The area was flooded and many local roads were closed when we visited Princeton during the accepted students event some years back. It was rather difficult to get from the college to the motel where I was staying.
We were touring several Boston schools during a horrible heat wave 2 years ago with 5 days in the mid to high 90s and was 100 with horrible humidity for our Harvard tour. We have been in heat before but this was different in that we could barely breathe. It was so hot that the trains ran into issues and stopped running. We were forced off the train one stop shy of Harvard and then had to walk the rest of the way - basically running to make our information session on time. Other than the information session the entire tour was outdoors and our guide nearly passed out. She cut the tour short and sent us on our way. The next day we had BU in the morning and Northeastern in the afternoon. We didn’t stay that long. DD convinced us that there was nothing they could say or do to get her go to Boston. It is a shame because we love the city and thought she would love it there. She of course ended up in the deep south with wicked heat and humidity and is loving it.
We had back to back admitted students visits to two midwestern schools that were two hours apart. Day 1 was a glorious 70 degrees with bright blue skies, gentle breezes, blooming flowers and tons of students enjoying the outdoors. They welcomed S with open arms and said all the right things. Walking around campus was lovely.
Overnight a cold front rolled in…
Day 2 started with a 38 degree driving rain storm and deteriorated to sleet, hail and snow with howling winds. The walking tour was replaced by a miserable bus ride. Students were scarce and running between buildings to get out of the elements. It was hard to get a true sense of the campus and the tour guide didn’t impress me.
Which school did S choose…school 2! He said he still loved the school and the program and knew that he would love it even more under better conditions. I will admit, he was able to see past the weather better than me. When we returned for orientation, I was really able to see and feel that he made a great choice.
Oh forgot about this one. Last June we toured Occidental in 110 degree weather. It came off the list.
When I was applying for college, back in the day, I visited Michigan State. The first attempt to fly to Lansing was cancelled when the hotel in which my dad and I were staying, near the Milwaukee airport, started on fire and we jumped out the window of our room. On the second attempt, the weather was so foggy in Michigan that I had to take a cab instead of a plane from Grand Rapids to Lansing. It was pretty dreary in Lansing, too.
Boston July of 2011. 103 degrees and 97% humidity. We got through BU, but bailed on Northeastern. H had a total emotional meltdown at Quincy Market and we had to get him into an air conditioned restaurant before he killed someone. The only school my Pacific NW kids liked at all on that trip was Cornell. The fact that it rained that day was a big help.
@bamamom2021 I wonder if we were there the same week, two years ago. Were you there in August that year? We are used to heat and humidity being from the DC area, but we typically stay indoors when it’s that awful outside. We were miserable during the tour at BC but the next day we had a feee day to sightsee. I remember at one point we had to duck in a convenience store just to cool off. In the end, it wasn’t the heat that turned her off BC (and she really liked Northeastern and Boston). She ended up in southern CA where usually, the weather can’t be beat. Imagine our surprise when we showed up on move-in day last fall to 90 degree temps and high humidity. What? It’s never humid there! Totally abnormal for them but just our luck - the dorms don’t even have a/c. Her room was an absolute oven and didn’t cool down for the first two weeks.
@4kids4us yes, it was August and we are used to heat and humidity as well so we weren’t worried. We are from the Mid-Atlantic region and are figured it wouldn’t be too bad. It was soooo humid and there was no air moving at all through the entire city. The 100 felt like 120+. Even the airconditioned buildings were not helping when we were just sightseeing. I really thought dd would have loved Northeastern but when she said she was done we were all happy to bail on another tour going in and out. When we moved her in to Bama she commented that August in Alabama was better then that week in Boston.
It poured rain and was miserable the whole weekend we were at Carnegie Mellon’s Accepted Student’s Weekend , while it was perfect spring weather for Harvard’s. The CMU School of Computer Science had hands down the best Accepted Students presentation of any college I have visited (between two kids). My kid went there. Loved it. Is in his dream job. He wasn’t influenced by the weather thankfully.
In their favor - the admissions officers supplied umbrellas as well as bottled water - the tour guides were very good about finding dry places to do the longer spiels.
OTOH - Bard’s decision not to shovel any of their icy walks during a February visit definitely counted against them. Especially when we got to see a kid slip and end up flat on her back, saying, “It’s okay, I’m a student here!” I am thinking, no actually, it’s not okay. We went to Vassar that same afternoon (only 45 minutes away) - where surprise, surprise, all the walks are immaculate. That same kid got into U of Chicago early but refused to look at it in the winter - he wanted to see it at its best. We went in April - perfect weather - gorgeous campus - but the kid still decided Tufts was more his style.
@mathmom there is a perfectly perfect song called “pittsburgh makes me drunk and then it rains” that describes so much about Pittsburgh so very well. Although i miss that part of the country I don’t miss the never ending rain and snow.
February break week two years ago. Visiting UVM and McGill. Raining as we were driving in VT and going up in elevation and suddenly black ice everywhere (and cars spinning everywhere on the interstate). We ended up slamming into guard rail. Car was towed, we rented a car in White River Junction and continued. Uneventful (but good) UVM tour the next day. Drive that afternoon to Montreal. There are mounds of slushy snow everywhere…they had just had 12 inches of snow but it was above freezing. Wake up the next morning. It is 3 degrees, windy, and all of the slushy snow has now formed into enormous icy snow piles. It was freezing during the tour and people were sliding everywhere. And…wait for it…my son loved it and he is a first year at McGill now.
Snowstorm during visit to Siena when my S was interviewing for a scholarship. It didn’t really put S off – said it was probably good to see the school in the snow since he had to expect that given the upstate NY location. He went elsewhere but I don’t think the weather influenced his choice.
Horrible pounding type rainstorm during D’s visit to Franklin and Marshall. Thankfully a wonderful tour guide made the campus feel welcoming and the school stayed on her list (although she ended up elsewhere). In contrast, it was drizzling during our visit to Lehigh and D complained non-stop – we knew she wanted to attend a LAC (which she did) but H and I insisted she visit one mid-size university just to get some diversity so I imagine she would have been equally grumpy without the rain.
I was a tour guide at Harvard in the summers. Sweaty parents often asked whether the dorms were air-conditioned. They were not and still aren’t. I would say, “I’d love to say that you’re going to need it in Boston’s tropical sunshine…but by the middle of September, you won’t miss it.”
First tour of Trinity U (TX) in March with D16 during torrential rain, non stop the whole day. My umbrella broke and I had to hold it on top of my head. No problem - was and still is her dream school.
My son was invited for a recruiting weekend at Bemidji State. In January. It was -35°F. My son said he had never so cold in his life!
My daughter only applied to schools in Canada when she was in HS (but transferred later to the US but is a dual US/Canadian citizen). She only applied to two schools – both schools had told her she would be accepted. She flew up with her mother to Nova Scotia to revisit Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. Not only was there a snowstorm, but it was essentially a white-out. They couldn’t see to drive to Sackville. She went to the other school.
I did a revisit for grad school many moons ago and visited Cambridge, MA on May 5 and it snowed. It did not dissuade me from moving to Cambridge for grad school. I have largely been there ever since although I now try to leave for the winter.
Just FYI…it’s snowing in CT…right now!
^Same here. But, it is only April, not May. So I guess we should be grateful.
Oh, I do recall that, in addition to the white-out at Mount Allison, when ShawD and I visited Dalhousie in the summer, it poured heavy, heavy rain the entire day. Made Dalhousie seem depressing. Not clear that was a fair reflection on the school.
Visited Tufts when it was 96 degrees, 100% humidity and a power outage because of an electrical surge from
everyone running their AC. Over 100 people sitting in an information session with no power or AC. For the first time
in recent years they actually cancelled all session for that day. Some folks had flown in from the West Coast and got very angry while those that could rescheduled for the next day. We showed up the next day and had over 200 people at the session with 3 tour guides. No one thought to add additional guides for the volume. It was still awful hot and you could not hear the guide with 75 people on each tour. We were so disappointed.
Toured Cornell in late summer in a driving rainstorm. Bought an umbrella in the book store which we promptly left behind in bagel store in Collegetown. Only good thing was that many people in info session bailed on the tour and older d got to walk with the tour guide under umbrella and chat. She was waitlisted at Cornell so it didn’t matter as it turned out. Accepted students visit to Brandeis was a nasty day. We drove up the night before in rain and fog but the day deteriorated into sideways snow. She loved it anyway and remains a proud grad.
With younger daughter the day we toured University of Delaware was unbearably hot and humid and we bailed midway through the tour as she had no interest in the school anyway. Next day we toured Peabody but she auditioned in NY, so no travels for us to their audition weekends in Feb. We lucked out by touring Northwestern on an unseasonably gourgeously warm day in January, prior to audition day which featured torrential downpour and problem with a/c or heating system in the building and auditions needed to be relocated to another building on campus. We had initially visited Rochester when she was in Rochester for all-state music festival and as it was December cold and dreary morning, everyone on campus inside. Went on accepted students day on the most spectacular spring day imaginable and she was a happy camper. Took the bus downtown to the Eastman campus to see what it was like to travel back and forth for lessons and where the bus stop would be as I had visions of her having to wait in some remote location in the frozen tundra.