Moving to Iowa for school! [a lot of questions]

[steel03]

You need:

long-sleeved t-shirts and/or sweaters
a couple different coats
one heavy-duty coat if you aren't able to layer well
thick gloves
hat that covers your ears and the top of your head
scarf

Those are the essentials.

Idk what that person was talking about with ice; when Texas gets ice it's usually a lot worse than anything we deal with north of Missouri (combination of the lack of cold-weather infrastructure in the South and the warmer temperatures that result in snow melting during the day and then freezing overnight). But it will of course be much, much colder, and you will probably see snow on the ground without a break all winter.

[bookworm28]

Thank you all very much for your responses! I would love to live on campus, but that will be more difficult for me because I am over the age of 23 (I will be 25 in the fall). At Cornell, if you are my age, you have to wait until younger students or first year students claim their on-campus housing before you can grab a dorm. I have heard from other students that on-campus housing gets eaten up pretty quick because it is a residential college. I'm staying hopeful, though! I will ve able to get further housing assistance from the school come April, but I am keeping my options open just in case.

Thanks for the reassurance, as well. As a Texan, I would do anything to escape the 115 degree summers. I also generally like cold weather, though our cold is nothing like Midwest cold! I'm sure I will adapt.

Thanks again!

[smpliving]

bookworm: ditto regarding the icy conditions in Iowa. I have friends and family in Texas and Kansas City, who use to live in Iowa for several years, and they say the ice is worse in those southern regions for the reasons already stated in this thread.

Good luck to you!

[atler8]

bookworm
And don't pay too much attention to the hyperbole you may hear about the ground being solidly covered in ice and snow from November on through early April & the weather being solidly miserable throughout then. It just isn't based in fact.
Winter conditions can vary highly from one day to the next & long term bitter cold spells do occur but some folks seem to forget about the mid-winter thaws such as the current long one that's melted all of the snow cover in the state except for up in the northern 2 tiers of counties just south of the Minnesota state line.
For example, there is no snow in the long range forecast for Des Moines clear on through to the 30th of January while most of the day time highs are forecast to range from the upper 30's on up to just shy of 50 through the period.

[funksoulbro]

Originally Posted by atler8

For example, there is no snow in the long range forecast for Des Moines clear on through to the 30th of January while most of the day time highs are forecast to range from the upper 30's on up to just shy of 50 through the period.

Long-range forecasts are about as accurate and useful as the lucky numbers on the back of a fortune cookie insert. Sometimes they're right... but most times they're wrong. But please, keep lecturing us all on hyperbole.

If you want to give an honest picture about winter in Iowa, you would use historical daily averages. It's based on 100+ years of actual observations, instead of projected unseasonably warm stretches which occur less frequently than the abnormally cold stretches.

National Weather Service Climate

[atler8]

You don't need to lecture me on the weather as if I don't know about averages or haven't used such data here before in chats about the weather.
So it's only fair for it to be pointed out that it can get brutally cold in Iowa (which everyone with a clue already knows!) during the winter but when it's above average for a long stretch, that's off limits? I think not.
Des Moines has been tied w/ my Atlanta twice in temperature in the mid afternoon recently. If that isn't a bit of mid-winter cheer to share w/ the folks on the Iowa forum, well that's just too bad for those that don't want to hear it.
And if the "hyperbole" description fits, I will continue to use it. I'm not going anywhere.

[funksoulbro]

Originally Posted by atler8

I'm not going anywhere.

That much I can believe.

[ElleTea]

This has veered way of course from the original topic. Let's stay on track, please.

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

This has veered way of course from the original topic. Let's stay on track, please.

I have 2 kids that live just south of Interstate 80 in Iowa. Having grown up in South Dakota they laugh at Iowans that complain about the terrible winters. To my kids the weather where they're at in the winter is right down balmy by comparison.

There is never a winter without some extended thaws in most of Iowa with the northern sliver sometimes being the exception. Plus, with the rolling hills and trees, the wind is not that big of a factor.

Mt. Vernon is an absolutely gorgeous town as is the Cornell campus. I know nothing of the academics there, but everything about is looks very appealing.

You're not that far from Iowa City if you're looking for something to do. For someone your age, if you can't find entertainment there, you can't find it anywhere.

[Nedibes]

Welcome to Cornell!!! I would not worry too much about finding a place to live in Mount Vernon, or even on-campus--I've never heard of a student needing to move out of town due to lack of housing. If anything, there are students living on-campus who would like to live off but are obligated to stay in the residence halls--there is a housing lottery at Cornell for permission to live off-campus (and usually open only to seniors).

It is likely that you will see more advertisements as we get closer to the start of the next school year. In the meantime, you can keep an eye on the Classifieds in the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun: http://www.mvlsun.com/classifieds/pdf/ForRent.pdf. In addition to Cornell's own apartments, there are at least a couple of small complexes in Mount Vernon and a number of houses each year for rent.

I would definitely stay in-town if at all possible. Because of Cornell's schedule and residential nature, there are expectations of students that might be hard to meet if you lived out of town. Classes are virtually never cancelled for weather, for example, as students are expected to be able to tromp through the snow to class regardless of driving conditions. There are activities on campus from 8 or 9am right through to midnight, with a lot of things happening over mealtimes as most students, even those living in apartments, have a meal plan.

Other things to know: The weather, as you may have gathered, is highly variable. Last winter we had record lows (along with much of the country) that just wouldn't quit; in the seven years I've been here we've also had an extremely mild winter that led to a drought due to lack of snow melt, one with three(!) significant snowstorms, one where the snow just kept piling up all winter until it was several feet deep in our front yard, and some somewhere in between. This winter has been an in-betweener: it was in the high forties on Saturday, snowed Sunday, and today it's back down to the low twenties.

Activities abound for Cornell students. There are tons of on-campus groups and activities ranging from the very academic to the purely social, plus the usual bars in town and of course all the nearby fun stuff in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Finding one or more student organizations to join will help ease your transition to campus--you can see a list here (click on the "Student Group" tab--you don't actually need to sign in).

During the week students mostly stay close to home for activities, with out-of-town excursions saved up for weekends. Longer-distance trips are also pretty common over block breaks. A Colorado ski trip is not that unusual over a block break, and I know of students who have done NYC. I don't know where you're from in Dallas, but I think you could probably fit in a trip to Dallas pretty easily, though El Paso maybe not.

Let us know if you have more specific questions!