5. The Only Temperate Place in the World is Hawaii- and They Don't Have an OT School
Friends, I am in the process of filling out my applications for grad school. There are many factors going into my decision. Mainly, climate. Now, this only makes up about 96% of the selection for me. There is still an important 4% involving housing, tuition, quality of the program, etc. So far I have eliminated the majority of places above a certain latitude. The east coast is scary. If it isn't the earthquakes, the hurricanes, or blizzards, the homeless people will get you. The midwest is too full of cows and tornados. Texas is basically on fire. This leaves about four states as a potential for my future residence. I thought I had narrowed down my choices again, when I found unsettling climatic facts about each of the places I am considering attending.
San Jose State
This is where my parents went to school and met and fell in love and got married. They have a bit of a soft spot for the Silicon Valley. They also remember the glory days when SJSU was actually a viable athletic force. Unfortunately, I have personally always associated San Jose with scary crime. My mom told me this story of being stalked on her way home to her sorority and scared me to death as a kid. Plus it's always foggy there. Plus it's expensive to live there. Did I mention it's foggy?
Pacific University
I had heard great things about the program and I saw the facilities for myself and it's nice. The faculty seems friendly and Hillsboro is very pleasant (and not scary). I do know a few people in the Portland area, but it would not be anything like Provo. Every time I talk about going there my mom mentions that it is dreary and rainy the entire year. Now, this isn't true. It's only dreary and rainy the majority of the year. Now, I can handle that, I mean in Sacramento you go a few months a year when you forget what the sun looks like. But, what I had been used to growing up and had expected out of Oregon was that it wouldn't dip below freezing. I was wrong.
AT Still
I was talking to my dentist who is a sponsor of the dental program at AT Still (scroll down to "Family Dentistry") about maybe going there. Just before he drilled into a cavity, he pulled out his iphone and showed me the current weather in Mesa. 115 degrees. One Hundred and Fifteen.
University of Utah
It's amazing I have survived as many Utah winters as I have, I really shouldn't push it.
UNM
Now, this was looking like a good option. I had spent a weekend this summer in Albuquerque and it was nice. The temperature wasn't too hot. It wasn't muggy. I speak passable Spanish. Both sides of my family has history going back to New Mexico. I honestly hadn't heard about their program until a couple weeks ago, but it looked really good. Then I made the mistake of looking at the lows and average snowfall during the winter. I thought it was a desert. Ok, I'll take a second to be serious. These are all fabulous schools, and it would be an honor to go to any of them. And let's face it, if I've survived as long as I have in Provo winters, I can make it through 3 more years somewhere else. Maybe.
