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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or did you make them?

My kid is the opposite and wants cold and snow. Fine with me. Why would I make him do otherwise? There are plenty of good schools in any region - focus on those.

[Anonymous]

What a ridiculous post. You get into the best school you can and go. I got into Harvard law from so California and went. No questions asked about weather. How spoiled are your kids? Why are they directing where you are spending $90-&99k (USC) a year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, there are too many excellent cold weather schools to just cross off like that. They would be silly.

So what? There’s plenty of excellent warm weather schools to choose from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a ridiculous post. You get into the best school you can and go. I got into Harvard law from so California and went. No questions asked about weather. How spoiled are your kids? Why are they directing where you are spending $90-&99k (USC) a year?

If that is how you make decisions, fine.

Most people want to find a good mix of things that they think will make them happy for 4 years.

My alma mater was actually a late add to my list. My parents actually brought it up to me because a family member had attended. I thought I was good with liberal arts colleges in the mid Atlantic, but I tossed in an application sight unseen. I fell in love the moment I stepped onto the campus and know it was where I was meant to be in the end. I made good friends and good memories. I got to spend 4 years on a lovely campus with decent weather (we still had seasons and occasional snow, but nothing extreme). A college in the south wasn’t the original plan, but it worked out nicely.

I actually realized I could have used more help and guidance. My parents were mostly hands off and just bought me the best college guide or whatever it was to read through. I know so much more now and realize my choices were really odd and not incredibly well thought out. I mean, they were all good schools in the end, but there were things I just didn’t even consider that might have helped me better focus and maybe put a couple other schools on my radar.

[Anonymous]

Mine are the opposite - refuse to apply anywhere without 4 seasons. Which is fine by me, since I’d like them to go to college in the Northeast anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mines the opposite. Wants to go to school in the northeast. To each their own. I’d focus more on the why. For mine, she views the shoots in the warm areas as party school with unserious kids. We all know there are serious schools in warm areas and party schools in cold areas, but getting to the why with her helped us talk about schools like auburn, Florida and a few in ca.

Your daughter is onto something. In my experience, warm weather = lazier people (and I don’t blame them).

[Anonymous]

My kid said nothing north of VA. But she has health conditions that are worse in cold weather. She’s in SC and says that’s even too cold!

[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.

And if you can’t find a job in a preferred location, you’ll relax your criteria and expand the search. Fine. But most people are going to start by looking in places they want to be — and may or may not take climate into consideration, depending on their own preferences.

Same with colleges. There are thousands of them. If a kid doesn’t really care about the weather or is gung-ho Harvard or die, snow be damned, fine, that’s their preference. If someone else would like to avoid the cold, or avoid the humidity, or whatever else, fine, that’s their preference. Plenty of colleges to choose from, and people can narrow their options in whatever way suits them.

[Anonymous]

I think many of these preferences apply to students whose parents have means to consider them in the decision making process. I went for the best academic school that made the most financial sense and considered little else.

My DD who is now a senior has many things on her list, geographic region, weather, size, urban/rural which we are factoring into the decision bc we can. Looking back, I had a great experience in college but I absolutely suffered from seasonal depression (most women in my family do) and I would probably have benefited from being somewhere warm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a ridiculous post. You get into the best school you can and go. I got into Harvard law from so California and went. No questions asked about weather. How spoiled are your kids? Why are they directing where you are spending $90-&99k (USC) a year?

I’m so glad you were able to drop the H bomb, the thread wasn’t the same without it

[Anonymous]

My child’s top two choices are in cold weather places.

[Anonymous]

My CA kid applying to nothing but cold weather schools…

[Anonymous]

My kids wanted four distinct seasons. They all attend colleges in VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a ridiculous post. You get into the best school you can and go. I got into Harvard law from so California and went. No questions asked about weather. How spoiled are your kids? Why are they directing where you are spending $90-&99k (USC) a year?

Sounds like you didn't get into Stanford law.

[Anonymous]

Cold weather in new england is good for studying.