Anyone’s kids refuse to apply to cold weather schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is funny. My kid said Pennsylvania was "too far south".

Mine too. Our whole family gets uneasy when we get anywhere near the Mason Dixon line lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or did you make them?

I made a deal with my son.

I get to pick one target and one reach. He will apply to them and at least consider them if he gets in.

When the time came, he had already picked both the schools I had on my list so I just put an asterisk next to the two I picked and he put double asterisks next to 6 others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or did you make them?

Did not make my kids apply anywhere

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or did you make them?

Opposite - none of our kids applied anywhere in the south/warm weather states. Instead, all over New England, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc

[Anonymous]

all cold weather-except Georgia tech-but lupus heavy in the family so no one enjoys the sun

[Anonymous]

Way back when parents made us walk 13 miles from our farm to school - one way - in sub-freezing temperatures. It didn't kill us. As Nietzsche famously said, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger. DC is now at Univ Alaska Fairbanks, building character one shriver at a time

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The pampering of children continues. What happens when they get a job offer in Chicago? I guess staying in the DC area and being unemployed is more desirable.

Someone who hates Chicago’s weather probably isn’t applying to jobs in Chicago.

Consider this possibility. Your kid applies to a corporation, they offer a job at one of their offices which happens to be in a cold climate. My advice is to take the job for a year or 2, get some experience and then, apply elsewhere. My DS applied to Bowdoin College and I reminded him a college campus isn't like home where your mom and dad send you out to shovel multiple times a day. The college has people and heavy duty machinery.

Great for your child that he wants to go to Bowdoin. Not every kid would want to. And a job offer is just a job offer--your kid can refuse the offer if they have a better one. Same with college--people have choices.

But in today's job market, you don't limit your jobs based on weather. You search and then compare, and yes if all other things are similar you pick based on weather. But a kid can survive a few years in cold weather, especially if Chicago (major city, not rural) and get some experience

This makes no sense. If you are good enough to get a job in Chicago you can get one in San Francisco or LA or wherever. By city is one way to narrow down applicants…if someone is interviewing everywhere they likely have no clue what they want to do. We always considered it a red flag to interview in multiple cities when I was on a hiring committee.

No, someone interviewing many places means they are focused on finding a job, and the right job, and are willing to look in multiple areas. Sure, most have a choice of where they want to live, but smart people keep options open, especially in this environment. My kid would be happy in PNW, Chicago, and most cities in the Northeast (They have lived in all those areas and like them) . But they will consider jobs anywhere, since finding them is difficult.

Not sure why you think finding a job is so difficult that people must look in multiple cities, but I don’t think that is true for good candidates.

Have you seen how graduates the past few years are struggling? Companies are laying off 10-15%+ of their workforce, they simply are not hiring much at all. Even top kids from good schools. Given that, it behooves most kids to search nationwide, with a more intense focus on the areas they really want. But tying yourself to one area might leave your grad unemployed.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The pampering of children continues. What happens when they get a job offer in Chicago? I guess staying in the DC area and being unemployed is more desirable.

Someone who hates Chicago’s weather probably isn’t applying to jobs in Chicago.

Consider this possibility. Your kid applies to a corporation, they offer a job at one of their offices which happens to be in a cold climate. My advice is to take the job for a year or 2, get some experience and then, apply elsewhere. My DS applied to Bowdoin College and I reminded him a college campus isn't like home where your mom and dad send you out to shovel multiple times a day. The college has people and heavy duty machinery.

Great for your child that he wants to go to Bowdoin. Not every kid would want to. And a job offer is just a job offer--your kid can refuse the offer if they have a better one. Same with college--people have choices.

But in today's job market, you don't limit your jobs based on weather. You search and then compare, and yes if all other things are similar you pick based on weather. But a kid can survive a few years in cold weather, especially if Chicago (major city, not rural) and get some experience

This makes no sense. If you are good enough to get a job in Chicago you can get one in San Francisco or LA or wherever. By city is one way to narrow down applicants…if someone is interviewing everywhere they likely have no clue what they want to do. We always considered it a red flag to interview in multiple cities when I was on a hiring committee.

No, someone interviewing many places means they are focused on finding a job, and the right job, and are willing to look in multiple areas. Sure, most have a choice of where they want to live, but smart people keep options open, especially in this environment. My kid would be happy in PNW, Chicago, and most cities in the Northeast (They have lived in all those areas and like them) . But they will consider jobs anywhere, since finding them is difficult.

Have you even been on a hiring committee? This is not good advice, please don’t tell your kids to do this thinking it’s an advantage. It isn’t.

how the heck does company Y in Chicago have any clue you are applying to/interviewing with Company X in Boston? Unless it's the same company they likely don't know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or did you make them?

I made a deal with my son.

I get to pick one target and one reach. He will apply to them and at least consider them if he gets in.

When the time came, he had already picked both the schools I had on my list so I just put an asterisk next to the two I picked and he put double asterisks next to 6 others.

WHY WHY WHY?
Are you going to be registering as a freshman that fall? It's your son's journey. Your only real input is financial (what we are willing to help pay for and how) and that does include saying---we are not paying for certain schools (schools that are academically not good...and by that I mean something out of the T400 schools unless it's a specialty school). Otherwise it is the kid's choice and their path in life
not the parent's

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northern schools with harsh winters, I don't why they don't reverse the academic calendar -- summer months on campus are standard for the academic calendar, and winter months are aren't.

and I don't mean short, mini-terms.

Because then they’d be off the American cycle for summer jobs/internships, and the recruitment/hiring cycle for jobs/fellowships. Just like people in Australia

And the faculty won’t want to work through the only time of good weather.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The pampering of children continues. What happens when they get a job offer in Chicago? I guess staying in the DC area and being unemployed is more desirable.

Someone who hates Chicago’s weather probably isn’t applying to jobs in Chicago.

Consider this possibility. Your kid applies to a corporation, they offer a job at one of their offices which happens to be in a cold climate. My advice is to take the job for a year or 2, get some experience and then, apply elsewhere. My DS applied to Bowdoin College and I reminded him a college campus isn't like home where your mom and dad send you out to shovel multiple times a day. The college has people and heavy duty machinery.

Great for your child that he wants to go to Bowdoin. Not every kid would want to. And a job offer is just a job offer--your kid can refuse the offer if they have a better one. Same with college--people have choices.

But in today's job market, you don't limit your jobs based on weather. You search and then compare, and yes if all other things are similar you pick based on weather. But a kid can survive a few years in cold weather, especially if Chicago (major city, not rural) and get some experience

This makes no sense. If you are good enough to get a job in Chicago you can get one in San Francisco or LA or wherever. By city is one way to narrow down applicants…if someone is interviewing everywhere they likely have no clue what they want to do. We always considered it a red flag to interview in multiple cities when I was on a hiring committee.

No, someone interviewing many places means they are focused on finding a job, and the right job, and are willing to look in multiple areas. Sure, most have a choice of where they want to live, but smart people keep options open, especially in this environment. My kid would be happy in PNW, Chicago, and most cities in the Northeast (They have lived in all those areas and like them) . But they will consider jobs anywhere, since finding them is difficult.

Have you even been on a hiring committee? This is not good advice, please don’t tell your kids to do this thinking it’s an advantage. It isn’t.

how the heck does company Y in Chicago have any clue you are applying to/interviewing with Company X in Boston? Unless it's the same company they likely don't know

It’s an extremely common interview question when interviewing from out of area. Your resume has your address on it. If there are no obvious ties to the area companies want to know why you are interested in living in X city and if you are applying just there or nationally. Because they don’t want to waste everyone’s time if your mom is making you interview in Chicago but you’d never want to actually live there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids only applied to cold weather schools. The other will likely only apply to warm weather schools.

I encourage both kids to think not just about the school itself, but also about where they want to live for 4 years. Weather is right up there with city vs rural. Why would you want your kids to live someplace where they will be miserable in the climate?

We had split weather preferences as well with our kids. Not surprisingly the one who is always cold wanted warmer weather and the one not bothered by the cold wanted mostly cold weather schools. I didn’t see the point of spending lots of effort trying to convince them to apply places they didn’t want to be. It was enough to find ones within budget and to get applications together for places they wanted to attend. The only reason I pushed anything outside of preferences was cost - they had to apply to two in-state schools including a likely.

[Anonymous]

Four distinct seasons are what my kids wanted. No interest whatsoever in a place like Miami or Tulane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is funny. My kid said Pennsylvania was "too far south".

Mine too. Our whole family gets uneasy when we get anywhere near the Mason Dixon line lol

Uh, Pennsylvania is north of the Mason-Dixon Line..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is funny. My kid said Pennsylvania was "too far south".

Mine too. Our whole family gets uneasy when we get anywhere near the Mason Dixon line lol

Uh, Pennsylvania is north of the Mason-Dixon Line..

Of course the southern border of Pennsylvania is the Mason-Dixon Line. Therefore anywhere near that line would include Pennsylvania.