<p>Okay...real deep breath.....so we have spent 7 days in the North East visiting colleges...NYU, Columbia, Wellesley, Amherst, Harvard, MIT, Yale, Brown. We left our daughter at Brown for the summer program (on Sunday) and we get the call today. She HATES the weather. To her, it is cold, grey (which yes, they are having some weather issues in RI right now, but I stressed to her that it is temporary, like all weather) and she says it is depressing (we live in south Texas, where 80% of our days are over 60 degrees and the sun shines the majority of the time) So, she goes on to say that she loves the kids, the professor, the material, etc, she HATES the weather. She says she can't go to school in the Northeast, and Rice is looking really good right now. (there was a time Rice was on the top of her list, then she got the idea that she just HAD to go to school in the Northeast and equally firm that she did not want to go instate) I have always told her weather should be a huge consideration. When the warmest jacket in your closet is level 2 polartec NorthFace jacket, cold weather can make a difference. So Northwestern now seems to be on the chopping block, as well as any other college that has a winter. (lol) So I am asking for help....now we could use a list of great private or LAC warm weather colleges (not Florida...she does not have interest there either) For a kid that swore she would not go to college instate, Texas is looking pretty good right now. Her stats are good, typical High Achiever so I won't bore you with the details. I sure am glad this is just the summer before her Junior year, as this sudden change in direction could have caused stress if it had happened next summer. Thanks in Advance...CS</p>
<p>Your D’s previous list ran the gamut from big urban school (NYU) to small LAC (Wellesley, Amherst). What is she really looking for?</p>
<p>Of course, there are many elite schools that have relatively mild winter weather: Stanford, USC, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, Pomona, Occidental, Emory, Vanderbilt…</p>
<p>The Claremont colleges should be at the top of her list.</p>
<p>You should really consider Duke.</p>
<p>Also, I’m having a hard time figuring out what is a LAC?</p>
<p>This is a good chance tol earn to deal with another climate. You NEVER know where life will take you. Pretty much everyone has learned to survive northeast weather. Tell her not to be a weather weenie and toughen up a little.</p>
<p>LAC = Liberal Arts College.</p>
<p>It has been cold and rainy in the NE this spring. NE weather is not for the faint of heart, for sure. If she can’t stand a cool rainy June she will be miserable in January.
Dealing with the weather is a mindset, some adjust easily and others don’t.</p>
<p>LAC: Liberal Arts College</p>
<p>My DD has the “no real snow” rule, so I hear your plight (and we’re NJ natives; I don’t blame your daughter for missing the sun.)</p>
<p>How much winter is she willing to deal with? In TN, we have Rhodes and Vanderbilt. AL has Birmingham Southern. Hendrix is in MS or is it Arkansas? Georgia has Emory. </p>
<p>TN does have winter but nothing like the NE. No real snow but it does get cold for a few weeks. </p>
<p>Better to know now than say October 20th of her freshman year ;)</p>
<p>Barrons: lighten up! I lived in NE for 39 years and hated the incredibly depressing grey and dirty winters. I never “got used to it.”</p>
<p>It seems to me that your D’s list is heavily populated by colleges that are reach schools for anyone. She needs to look at more matches and safeties and fall in love with a couple of them. If she thought Wellesley (a women’s college) was worth looking at, she should take a look at Scripps College (a part of Claremont Consortium in SoCal).</p>
<p>Weather is important. Personally, I like sunshine but hate heat and have never found NE winters depressing. I was so surprised by the mild winters in Delaware, and by how little snow necessitated a school closing… but then, I grew up in Newfoundland, where half the year is like a New England winter and over 90 F in the summer is HOT.</p>
<p>There are lots of warm-weather choices. Figure out other characteristics first. What did your D like/dislike about the NE schools? Apply those characteristics as criteria in searching for warmer schools.</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with not liking the cold! My mom knew I hated the cold (I grew up in Pennsylvania), so she took me on a tour of colleges in the south – Duke, UNC, UVa, William and Mary. Some cold weather, but not too much.</p>
<p>If you’re willing to look to the West Coast, I second looking at the 5 Claremont colleges (all are well-regarded) and also Occidental.</p>
<p>I agree, weather is important. I have a child who HATES heat. Absolutely hates it. Sun is OK, but if the temp is over, say 85, he’s miserable, and looks it. This isn’t being capricious: he’s been this way since birth. </p>
<p>Norway beckons, but as a fall back we’ll be looking at Vermont, Montana & Seattle.</p>
<p>I agree with barrons #5. Being a weather weenie at age 68 is one thing, but a teenager should at least make an attempt to get acclimated.</p>
<p>We live in the midwest and weather was the #1 factor in coming up with a list of schools for my D. All of the schools she considered were in no snow zones: Texas, Florida and southern California. She loves to call me in the middle of winter to compare weather conditions and is very happy to be done with winter!</p>
<p>How about Wake Forest, UVA, Vanderbilt, Duke, UNC, etc.? They have much milder climates.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should have to go to college somewhere where you hate the weather. There are too many choices for that. I, too, never got to like or appreciate the weather in the northeast or upper midwest.</p>
<p>I should mention that my daughter, who also initially wouldn’t consider in-state (Texas at the time) schools, wound up at Rice and loved it. She FROZE this past winter here in Nashville. She loves Nashville and adjusted, but our winters are a big change for someone from south Texas. And they are nothing like the north…</p>
<p>Davidson might be worth a look.</p>
<p>I’m glad our forefathers were made of sterner stuff.</p>
<p>^^^
If you DON’T have a choice - you l.earn to deal with it.
If you DO have a choice…then go with what makes you the most comfortable.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t jump to revise the college list. It has been an unusually gray past couple of weeks, but any day now the weather in Providence will turn hot and sunny and she may change her mind again. And the delights of a New England autumn can’t be overemphasized–that would have been the ideal time to visit schools in the area. Then there’s snowball fights and sledding, maybe even skiing or snowboarding if she’s so inclined. Don’t forget the opportunity to own several entirely different wardrobes! The appeal of New England is the change of seasons and variability of the weather, and she should at least open her mind to the possibility. I for one would be bored silly with an unchanging climate</p>
<p>^ I’ve always been of the mind that it’s best to visit colleges in their worst season. Carleton in February, for instance. If she’s miserable NOW because of gray skies (not even cold weather, this is just spring-like temperatures vs. summer), how is she going to feel when half the school year is gray and much colder?</p>