itself has a lot to offer - and is a good fit for him in many other ways - I don’t think the weather is going to make sense for him. I just think he’d be happier heading south.</p>
<p>There is a lot of snow. It gets very cold, much colder than I could have ever imagined coming from suburban LI. A girl from Buffalo lived across the hall from me freshman year, and after winter break, she taught me how to dress for the cold, so that became manageable - layers, layers, layers. It is grey, but so are a lot of other places in the NE. Our relatives on the VT/NH border say the days are short, and the snow quite a bit. It is cold in Boston in April sometimes (but no snow for the most part). In parts of PA (think scranton to the Nj line) it is also snowy and grey for much of the winter. My cousins lived for years in Rochester, and we got more snow in Ithaca during my years there than they got in Rochester.</p>
<p>Even I took advantage of the winter sports and learned to ski. If you like to ski, it is quite fun to go to Greek Peak on weekends.</p>
<p>I went south after that for 4 years, but it didn’t take, and I moved back to NYC. The weather was more pleasant for sure. My own D would never go south, she doesn’t like it HOT.</p>
<p>This has nothing to do with Ithaca’s weather, but I was on IC’s website. It looks to me as though their meal plan currently costs about 6,000 per year. I might be wrong, but for those concerned about a budget, it seems steep to me.</p>
<p>Personally, I think that gray skies deepen the other colors and make them more beautiful. The key to college in upstate New York, parts of New England or the upper midwest, I believe, is to have a pair of cross country skiis. Just put them on and go!</p>
<p>“…we got more snow in Ithaca during my years there than they got in Rochester.”</p>
<p>Wow, those must have been some unusual years, Rochester borders Lake Ontario and has average snowfall of about 100 inches (vs. Ithaca’s 67).</p>
<p>BTW based on the monthly averages, I estimate about 1/3 of Ithaca’s annual snowfall occurs when the colleges are on break between semesters.</p>
<p>My daughter is a rising senior at Cornell. She has spent the last three winters in Ithaca and the last three summers in Washington, DC. It should be the other way around. ;)</p>
<p>Although she was not used to intense winters, they haven’t been a problem. You buy a good coat, boots, and lots of hats and gloves, and you live with it. Students don’t have to drive in the snow, so it’s less of a problem for them than it is for other local residents. And the roads are cleared much more quickly than they are in areas that have less snow and are less accustomed to dealing with it.</p>
<p>My daughter has even said that the brief periods at the beginning and end of the school year when you don’t wear a coat are a nuisance because 1) she normally keeps all of her small necessities in her coat pockets, and 2) there’s nothing to fling over a chair to save a seat in a dining hall.</p>
<p>My principal concern as a parent has been the possibility that a snowstorm could interfere with transportation home at the end of the first semester, when the dorms close completely after final exams. It never happened, but we had contingency plans for the possibility. I was greatly relieved when my daughter moved off campus and this was no longer a problem.</p>
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<p>This is so wise and a great point. If a student attends a college anyplace with significant winter weather (ice storms, blizzards and such), it is important for parents to ramp down on the “I’m counting the hours til you get home” in December talk. More important is to teach them to watch for weather news and leave when the leaving looks best; pull over and take a motel room when driving becomes too difficult (or they’re too tired to cope). </p>
<p>It’s hard when the schools close up the dorms so that students must vacate on a certain date, regardless of weather. Ideally they can pack in advance and be ready to leave after their last exam…OR wait 24-48 hours if necessary until road conditions and predicted weather improves. </p>
<p>Think more about a “window” in which a student can come home rather than tie them into a fixed time, especially if they’re driving. Learn all the moves about getting onto earlier flights. Check out trains and buses which are more dependable in snow. Let the holiday meals wait and encourage kids to drive home in good form. Book early flights so there’s a chance to get onto a later one that same day. Don’t watch the clock at home so much; let them travel safely.</p>
<p>Please try to be flexible from the home-front to enhance your student’s safety.</p>
<p>“…a snowstorm could interfere with transportation home at the end of the first semester, when the dorms close completely after final exams.”</p>
<p>Now that this came up again, I have this vaguest recollection that it did happen when I was there, actually, and the result was they left the dorms open for a few more days. This was at Cornell. Transportation would still be an issue of course, in this age of “pay for flight changes”.</p>
<p>Ithaca is a wonderful place to live if you can tolerate winter. </p>
<p>I remember that my roommate had a boyfriend from Southern California who didn’t even last a semester, because it was too cold for him in the beginning of September. She would go on a date wearing a sundress, sandals, and a hoodie for warmth, and he would pick her up wearing a down parka, boots, and a hat! Twenty plus years later, we are still laughing about that!</p>
<p>Sure, winters can get a bit long as you head into the beginning of March, but Ithaca is an absolutely beautiful place to live. It certainly has the Midwest beat in terms of temperature and topography.</p>
<p>Visit Ithaca, you will love it.</p>