My son was admitted to ASU a couple of months ago but just found out this week he was admitted to Barrett so we’ve told him we will go out and visit. We live in Virginia (Wash DC area) and my husband and I are not big fans of our son moving so far away, however, he has worked hard in school and done well. He was admitted to 9/10 colleges he applied (including Ohio State, Purdue, Maryland, South Carolina, Penn State and Virginia Tech) and waitlisted at UVA. He received top merit scholarships at all OOS schools except Penn State and Purdue.
I have a local friend whose daughter went out to ASU a couple of years ago. They had visited in Jan and May. She was excited about the novelty of living somewhere different but when she arrived in August the heat was intolerable. 120 F temps outside and buildings were overly air conditioned and freezing inside. Apparently, she was even hospitalized for fainting from dehydration. My friend said her daughter literally just couldn’t adjust to the climate. She was also very homesick and they ended up moving her back home just a couple of months into the school year.
My son thinks it will be “cool” to live somewhere that feels different from where he grew up. I get that but it just seems so far and I’m concerned that he really doesn’t understand the heat and difficulties/time + cost in coming home. We get heat and humidity in the DC area but it is not constant day after day. Just wondering other people’s experiences or what you’ve heard of others acclimating to the weather when coming to Tempe from other areas.
Hi! My experience was actually the reverse of the one your son is considering. I grew up in Las Vegas, attended The University of Arizona, then went to UVA for law school, and now live in northern Virginia. Yep, it’s definitely hot in Tempe. But the worst heat I’ve honestly ever experienced occurred in Charlottesville in the summer. I truly felt like I was melting. Antiperspirant was useless. I far prefer a hot, dry heat to 90 degrees with seventy percent humidity. As you mentioned, all of the university building are air-conditioned. The evenings are very pleasant. And students get to enjoy the school aquatic facilities and river tubing April - October. And the “winters” are excellent for outdoor activities – hiking, biking, running, intramural sports, etc. One can enjoy plenty of sunny days when highs are in the low 60’s and high 50’s (or higher). I had friends from the East who sported shorts year round and thought we were nuts when we complained it was chilly. As for being somewhere different, your son will have the opportunity to visit the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Saguaro National Park, etc. I’ve taken my kids back west on vacation to explore Arizona, Utah, Oregon, etc., and they’ve been amazed. And there’s just the general fun of getting days off for rodeo (not kidding), having albondigas soup for breakfast, and watching the monsoons roll in during the August afternoons. And Pac-12 sports are ridiculously fun.
BUT, I think the real question is the one you pose about being a plane ride away. My neighbor’s daughter thought she wanted to go far away, and went to a school that is an 8-hour drive from home. Once there, she discovered that most of the students who attend that particular school actually lived very close by. So most long weekends, she found herself fairly isolated since most of her friends had gone home for the weekend. Similarly, she ended up with a serious bout of flu and then mono. Whereas in a similar position her local friends went home for a few days for a little parental TLC, she felt she couldn’t given that she needed to spend 2 full days on travel (and didn’t want to drive that far when ill). So it all depends on how your son will feel about such things. Lots of kids love the adventure. My sons knew they wanted to stay close to family and friends, and they will be heading to UVA or W&M next fall (still deciding). But if their personalities were different, I would have encouraged a Colorado, Vermont or Minnesota adventure!
Good luck with your decision! But don’t fear the May-September temperatures. You mostly just get a “whoosh” of heat as you move from one air-conditioned spot to another.
The first summer will be hot for sure, uncomfortable but tolerable if your D is vigilant about staying hydrated. The dry air means she will be losing moisture while sleeping or sitting still and breathing, much less walking around or doing anything remotely close to exercise.
If she has outdoor stuff to do, save it for the early morning / late evening. Carry a light cardigan or bolero in case the indoor AC is too much. An electrolyte drink (e.g. Gatorade) can help. So can a few potassium tablets, especially if she starts getting calf cramps at night.
A swipe of antiperspirant in the pits of the elbows, behind the knees and the underboob area might be necessary from time to time, especially if those areas get sticky / itchy / rashy.
Invest in a fan for the dorm room, and / or a desk fan or one that clips to the rail of the bed.
I say this as a Michgander born and bred, who now lives in the Cali desert where 105 to 110 is normal all summer, and 115 - 125 can happen for a week or two.
After you acclimate, 95 and dry can be pretty comfortable, and even 105 and dry is not that bad with some shade and a bit of breeze. We don’t turn on the AC anymore unless it’s over 100 degrees.
EDIT: Oh, geez, you said S, not D. I’ll never make the edit window, but you get my drift. Loose button up shirt instead of cardigan, etc.
Hi, again. . My husband wanted me to point out that he spent a year in Las Vegas with me when we began teaching law school, and he hailed entirely from the northeast. And he took no special heat-related precautions, such as potassium tablets. And he acclimated very quickly, and even continued his mid-day runs. Really, the millions of people who live in the dessert southwest pretty much spend the hottest days going from their air-conditioned homes to their air-conditioned cars to their air-conditioned work place / schools to their air-conditioned movies / malls / restaurants / bookstores and then back to their air-conditioned homes to sleep. It’s really just not that big a transition. The distance may be worrisome to your son, but the heat just isn’t that big a deal.
I agree with those who say it’s a lot easier to acclimate to dry heat with universal air conditioning than to go somewhere with high humidity and/or spotty air conditioning. Yes August is pretty miserable, but it sounds like the OP’s friend’s kid gave up after a couple months, which means just before the the weather got nice. From October-April Tempe generally has very pleasant weather. My AZ kid goes to school in SoCal and half the dorms at her college have no air conditioning, despite the fact that it gets almost as hot as Tempe. That would just never happen here. Every building is expected to have working air conditioning, as well as all restaurants, offices, retail, buses, etc. No one would dream of asking kids to live in a dorm with no A/C, but in SoCal she’s expected to and has to pay the same room rate as the students who get A/C.
Well, as a HS senior raised in Chandler (near Tempe), I can say that even for Arizonans the heat can be a bit much. During the spring/summer there is lots of waking up sweaty, so DEF get a fan for the dorm room. There is a lot of walking to classes/restaurants/etc at Barrett, and some of the buildings can be quite a ways away from the Barrett housing, so I would just advise that your S stays hydrated and makes sure not to underestimate the heat.
August in Tempe is hot. It’s also monsoon season, so it’ll be hot and humid. But not Florida or Houston humid. It’ll be humid for Arizona. In non-monsoon season summer (i.e., June), humidity levels are often ~ 10-15%. So when the humidity jumps to 40%, yeah, it starts to feel like a crock pot compared to an oven.
How do we Arizonans handle the hot weather?
if you’re an outdoorsy person and like to exercise outside, you exercise at 5 am or after the sun goes down.
OR you exercise indoors in a gym
you hibernate. Basically move from 1 air conditioned space to another, with brief periods outside in the sun in the afternoon
everybody stops hibernating indoors once the sun goes down.
After you get acclimated, 90-95 degrees will feel pleasant. Even more so if you have a fan blowing on you or misters if you’re eating outside and it’s 90 degrees.
You will have to drink more, especially if you’re spending a lot of time outside all day in the summer.
wear loose comfortable clothing
wear a lot of flip flops and sandals
don’t be an idiot and forget to hydrate
Summer weather often ends by Halloween. By the end of September, even the locals who were born & raised in Arizona start to get cranky about the heat. This is the Arizona equivalent of Minnesotans getting cranky about the winter in February (you know, because their winter began right around Halloween).
By early October, the night time temps start to drop considerably. So instead of it being 90-95 degrees at 9 pm, it will quickly drop into the 80s or 70s once the sun goes down. It’s really lovely at that time of year. It’s a sign that happy weather days are coming soon.
It’s much easier to go from Julie heat like Virginia to dry heat like Arizona.
Barrett is a top honors college nationally and living in another part of the country will be a great way for him to spread his wings at a time of his life hen he can most benefit from it. (And because Barrett attracts students from all over the country he won’t be alone on weekends).
Sorry for taking so long to get back around to responding to everyone’s comments…busy still checking out colleges. Thank you all so much for sharing your input on the weather and adjusting to the heat. We used award miles to fly out our family of four (including our younger 10th grade son) to PHX last Thursday night. We did an Experience ASU info session/campus walking tour, then a Fulton Engineering info session/tour, then a Barrett info session/tour on Friday. We were all very impressed with the Fulton engineering school and especially the Barrett residential college…the dorms and Vista second year housing are super-nice…way nicer than any place I lived in during college! We really wanted our son to not like it out there but my husband and I saw the palm trees and campus, we looked at each other and said “uh oh, we are screwed!” I have to admit that it seems like a good “fit” for our son with the only negatives being the distance and the crazy hot temps in Aug/Sep. Our son is well-traveled and enjoys the outdoors and hiking so I can see the appeal. My husband had to fly back on Saturday but the boys and I drove up on Saturday to see the Grand Canyon, spent the night in Flagstaff, then came back through Sedona. Our son had no idea that AZ had so many different looks/feels and now ASU/Barrett is his top choice with UVA still being a consideration should he get admitted from the waitlist. If he does get into UVA, we would like for him to go there…just a two hour drive from home and excellent school reputation but I do see the appeal of living somewhere different and AZ would feel very different. I know he would only be a 4 hour plane ride away but it is hard for this mama to think about him being geographically so far away…the reality is starting to set in
@LUVSML - Hang in there. We had a similar experience with one of our DS. We live in CA and he got a great deal to go to Notre Dame. Mama is still adjusting. As for ASU - I am a strong advocate. My DS14 just graduated from Barrett. When each student received their diploma, they put their thesis title on the screen. Some very impressive accomplishments. So why ASU and Barrett? 1) Guaranteed housing for 4 years. My son lived in Vista for the past three. 2) Easy to graduate in 4 years, sooner if you have AP/IB credits. My youger DS will start in the Fall with the possibility of graduating in 4 years with a Masters in CS. 3) Tons of support. If you want to pursue a National scholarship (Fullbright, Eisenhower, Rhodes) ASU will help you. 4) Financial aid is pretty solid. We received no need-based. The New American Presidential will bring costs down to in-State levels or better.
Yes, I am a believer that Barrett is a strong school. As with anything, your education is what you make of it.
