<p>This is probably the stupidest and the most shallow reason in the entire world, but I've lived in the Northwest my whole life
If I suffer through another four years of nothing but rain, I'll just about die. </p>
<p>I'd prefer nothing more in the world than a wonderful, sunny place to live.
Any suggestions would be great. I'll narrow down my list from there.</p>
<p>UCLA
USC
Virginia
UNC
Duke
Vanderbilt
Rice
Emory
Georgetown
Wake Forest
Georgia Tech
University of Texas</p>
<p>I’m sure I missed many, many more</p>
<p>Stanford
UC Berkeley
Cal Tech</p>
<p>Claremont Colleges (Pomona, CMC, HMC, Pitzer, Scripps)
UCs (UCSD, UCSB, UCD, UCI, and so on)
Occidental College
Pepperdine
Santa Clara
UT-Austin</p>
<p>You should check out schools in California and the Southwest (Arizona, Texas, Nevada, NM, etc).</p>
<p>this isn’t shallow don’t worry, if you hate the cold then why choose to be in the cold? I’m Australian and have never had to deal with snow in my life. I went to Boston in December and almost died! So I narrowed my college search to the East Coast NYC and below and California, I just know the cold would seriously depress me</p>
<p>UChicago, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Yale all get great weather.</p>
<p>The shallow part is the emphasis on prestige. The warm weather bit is fine.</p>
<p>Someone above mentioned Georgetown. Were they in DC the last few winters?</p>
<p>Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, Rice, Vandy, Duke, Umiami, UT Austin, USC, Rice, Emory, Harvey Mudd, UCSD.</p>
<p>Duke
Rice
Vanderbilt
Emory</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Are you aware that NYC has essentially the same weather as Boston? The whole east coast down to the Carolinas (and sometimes even farther south) has cold winters.</p>
<p>DD had a “pleasing climate, no snow” criteria for her college search. We looked south of the Mason Dixon line or west of the Mississippi and southish too. She went to Santa Clara which has awesome weather year round (if you don’t like snow). If that isn’t prestigious enough for you, Stanford is up the road a piece. The Claremont colleges would be good, UCLA or UCB as well. San Diego has awesome weather…USD or UCSD are good schools.</p>
<p>“Are you aware that NYC has essentially the same weather as Boston? The whole east coast down to the Carolinas (and sometimes even farther south) has cold winters.”</p>
<p>That is correct. If the OP wants pretty much of guarantee of a sunny and very mild climate year round, coupled with a high quality school, then Southern California is the best choice available. The SF bay area of California would be next in line.</p>
<p>UC Davis too ( may not be too prestigious but good weather)</p>
<p>The weather in NY is way way better than the weather in Boston. Compare the snowfall this year.</p>
<p>“The weather in NY is way way better than the weather in Boston.”</p>
<p>LOL. If the OP wants sunny and warm weather during the winter months, then neither location is going to fit the bill.</p>
<p>
The fact that you need to compare snowfall speaks volumes about why NY weather isn’t great.</p>
<p>If you’re willing to deal with rain, almost every Florida school, including UMiami should be a match. </p>
<p>Three less selective colleges that might give you generous merit aid (assuming you’re competitive for the likes of Emory and Duke) are University of San Diego, Loyola Marymount University, and Chapman University. All in sunny SoCal, and noticeably less selective than any of the Claremonts.</p>
<p>^^^You’re gonna nitpick about the weather between Boston and NYC? Both have very real winters, with 3-4 months of actual cold and several snow storms per year. Anyone trying to avoid Boston winters will not find relief in NY.</p>
<p>Here’s my take…
Top 10:
school-(prestige and academic rating/10, warm and sunny weather rating/10)=sum
<p>Of course I wasn’t suggesting NY as a substitute for California. I’m just saying that the weather beats Boston – by a lot.</p>
<p>Also–rating the prestige of an institution is bogus. You should be measuring the school by how well it suits your needs. Unless all you care about is how you are perceived by others, that is.</p>