Anonymous wrote:DD has a long weekend before President's Day and thinking of visiting schools in Chicago (Loyola, Northwestern, U Chicago). I know it will be cold, but we are prepared to bundle up. In terms of seeing the schools, is this a horrible idea?

Visit during that time. That is the real weather for most of the year. Often cold depending on where you're visiting from. There's also Univ of IL-Chicago, IL Institute of Tech and if you want to venture 2 hours south, there's Univ of IL Urbana Champaign

Visit in February to give a realistic idea of a Midwest winter. My son grew up in the DC area and is at a large state school in the Midwest. He joked that the cold difference is real and the wind is no joke.

Anonymous wrote:DD has a long weekend before President's Day and thinking of visiting schools in Chicago (Loyola, Northwestern, U Chicago). I know it will be cold, but we are prepared to bundle up. In terms of seeing the schools, is this a horrible idea?

You’re asking if you should visit during a time of year when they would be there?

Chicago is cold, everyone knows this. Also, your kid will only get into Loyola.

Might be a great time to experience what a Chicago winter is like. Just make sure campus is open and on a break.

UChicago doesn't observe President's Day so I'd expect it to have tours.

Anonymous wrote:My DC at Chicago says the real-feel temp tomorrow is -30. Just saying!

DC’s professor cancelled tomorrow’s class

It’s a good idea if you don’t want your kid to go to the Chicago area schools.

If they have tours, visit.

Honestly, it is an excellent idea to visit in the winter. Let them see what it will be like when the weather is at its worst. We did this with my kid, and they were glad to have an idea of what it was really like before deciding to apply.

My DC at Chicago says the real-feel temp tomorrow is -30. Just saying!

It's a great idea to visit the Chicago schools in February. Winter is a reality in Chicago from November to March. It's best to know upfront whether the student can be happy in the cold.

Forgot to add, that day, there was some traffic on the drive from UChicago up to NU, and after the extra-long tour at U of C, it was a bit challenging to make it in time, though we succeeded. Starving and cold, ate some bars in the car.

Yes, it's the perfect time for a realistic view.

We visited presidents weekend a few years ago. Kid was interested in UChicago and I made him tour Northwestern while we were there, both in one day, on presidents day. He preferred Northwestern and currently attends.

It was a damp cold, and while the temp was in the mid 20s, we still froze for some reason. The UChicago tour was in the morning and went extra long (1.5 hrs outside).

Just make sure they have tours, they may not because of the holiday. I also recommend looking at the full event calendar at each school, there are likely some performances, talks etc. Those are interesting and give a sense of the how the students and faculty engage.
Winter weather is a feature not a bug with Chicago so might as well see it at the peak . . .

DD has a long weekend before President's Day and thinking of visiting schools in Chicago (Loyola, Northwestern, U Chicago). I know it will be cold, but we are prepared to bundle up. In terms of seeing the schools, is this a horrible idea?