Is visiting in cold weather a problem?

[Pizzagirl]

I never said anything about touring when classes aren't in session and campus is deserted! I'm just talking about cold weather when you can't spend a lot of time outdoors!

[Hanna]

No big deal IMHO -- ideally, you should be spending most of the visit inside cafeterias, dorms, libraries, student unions, etc. I think there's way too much focus on seeing the outside of buildings on college tours anyway.

[tk21769]

>>The sun shines waaay more in Colorado than the midwest so the sunshine and blue skies are pretty nice backdrop for the campuses.

Yes, Colorado gets something like 300 days of sunshine per year (one of the sunniest states in the country). On the other hand, Colorado winters can be *very* unpredictable. Recently, Denver got 15 or 20 inches of snow, while Colorado Springs (90 minutes south) got less than an inch. But it could've been the other way around.

My S saved his Colorado Springs visit until April (senior year). If you need to prioritize, better to do the earlier visits to clusters of schools you can more conveniently schedule back-to-back. The value of early visits is not just to make decisions about specific colleges, but to get a better sense of your size and setting preferences.

[mattmom]

I think it really isn't as much of an issue as it may seem to you in this early stage of the college search. Of course blue skies and soft breezes make most places more appealing, but if a college can't transcend a gray day by means of a good tour, interesting activities, and well-presented, well-maintained facilities, that doesn't say much for it. Your twins sound like nice and intelligent kids--they will probably be able to recognize the qualities that count even if it isn't the nicest day.

I will admit that when my younger child and I visited one prestigious mid-Atlantic LAC several years ago, we were both taken aback by how poorly the secondary paths had been cleared of snow, which had become packed down and very icy. It was a sunny day with very blue skies, but the neglected vestiges of an earlier storm did make a bad impression--if everything else had been positive, though, that wouldn't have mattered so much.

[thumper1]

Personally, I would rather see the INSIDES of the buildings than the outsides. Perhaps there is more opportunity to do so in the winter when it's cold.

[coureur]

>>But am I doing the Philly and DC schools a disservice by having my kids see them at that time of year, when skies might be gray, where they won't "show" as nicely as they would in the spring? <<

I think you do your kids a disservice if they see schools only decked out in their vivid spring and summer greenery - when the reality at northern latitudes is that much, and perhaps most, of the school year will be cold, dull, and gray. Plus, if your kid loves school after having seen its cold and gray phase, you know the kid really *loves* that school.

[Pizzagirl]

Thank you. I like the comments about seeing the inside more than the outside. That makes me feel better.

[marite]

In MA, spring goes by in a flash. By March, it feels like it's been winter forever. Touring in cold weather under dreary skies gives prospective applicants a better sense of what the environment will be like for much of the academic year.

[thumper1]

Yes...and the reality is that in the cold weather, the students also don't spend much time outdoors.

[marite]

No, they don't... unless they have to go to class in different buildings.
I remember the times when we'd arrive in class at Sever Hall at Harvard after trudging through puddles; we'd begin by taking our shoes off and hanging our wet socks on the heating pipes. Putting them back on after class ended was awful. That was before Sever Hall was renovated. I don't know if the heating pipes are still exposed. The puddles are still there every winter.

[mythmom]

I like mathmom and mattmom's points about how the campus deals with ice and snow as telling.

I know that's not the OP's concern, but interesting.

I don't think the campuses have to "show best" on sunny days. It's not a real estate open house. If the kids have open hearts they are going to see the labs they like, the music practice rooms they don't.

It's some mystical process they go through. I can't pretend to understand it.

DS "knew" Williams was his school in the car on the way from Amherst.

He had focused on Vassar after his sister toured it, and although she went somewhere else, he loved it, and one of the professors took an interest in a lowly tenth grader and kept in touch with him. He was sold. Then he had surprisingly good (NMSF) results on PSAT and I asked him if he wanted to look at Amherst and Williams just in case. I got the idea because the Williams site asked for musicians, which he is. (And they are quite serious in their commitment in recruiting musicians.)

We went to Amherst, liked it fine, but not sold. Got directions from Amherst to Williams. It was so big deal open house weekend for both. (I'm sure, like squabbling brothers, they schedule a lot in tandem.) Anyway, H is still convinced they gave us the least sensible route they could have. I think that's silly. But on the way up we pulled over at some very scenic overview, breathed mountain air, and S was sold before we stepped on campus.

I guess Amherst was too suburban or something.

When he got there he fell in love.

He's in his junior year, and I think tonight is the first time he has fully understood why he went there.

I doubt weather, grey skies, black flies, humidity or snow would have made a bit of difference. Hurricane Katrina might have. We live through hurricane weather here on LI, but nothing as bad as that, obviously.

[dad2four]

marite: Why didn't you wear boots so your socks wouldn't get wet?

[Pizzagirl]

That's why LLBean boots were invented - for situations like that!

[gcnorth]

DS fell in love with Northwestern on a day so cold that I thought my toes were going to get frostbite during the tour. He hated MIT on a gorgeous spring day. We were all able to see the "fit" of the schools, regardless of the weather.

[arbiter213]

Just make sure you look at photos of the schools you see during the winter months from the summer months. I know that my school looks horrible most of the winter (when its anything but fresh snow on the ground, really), but it's STUNNING for much of the spring, fall and summer. Schools you see at their best will seem more attractive than the ones you see at their worst.

Then again, there are people like gcnorth's son. So, maybe not.