<p>Can anyone please give me their HONEST opinion on how the weather in Syracuse can affect you. My D has been accepted and thought she was set on going until she really started to think if the "cold and darkness" from Nov - April would make her 4yr college experience depressing. In addition to the fact that the weather seems to affect the number of hours one spends indoors under artificial lights!!! Her goal in to get into the Newhouse School, but that would be determined after a completion of 30 units and a GPA of a least 3.5. Is is really worth going to Syracuse???</p>
<p>Syracuse is a great school if the fit is right. There are excellent academic programs (Newhouse is only the best known), a lot of school/alumni spirit, a great sports scene, and some outstanding faculty members. But there’s no getting around it - the weather pretty much sucks 5 months of the year (spoken as one who’s lived in the area for two decades), and if you’re at all affected by seasonal affect disorder (I am), it’s going to be a rough go. Has she had difficulties previously dealing with prolonged winter weather? Not everyone does, even people who’ve had the benefit of growing up with milder winters. Depression is fairly common during freshman year (lots of threads in the Parents Forum to read on the topic), but I don’t know how often the weather is a major factor.</p>
<p>Transferring into Newhouse can be done - we know a few students who did after a good first year. But it does require a very strong effort.</p>
<p>I lived in Utica/Rome/Oneida for most of my adult life, and I concur with frazzled.</p>
<p>The pay off is the other 7 months of the year, when it is probably the most beautiful place I have ever lived.</p>
<p>Make sure she has good comfortable winter clothes and boots to keep her feet warm. My son-in-law is a Syracuse grad and had a great time - it is a great school!</p>
<p>Don’t forget we have just come off a really bad winter, they aren’t all like that!
I am a Syracuse alum and native of Northern New York. Yes, winters can be awful! </p>
<p>Newhouse can open doors for people, in my humble opinion! :)</p>
<p>to the OP: think of it in terms of this: If your daughter wants to study abroad, it’s only three winters…three-four weeks off from mid dec to mid jan…if you count the actual weeks, it’s really not that bad…Syracuse was the only school north of Maryland that my daughter applied to and ended up attending (Newhouse)…</p>
<p>this winter happened to be horrendous (my daughter is overseas studying abroad; yes, she picked lucky)…but we live in NJ and it was horrendous here too; to be honest, anywhere in the Northern part of the east coast was no picnic this year…</p>
<p>The one year (freshman) I spent at Syracuse it snowed in May! I transferred and spent the next year in Italy…that helped me forget… :)</p>
<p>By the way, Syracuse does have a well-established year/semester in Florence. If that were on the horizon for junior year, the winter weather could be tolerated until then…</p>
<p>What are her other options?</p>
<p>Agree with Frazzled–There are plenty of kids who come to SU from other parts of the country and love it. But if someone is particularly susceptible to the weather affecting their moods, SU may not be the best choice. Yes, this has been a particularly long, rough winter. But even winters with milder temps and less snow can be interminably dark and grey. Central New York summers are spectacular. Unfortunately, that’s not a season most students get to experience.</p>
<p>Syracuse is the snowiest large city in the country; winters are harsh. That said, thousands of students deal with the weather every year there without issue so I wouldn’t be too worried about it.</p>
<p>My D’s other options are: TCU (Texas Christian), BU and SMU (Southern Methodist). BU is no longer her 1st choice since she realized that she wants a “traditional college” campus. TCU and SMU both have great Journalism programs, but my D likes the student population more at TCU. The Texas schools are not as competitive as Syracuse is to enter into their programs. SMU allows Freshman to participate with DAILY news tapings which is really great. What an experience. We haven’t found that kind of participation anywhere else! But at her last visit at SMU she found herself bothered by the stereo type of students and couldn’t get past that feeling. Getting accepted into Newhouse is going to be challenging and uncertain. There is no guarantee that they will accept you, even if you get the “3.5 GPA” (Syracuse keeps talking about) after your Freshman year. They apparently take the top 40 ± slots and if you fall short…oh well. Seems like a gamble. On top of that the whole weather issue. So, I guess “mom” is concerned and only wants the best for her D!</p>
<p>Snow can be fun. I’d be more concerned about the number of cloudy days in the winter, which can really affect some people. By one measure, Syracuse averages only 63 sunny days a year, in contrast to 211 in Phoenix, 186 in Los Angeles, 160 in San Francisco,115 in Denver, 110 in Atlanta, 107 in New York City, 96 in DC, and 95 in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Not quite as bad as Pittsburgh (59), Seattle (58), Buffalo (54), Binghamton (52), or Juneau, AK (44), but definitely on the low end of the sunshine scale.</p>
<p>When I visited I talked to a bunch of people about it. They said that it does suck, but its not horrible or anything. One guy in particular was from southern California and he said that, while different, its not a huge deal and that SU is worth it.</p>
<p>I grew up in Buffalo; got into Cornell and Smith, and chose Smith in large part because I did not want to endure 4 winters in Ithaca. It seems like the sky is always overcast. At least in Massachusetts, the sky would be a beautiful clear blue even in the coldest weather. Having said that, every school has a downside. You just might not know about it until you’re there. And as negatives go, weather isn’t the worst one.</p>
<p>Besides, kids don’t need to walk to the library to get reference material, etc., so you’re not forced to be exposed to the weather if you don’t want to be. And it’s a great school.</p>
<p>BTW, I sometimes still regret not choosing Cornell. What’s a little weather?</p>
<p>My D will be attending Syracuse in the Fall. Initially she was determined to go to USC in sunny southern California. First of all, where do you live now? That would help determine how difficult it would be for your D to adapt. I moved from So. Cal. to attend school in New Hampshire many years ago and I can say it was a big shock for me. My parents and I didn’t know how you need to dress for weather in the Northeast.</p>
<p>Being that weather has also been on our minds lately, my husband, who attended Syracuse, pointed out that the distance between the dorms and the classrooms in not as great as it is at other schools. Personally, I think that if she does attend Syracuse you should get her involved in some clubs and other activities which will help to keep her mind off the weather. If she’s excited about what she’s doing and her program, she will have less time to dwell on the weather. They kids don’t have to shovel the walks, it’s all done for them. They don’t have to get up and shovel out their car so they can get to work. Life is good at Syracuse. Kids love it there. My niece attends Syracuse and she complains and complains but she still loves it.</p>
<p>I plan to get my daughter a very long down jacket and some cozy waterproof boots, a soft, warm scarf and wool socks for her first winter at Syracuse. So many kids romanticize attending college in a warm and sunny climate. They imagine that they will be lounging around in flip flops all year long. However, they may not be getting the best education that they can get…</p>