Turning down a university because of weather

[Gerri]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has ever turned down an admissions offer from a university because of the weather in the corresponding area?

Many people (both family and advisors) have been telling me that I'll be miserable in the weather at many of the universities that I've applied to. I always answer that I'll go wherever I get the best funding...

Thanks,

G

[eklavya]

I too am contemplating about my universities. While I haven't heard back from any, I am planning on going to schools at states with warmer climates. Two of my top choices (best of 3) are in cold climates, and am thinking, unless they provide me with lucrative funding and/or awesome research, I will definitely choose the schools with warm/humid climates. But again I think that money is not the only thing to look for. What if a school [A] in warm state offers me the same amount of funding as the school in cold state , but the peers and faculty in school A are not as competitive as those in school B? And what about post-graduation? What if school B has better placements in academia and industries than school A? Considering all these things, I will make my decision. Still, weather plays a huge part in decision making.

Edited December 12, 2010 by bhikhaari

[waddle]

I too am contemplating about my universities. While I haven't heard back from any, I am planning on going to schools at states with warmer climates.

Make sure to differentiate between 'hot' areas and those that are merely 'warm'! Huge difference in comfort level during summer.

[Alyanumbers]

I'm only applying to cold states/cities because that's where the programs I like and the funding are, but I am worried... I come from a hot country, and the last time I've dealt with snow/hail/constant rain, I was 5! I wish the UCs had better funding.

[kaykaykay]

Cold weather warm weather, they both have their charms. Now I am at hot weather and the sunshine is nice, but well New England and other Northern places have their winter charm with the warmness that only snow can provide. Snowfights, snowmen, molded wine, brandy, fireplaces, hot chocolate, hot tea, ice skating are all those things I am missing.

Do not decide until you have some offers, visited the places and saw them for yourself!

[Bukharan]

Hahaha. Great thread! I spent five years of undergrad and Master's wondering why after high school I did not apply to Berkeley ... or somewhere in gay Italy?!

[aginath]

I had 3 acceptances in my application year; Indiana, North Carolina, and Georgia. Two offered roughly the same level of financial support. The third offered very little direct help, thereby ruling it out. I made a pro/con list between the remaining two schools. While weather was a con for the Indiana school (I had actually visited in February and experienced the dry cold, first hand -- I'm used to breathing hot, wet air), it was not the deciding factor. The pro list for UGA just wound up being longer with more significant factors.

[breakfast]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has ever turned down an admissions offer from a university because of the weather in the corresponding area?

Many people (both family and advisors) have been telling me that I'll be miserable in the weather at many of the universities that I've applied to. I always answer that I'll go wherever I get the best funding...

Thanks,

G

Why did you even apply to these places if you don't think you can live in the climate?

People (and it's not only you) seriously underestimate how important location is in graduate school. Sure, you're going to spend a lot of time at doing work, and whatever the other reasons for totally disregarding location are, but if you are miserable living in a certain place, your work is going to suffer too. I don't want to live in the south. I knew this before I was applying, so I didn't even bother to look at schools in that region. Sure, I might have not applied to a few good programs that way, but I also knew that I would be wasting my time and money by even applying - there is no way I would have accepted an offer to go live in the south.

[anthropologygeek]

I think weather does play a small factor. I had the choice a couple years ago. Warm vs cold. I moved to the cold because that is where the better choice was. Not to mention its only five years then I get even less say. I'll move wherever there's a job. Every climate has its pro and cons. North you have beautiful summers, south you have beautiful winters. Besides san Diego and Hawaii in the US your have one horrible season.

[LJK]

Personally, I'm a polar bear (that's what my dad calls my mom when they argue about the heat being at 64 degrees in the house). I survived a semester living near the equator while studying abroad so I know I can do it (I took to taking siestas in a non-siesta-ing country though...), but I am much more comfortable with the air cold, bundled up in blankets and sweats. I only applied to one hot place - UT-Austin (well Nashville is probably pretty warm too). I think weather will play a slight role along the lines of what qualifiers are in the different departments. I won't turn down a huge list of positives just because the qualifier experience is relatively useless at a particular school (some schools have you do useful things like write a publishable quality review paper or start working on background work for your dissertation while others have you read 200 papers that may not have anything to do with your work and then timed test you.) I won't turn down a huge list of positives because a school is in a warmer location. But it will be on the list of things to weigh should I be lucky enough to have options.

Edited December 12, 2010 by LJK

[Nessie]

I think weather is definitely a big factor to consider. I'm currently in Northern Scotland and after 6 years of Scottish weather (plus a lifetime of British weather) I'm definitely up for some sun! It's not a deciding factor but it is one worth considering. A lot of people here suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder) due to the very short hours of daylight in the winter. Although not strictly weather, it's worth thinking about how you'd cope with the sun going down at 3pm everyday. It can get very depressing!

[qbtacoma]

This is an important element of the general question "is this a place I want to live?" I only looked at programs in places I want to live, which led me to rule out some great opportunities. I.e., a scholar whose research pretty much opened my eyes to a whole new world of research is at a school in what I think is a crappy place. I am unlikely to choose where I live ever again, so I'm making the choice to be happy now.

To me, weather is an acceptable aspect of your final decision only if you have totally equal offers. (It is what I did for undergrad - I chose the school with the better location.) If you know ahead of time a program is in a too cold/hot/humid/dry place you will be miserable at, why waste the time and application fee? So for me the weather question needs to come way earlier in the process, not at the final decision.

[katerific]

I've been living in a place with a pretty warm climate year round (doesn't drop below 50) for the past few years. So when I first started thinking of schools, I was thinking, "oh no! I can't deal with cold!" and almost ruled out every school in the NE (despite all the fantastic programs there). But it's these sort of sentiments that helped to change my mind:

New England and other Northern places have their winter charm with the warmness that only snow can provide. Snowfights, snowmen, molded wine, brandy, fireplaces, hot chocolate, hot tea, ice skating are all those things I am missing.

I also really love thunderstorms, but we never get them out here. It'd also be nice to go somewhere where I could enjoy that occasionally.

Edited December 12, 2010 by katerific

[psycholinguist]

When I was in high school, my eleventh-grade guidance counselor told me that he thought the first thing I needed to keep in mind when deciding on a college was whether I liked the climate. When I (a native of the Pacific Northwest) mentioned being a little bit afraid of snow and cold winters, he told me not to even bother applying to anywhere outside California, Florida, etc.

I'm VERY glad I didn't listen to him.

A number of friends and acquaintances - even people in LiveJournal communities - balked at my choice of college, even though its reputation is stellar. They said that it was in the middle of nowhere (true) and that it had a really darn cold climate (true), so I shouldn't even want to go there.

I'm VERY glad I didn't listen to them.

I absolutely loved my college. The purportedly dreadful winters? Yeah, they were winters. But you know what? They were fine. It didn't take long to learn that:

• putting on three layers of warm clothing keeps you pretty comfortable outside, even when it's way below zero (in either Fahrenheit or Celsius). Gloves and hats and scarves are good things;
  
• buildings in cold regions can be counted on to have really good heating, so you can always go inside to warm up;
  
• the Northeast may be cold, but it gets one heck of a lot more sunlight in the winter than the incessantly rainy, dreary Northwest does, and seasonal affective disorder just didn't enter the picture at all, which was a welcome change;
  
• Northeastern autumns are STUNNINGLY pretty, and the springs are nicer than those in the Northwest as well;
  
• and snow is pretty, and working in the library by a fireplace while it's snowing outside is really cosy!
  

If people tell you to avoid your first choice because they think the climate is horrible, I'd go and find out how you respond to it. I've discovered that winter doesn't bother me much at all, and I love having four distinct seasons every year (as opposed to the Northwest's two: the rainy season and the dry one).

[Alyanumbers]

• the Northeast may be cold, but it gets one heck of a lot more sunlight in the winter than the incessantly rainy, dreary Northwest does, and seasonal affective disorder just didn't enter the picture at all, which was a welcome change;

You have no idea how reassuring your words are. As I've said above, I live in a very warm country, and while I would love the chance to live somewhere different, even dealing with cold and snow, having applied only to schools in the Northeast (and in the UK), I'm terrified I'll get SAD and be unable to do my best work.

[rising_star]

Ummm... I've lived in places with both warm and cold weather. For my PhD, I didn't even look at many schools in places with cold weather. That's a personal choice, I realize, but I know I don't like snow. It also helped that the programs in super-cold places (Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc.) didn't really have anyone for me to work with.

So, yea, weather would be something I would include on the pro/con sheet when deciding between schools. But, for me, there are plenty of other important things about the location including arts offerings (dance, theater, art galleries, music), recreational opportunities (hiking, skiing, swimming, hanging out at the beach, etc.), airline options and cost to fly to particular places, cost of living, and diversity of the area I would be living in.

[shepardn7]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has ever turned down an admissions offer from a university because of the weather in the corresponding area?

Many people (both family and advisors) have been telling me that I'll be miserable in the weather at many of the universities that I've applied to. I always answer that I'll go wherever I get the best funding...

Thanks,

G

If you have SAD issues, you might consider turning down a school in the PacNW or an exceedingly cold and grey place, at least if you have other offers. But maybe only if those issues are severe ones -- if it's not a matter of "not liking it" but having what is a seasonal clinical depression. I suppose you won't know until you're there, though, unless you've already lived in a place so cold and grey, in which case you'd already know the answer to your question. Still, it is possible to treat seasonal depression with lightboxes, vitamin D, and/or anti-depressants, so even if you suffer from it, it doesn't mean you can't live in a constantly grey place.

I went to a school in a very cold area, but one that wasn't all that sunny (or didn't seem to be). It was in upstate New York. I loved my school and wouldn't trade it for a school in a warm climate, but I do remember that the adjustment was difficult (and I was coming from CT!). It was just really hard, during that winter of 2003-2004 (I think it was?), to handle the wind chills on a daily basis. I had never lived somewhere with a dangerous wind chill and it made being outside for weeks so very painful. I had a depressive episode that miraculously didn't affect my grades but negatively affected other areas of my life. I then realized I probably had SAD and took some precautions for the remaining winters.

Then I moved to the PacNW and, wow, is it grey and drizzly there. Once it rained for a month straight. That was a bad month for me.

Now I live in SoCal, and definitely miss snow, but it was 84 degrees today...

I think it can depend on other factors. For example, if your funding is good enough, you will be able to live more comfortably and engage in the kinds of luxuries that might make things more bearable. You also might have the health insurance for treatment if your SAD is bad. If your funding is bad and you are already miserable working a side job while doing coursework or something, the weather will probably make your misery worse. Or, for example, I found the PacNW beautiful and took drives out to the coast/mountains/etc. all the time and in the rain, which helped break the oppressive monotony of endless clouds.

Edited December 13, 2010 by sarandipidy

[psycholinguist]

You have no idea how reassuring your words are. As I've said above, I live in a very warm country, and while I would love the chance to live somewhere different, even dealing with cold and snow, having applied only to schools in the Northeast (and in the UK), I'm terrified I'll get SAD and be unable to do my best work.

Ah, well even the Northeastern U.S. isn't going to be as sunny as Egypt, especially in the winter: first of all, the entire region is cloudier and far more prone to precipitation; and second, it's farther enough north that the summer days will be considerably longer and the winter ones likewise shorter. So SAD might be a legitimate concern. Some people are more susceptible to it than others, though, and the good news is that there are a lot of things you can do starting in the autumn to ward it off. Exercise, light therapy, and taking Vitamin D can all be major sources of help. (Anti-SAD lights aren't cheap [typically at least $100], but your student medical insurance might cover the expense.) If you go to the U.S., I'd say monitor yourself and see how you're feeling in October and November; if the relative lack of light is getting to you, make an anti-SAD plan and stick to it.

The UK is even farther north. England is lovely, and its climate is much more temperate than that of the Northeast; but it's very rainy (often year-round) and the winter days are short enough there that if you do end up there, I'd suggest being proactive and investing in a light-box early on, then start using it daily in mid-October or so. Then keep it up - that should preclude the possibility of an incapacitating case of SAD.

At any rate, SAD is very seldom as serious as major depression, and by March or April it goes away!

[TheDude]

There is nothing charming about snow aside from the first snow fall. After that the cuteness wears off. The subzero winds, messy roads (not to mention what the salt does to your car), shoveling, it goes on and on.

I've been in the Northeast over 20 years. However, you do get accustom to it to a degree. If you are in Northern New England you'll be ready for winter to end by January and find there is still snow on the ground in late March and sometimes April.

However, you can't beat autumn and summer on the coast.

[Ludwig von Dracula]

There is nothing charming about snow aside from the first snow fall. After that the cuteness wears off. The subzero winds, messy roads (not to mention what the salt does to your car), shoveling, it goes on and on.

I hate the snow and the cold too. My hometown has at least a month of -40 temperatures every year though, so to me basically everything's an upgrade. You do get used to it...I know Canadians are supposed to brag about our hardiness, but I'd far rather live somewhere with reasonable winters, all personal considerations aside.

Then again, I do like our sun, so I don't think I'd do so well in the BC-Oregon rainforest either.

[Eigen]

I think you can get used to a lot of different conditions... I hate the heat and humidity, but I'm in school in New Orleans, the only subtropical place in the US.

That said, if you really are going to be unhappy somewhere, don't go there! You'll spend most of the time in your lab, yes, and so the research and such is important- but you need to be able to enjoy something other than your school, because if you can't keep some sort of work/life balance, you'll eventually burn out.

[RNadine21]

There is nothing charming about snow aside from the first snow fall. After that the cuteness wears off. The subzero winds, messy roads (not to mention what the salt does to your car), shoveling, it goes on and on.

I've been in the Northeast over 20 years. However, you do get accustom to it to a degree. If you are in Northern New England you'll be ready for winter to end by January and find there is still snow on the ground in late March and sometimes April.

However, you can't beat autumn and summer on the coast.

This. I used to love when it snowed, probably because it doesn't happen too often where I grew up. And then the Blizzard of 09 hit my area, and I was trapped at home for a couple of days. Not so fun.

I would visit if possible, however a visit is still not the same as living somewhere year-round. I left DC for south FL for undergrad in search of beautiful warm weather and to escape gross winters. I had visited in April, when it's comfortably warm compared to DC which is usually in the thick of a cool and damp spring. What I didn't realize is that I was trading in four seasons for two - rainy/hurricane and dry. I couldn't go to the beach often during fall semester due to daily showers and it didn't seem right looking at Christmas lights on palm trees when it was still 70 degrees. The one thing I was prepared for was the humidity - DC summers are uncomfortably humid. After four years in South FL I've relocated to South Carolina and I feel like I've found the best of both worlds - it doesn't get quite as cold as DC but there are different seasons. However, if that's the one thing you have a issue with, you can work with it. There were other reasons for leaving FL other than the weather, and I still think of it as one of my homes and can't wait to visit (key word - visit lol).

[eklavya]

My home country is in the foothills of the Himalayas. But I hate snow. Perhaps because it never snows in my place, where I grew up and lived before coming to the US. In the state/town I live right now, it snows Nov-March. It's not fun. Ironic, most of my top picks are the most-snowy states in the midwest. And am heading to a school for an interview next month (my 3rd pick). I don't want to develop any negative attitude beforehand, but seems like I can't help it. Unless they offer a nice financial package that is able to melt my heart all year long, I can't see why and how I will end up in this school.

[was1984]

I grew up in Texas, and unlike most of you for both my masters and PhD I intentionally applied mostly to schools with either mild or colder weather. I absolutely hate the heat of the summers, and it forced me to rule out several good schools in the south.

[NadaJ]

I am so sick of snow, but I've applied to a program in a city that has snow because it's the best program for what I want to do. And actually, this is good practice for if I actually go on the TT market; when positions become available, you just apply. There's no waiting for the great location to suddenly become available.