Choosing a college based off weather?

[Anonymous]

I declined an offer from Cornell because coming from southern California, I knew I wouldn't be able to handle the winters. Ended up here in DC and even this has been monstrously challenging for me. 10 years later I'm now on massive amounts of drugs each winter to remain sane.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the "you get used to it" comments, however, as an adult, I look back and wonder why the hell I didn't choose to go to college someplace warmer!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like everything else, I think weather goes on the list of pros and cons. For DD, it was a huge consideration (which I thought was shallow and ridiculous). In her second year at a beautiful school in a sunny location, she is the happiest college kid on earth. She says her friends in cold climate schools are so tired of the cold and snow and being indoors and they're depressed and sick etc etc. So if your kid thinks it matters, it probably does.

Some people don't "get used to it." For those, there are great schools in mild climates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not gonna lie, I didn't realize how much weather had an impact on if I attended class.

When your in college, your motivation to attend class many times can already be low (esp at a big state school).

Cold weather absolutely kills that motivation and makes you say 'fuck it' when you are warm and decide it isn't worth getting bundled up to trudge through snow for it.

+1
This was me. Some people adjust but not everyone. There are enough things to adjust to at that time of life, I wouldn't introduce poor weather as a factor unless absolutely had to

PP here. I grew up in the northeast so it isn't like I wasn't used to the cold. But there's a difference between living at home, getting in a car in a garage, walking maybe a 100 yards max to hs, being in a warm hs inside all day, walking another 100 yards back to a car, and then going home and being inside all winter pretty much.

vs.

having to walk outside everywhere day in day out on a sprawling campus when it is cold.

Besides wishing I went to a smaller school, going to a warmer location is my 2nd or 3rd thing i would change. It definitely affected my performance.

[Anonymous]

I do alum interviews for my undergrad which is up in the Northeast. I always make sure to ask the students if they've given thought to the weather up there as it can be a huge climate shock from this area.

I was from CT and went further north for school...it was cold, but not a huge adjustment for me personally. Students who had never even seen snow before were shocked the first winter. Of course, then I moved to southern VA for law school and had the opposite system shock myself.

[Anonymous]

DD, a high school senior, recently took a northern Pennsylvania school out of the running as she's whittling down her list of schools she's been accepted to. Their accepted student day was in February, I think to give students a sense of what they will experience. It was -10 that night.

[Anonymous]

Weather is a perfectly good reason to choose Stanford over any of the Ivies or Caltech over MIT. On the other hand, choosing Arizona State over UVa would seem a little foolish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weather is a perfectly good reason to choose Stanford over any of the Ivies or Caltech over MIT. On the other hand, choosing Arizona State over UVa would seem a little foolish.

Agreed! OP, what are the other schools on her list? If they are as good or better than UW-Madison, then I don't think it's a big deal. If the warm weather schools are significantly worse, I'd be less enthusiastic.

[Anonymous]

My daughter loves her school but not the -20 actual degrees or the -40 windchill. The constant cloudiness and lack of sun are far more detrimental than the actual temps. The one demand we made is that she must attend class. No pressure on grades, just show up. Last semester she missed two lectures. Total. Her friends are appalled and amazed. Missing classes is rampant. The only thing you can do is offer sympathy and spend BIG bucks on the right outerwear and shoes. I send a care package every month and it helps. My daughter is doing extremely well and even has undergrad research on campus already as a freshman, but I think we both would trade her future for a chance at basking in the sun.

[Anonymous]

DD is loving both weather and good school choice at UF (the choices were Michigan and VaTech). We're all happy.

[Anonymous]

I just skimmed the responses but want to add one more consideration. Unless your D is sure she will go to grad school, chances are she could end up working in the area where she goes to college, because the regional companies will be recruiting there, and she may have local internships that lead to employment. Just a thought. My kids both looked only at southern schools because they want to stay in the southeast for college and beyond. I went to college and grad school in the north (Near Cleveland) and northeast (Boston) and didn't end up there, but left in part because I hated how it got dark at about 4 pm in the winter, and there was no real spring. All that said, I would only let weather be a consideration if there is a school in a warmer climate that is comparable in other respects that are more important (size, quality of teaching and research opportunities, whether it is a good fit socially, etc.). Good luck!

[Anonymous]

If this is a major concern of your DD's, I would take it seriously. I went to college in Minnesota and I know the late teens-early 20s are a time of self-discovery, but one thing I discovered about myself in college is that weather really does affect my mood, energy, and motivation. And I wish I'd known this before I did my applications. College went fine, but I think I could have had more social opportunities and been happier (I'm reclusive and introverted by nature) if I hadn't been affected so much by just not wanting to go outside.

[Anonymous]

On the others hand...

I know that a madison winter would have kept me in class a lot more effectively than an ordinary afternoon at uc Santa
Barbara.

I loved the madison winter. I'd worry more about the governor's attacks on the university than about the weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this is a major concern of your DD's, I would take it seriously. I went to college in Minnesota and I know the late teens-early 20s are a time of self-discovery, but one thing I discovered about myself in college is that weather really does affect my mood, energy, and motivation. And I wish I'd known this before I did my applications. College went fine, but I think I could have had more social opportunities and been happier (I'm reclusive and introverted by nature) if I hadn't been affected so much by just not wanting to go outside.

maybe lack of Vitamin D from sunlight (at least that's how it seems to work for me). A blood test found I was severely deficient and I was amazed how much my psyche improved when I started supplementing.

Anyway, after reading through some of these responses, I might suggest UCSD for DD

[Anonymous]

Berkeley (Cal), Caltech, Harvey Mudd, Occidental, Pomona, UCLA, USC . . .