<p>“That said, I totally agree that weather should be a big factor–It was for my S who turned Stanford down on account of same weather year round”</p>
<p>Stanford’s weather is my idea of heaven. Your S, though, is like my older S.</p>
<p>When we looked as schools for older s, we looked in the NE in the dead of winter and So Cal in the heat of summer. Better to see the school as it is most of the time. Older s didnt care about the weather; for younger s it was a dealbreaker. He can tolerate the cold, he just chose not to. I think its fine for a student to select any criteria they want in choosing/eliminating a school. Its their choice, and they have to live there for 4 yrs. My s didnt want to deal with cold weather (LOL that NOLA got a few inches of snow this past winter!). Weather is just as legit a criteria as urban/rural, size, greek/not greek, or how far away the nearest Starbucks is. Yes, many good schools are eliminated if warm weather is a priority, but there are still plenty of great schools to choose from.</p>
<p>Also, there are many people with Seasonal Affective Disorder, who truly do not function well when there is little natural daylight. No reason to poo-poo this. Take Barrons’ comments with a grain of salt. He seems to think the south is populated predominantly by redneck yahoos.</p>
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<p>I grew up in the South, so my experience of winter was not what you apparently think. 
And I did have a lot of trouble coping that first winter in Boston. But, after all, I didn’t show up in New England expecting the winters to be like the ones I grew up with. It was a matter of not only adjusting expectations, but knowing what those adjusted expectations actually feel like. Now, I cope fine with the winters, even though I don’t much like the freezing cold. I actually get a lot whinier during the time of year when I expect that what I consider “spring” should be starting. My irritation with this current weather is an extension of that, since this is March/April-type weather, but with even more rain.</p>
<p>My points were really supposed to be that 1) the current weather is not normal June weather in New England, and 2) it doesn’t <em>necessarily</em> follow that someone who hates the current weather will hate the winter weather even more. I have friends from places with much nastier winters than Boston, who think that Boston winters are nothing, who are very distressed and whiny about this current weather.</p>
<p>I don’t think, however, that weather is an unreasonable thing to consider in college selection.</p>
<p>Another warning about New England - the days are very short. I grew up on the western edge of the time zone, and latitude also affects that, so I was used to it getting darker more than an hour later than it does here, during the same time of year.</p>
<p>I am a native of Miami and the weather is nice but I really like the cold I would rather live in Boston than Phoenix.</p>
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<p>Every time I’ve been to Florida it has been miserably muggy: hot, humid, and often raining.</p>
<p>Same thing with Atlanta and environs. </p>
<p>I don’t know how people can stand it. A place like Hilton Head or Washington DC is lovely in February or March, but unbearable from May-September, at least. Not to mention hurricanes…</p>
<p>The fact is, we are all different. I know that you have SAD, NSM, which would definitely be an issue in northern NE, but I have to say that I get really tired of people assuming that hot humid weather is nice and cold weather isn’t. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Of course, I like English weather, so maybe I’m just odd. :D</p>
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But the good news, consolation, is that most students aren’t in school from May- Sept when the weather gets really hot or humid. Students love calling their friends up north in March from their lounge chair by the pool, while their northern friends are still bundled up and dealing with slush and such!</p>
<p>"The fact is, we are all different. I know that you have SAD, NSM, which would definitely be an issue in northern NE, but I have to say that I get really tired of people assuming that hot humid weather is nice and cold weather isn’t. "</p>
<p>It’s true that we’re all different. That’s why I agree with the person who suggested that students should visit colleges during the season where the weather will be like what they’d experience during most of the school year. Some people – even southerners – will find that they love cold weather. Some people will find that what they thought would be wonderful or at least tolerable weather is far better when imagined than experienced in real life. And this may be true for southern sunshine and warmth in Feb.!</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your informative posts! As most of you in the NE may figure, as the weather in NE improves, so does D’s mood. (it’s a mild 103 in central Texas today…lol) She is starting to put the weather issue behind her as she is digging into her classes. (She was feeling a bit shafted that she didn’t choose the class that was dissecting the human brain yesterday) But regardless…she is have a great time and she is learning to cope, which is all I can hope for, and very much what I wanted her to gain from this experience. So maybe there is some hope for NE schools. To some of the posters that feel she is not embracing her “match” schools, she does have some match schools she does like. I guess we have not stressed visiting these as much, because are going to limit her “high reach” school applications to 3, so she needs to choose wisely. This is really what the process is about for her. As far as cost, we would never let her cast her net in an ocean we can’t swim in. The bottom line for me is I want her to be happy. I just don’t want to see a big mistake in the process.</p>
<p>We are also from Texas and had similar concerns about weather. Since none of the northeastern schools really called to him it made it a lot easier to narrow the search to schools in a warmer climate. My son will be going to school in Claremont. Other schools that he applied to that weren’t already mentioned were Arizona State which is huge but is also just completing new complex for their Barrett honors college which in many aspects is self contained and will be open for the class entering in the fall. He also applied to Trinity University and a couple of honors programs at UT which can also make the large school seem smaller. Both ASU and Trinity offer good merit scholarship opportunities for strong students.</p>
<p>Weather does matter- look at the populations of various states. Notice where the residents retire to, as well as how many leave. A school someone loves will make an adverse climate unimportant, a less perfect fit will emphasize the weather.</p>
<p>To Siliconvalley re; Post #36:</p>
<p>Not always. In fact, we actually had our “summer” in winter this year. (Santa Cruz). In fact, you learn to layer here all the time. One could wake up to fog in the morning and by the afternoon feel the need to peel down to shorts. And this is often in the winter. September and October are the nicest times of the season, weatherwise. I would say that our summers are often cooler than early fall. We’re just getting over our “June Gloom”. Nature’s A/C= FOG. Aaaaaack.</p>
<p>No one mentioned St. Louis and Washington University–I’m not saying that the weather in SL is great, but it’s one midwestern city where it doesn’t get really cold and generally there’s not much snow. The temperatures there are certainly milder than Chicago, for example. Here’s the average temp/percip chart. [St</a> Louis Weather - Missouri - Average Temperatures and Rainfall](<a href=“http://countrystudies.us/united-states/weather/missouri/st-louis.htm]St”>St Louis Weather - Missouri - Average Temperatures and Rainfall)</p>
<p>Assuming Wash U has programs that interest your D, it might be a place to consider and visit.</p>
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Bingo!
As Mark Twain once said about NE weather - if you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes.
New Englanders are famous for having a love/hate relationship with their weather.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with trying different areas and learning which weather suits you. One of my DDs grew up in NorCal (hot hot summers) then was in the PNW, complained it was cold, went back to CA, SoCal and HATED the heat.</p>
<p>She then returned to the PNW and we have discovered she actually has a heat allergy, now in 90+ F heat she will have a condition that looks like hives! :eek: Funny all those 100+ days as a kid did not kill her, but now we understand why she seemed puny!</p>
<p>So, it’s okay to try something different and it’s okay to avoid what you hate.</p>
<p>I will freely admit, I grw up in SoCal and you can keep the weather, to me it is boring, I moved and did not realise how much I adore having four changing seasons!</p>
<p>For a kid who wants a small school in the heat, my niece & nephew love Chapman in SoCal and got great merit aid too with a small private school experience.</p>
<p>Our family has lived in the Chicago area all of my S’s life. My S is the kind of person who needs to run everyday, outside, no matter the weather, except for when he is ill or injured (not very often). So, when he was choosing where to apply for college, he targeted places with nice weather. He has had enough of the feet of snow, the blizzards, the endless months of ice-covered sidewalks and the below zero temperatures. </p>
<p>Fortunately, he got accepted at Stanford and is living his dream life in Palo Alto. Here is what he says about the weather there:</p>
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<p>He is staying for summer quarter, too, and most days are fine, with a few in the 90’s thrown in. He would never trade the weather there for what he left.</p>
<p>When it comes to considering the weather at a college, I think you have to take into consideration the affect it will have on the student’s life. Will a kid who hates the weather in NE now be miserable in January/February? Probably. Will it affect her decisions on things like what ECs to do? Exercising? Leaving her dorm? Going to classes? Even going to the dining hall or visits home? It could. </p>
<p>I laugh at myself for going to college in a place where it snowed 70+ inches in January of my freshman year. The climate was a huge daily consideration in everything we did as students at a small residential LAC. It made it hard to get back to school for the start of classes after Christmas. We all had huge coats, boots, mittens, hats and heavy clothes for half the school year. We sometimes had a hard time getting to class. And what about if she has a car at some point? Will she be comfortable driving in snow if she didn’t grow up in it? How will she learn to drive in it?</p>
<p>It shouldn’t be a deciding factor in where she goes to school, but it’s definitely a consideration. I think if she’s unhappy with the weather in June, even for a few days, she’s going to be really unhappy in the dead of winter.</p>
<p>New Englander here…the weather WILL improve this summer and in particular the cool summer evenings will be delightful. BUT…between the beginning of December and the end of April do NOT expect it to suddenly warm up and be gorgeous. There will be intermittent days where it will be fine…but it WILL be cold…or cool at the very least. And more than likely there WILL be snow in the winter, and wind. If this kid really isn’t sure about the weather, bring her to New England in December for a visit. If she likes the weather in December, she’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Our DD is at Santa Clara University where the sun shines 300 days plus a year. She had a “warm weather criteria” as part of her college search. We had no issue with that at all…SHE has to live there, not us.</p>
<p>LOL. My first son (who, btw, just graduated from law school in May) was born and raised in Florida and ended up going to… University of Rochester! :eek: Talk about harsh winters! Luckily he loved the school, but he is now back in Florida!</p>
<p>Come on guys, who doesn’t love snow and blizzards?</p>
<p>LAC in warm southern California…my favorite, Pepperdine and there is a large population of Texans at Pepperdine. D wore flip flops 90% of the time. CLaremont colleges and Occidental are others to look at.</p>