I am looking to go Atlanta, almost anywhere in Cali, Miami, Las Vegas and Arizona for grad school.

I need people's opinion on the weather all year around. The more specific the better. If I could I would visit all of them but that isn't feasible. Please tell me about the weather during the cold months especially and anything else relevant.

In addition, please discuss things such as traffic, ethnic diversity, and if you have been involved in the major institutions in this city, please discuss the atmosphere. Such instituitions include San Diego U., UC Hastings, Davis, and Berkeley, U of Arizona and Arizona State, UNLV, Emory, and the U.

Thanks in advance. I really appreciate it.

 

For the weather, you could look up yearly averages on Weather Underground. I am not sure of the other info, but that might help.

 

I lived in Los Angeles for a few years, currently live in San Jose (not terribly far from Berkeley and Davis), and have visited Las Vegas and Arizona a bunch of times, so I can offer a bit about those areas...

I'd say Las Vegas and most parts of Arizona are fairly similar in terms of weather. "Hot and dry" sums it up pretty well for about 90% of the time. It does rain pretty hard at times during winter, though. During summer, both are hot as hell. Walking around outdoors during daytime isn't the most pleasant thing IMO.

The SF Bay Area and Northern California has a pretty mild climate, but it's definitely much cooler than So Cal or Las Vegas and Arizona. It'll rain for stretches during winter, but is very dry the rest of the year. Winter daytime temperatures range between 40-60 degrees on average. Summers are about average IMO. It can get hot, but nothing too unusual.

So Cal will depend on where you live. If you live in the coastal areas of the Los Angeles area (say, West LA, Santa Monica, Venice, Malibu, Long Beach) then the weather is very nice. It's hot during summers but you get a nice breeze from the ocean. Winters are your typical California winter - it'll rain, but temperatures don't get too low. This is true of San Diego as well since it's real close to the ocean. If you live in the inland areas of So Cal, then it can get pretty freakin' hot. Anywhere in San Bernadino county tends to get damn hot in summer.

Long story short - California weather is nice and steady, albeit a bit boring. Winters are wet but mild. Nor Cal and So Cal are similar during summer, but So Cal is much warmer during winter.

As for institutions, I went to undergrad at UCLA, which is in the heart of West LA. It's a great area. I would highly recommend going to school there. It's quite an experience. The only drawback is the traffic. West LA is where the 405 and 10 freeways meet, and driving on both is a major pain during peak (and often non-peak) hours. If you can live with the traffic, then the area has something to offer everyone. You can party on Sunset and in West LA if you like that. You can visit the Getty Center if you like arts. There's an observatory and museums in downtown LA. And the city is basically open all night.

In Nor Cal, I'd say Davis is a pretty boring area. Real good place to study, or if you like peace and quiet. It's 1+ hour away from the major cities like SF. Berkeley is close to SF, and even closer to Oakland. The Berkeley area itself is kind of so-so IMO (some areas are pretty run-down), but the close proximity to SF is a plus. As for Hastings, it's at UCSF, smack dab in the middle of SF. So, if you like SF, you'll like Hastings.

 

Atlanta has a very mild winter, it will get chilly down there but youre not going to see much of anything in the way of ice or snow. I tend to like some seasonal change without having a harsh winter and Atlanta offers just that.

 

Miami.... weather can differ. The only time you really have to worry is Hurricane season between August 1 - November 30th. We do get about 5 days advance notice and most of us here will perfer a hurricane over a earthquake or blizzard. Tornados are rare, but do happen. Rainy season is mostly June/July, and will get some flooding depending on where you live which can range about 4" deep, but thankfully with the good drainage system we have down here it subsides quick. Winter hear is very rare. We might get about 2 weeks "total" through the season of 50 degree weather. Remember for us natives that's COOLLDD!!!!

As of right now it's a little wet, but the weekend promises to be beautiful... again in mid 80's, awesome beach weather. Only bad thing is water is too damn cold .

Good luck in deciding where you want to go, and of course because i live here i am bias.


Edit: Here's a picture of the beach from this past weekend. (Sorry Only took one!) South Beach

 

If you like to snow ski, Davis is only a couple hours from several great resorts around Lake Tahoe. Close to ocean, close to delta (boating) close to Napa (fine wine & food) and close to San Francisco, which has a bit of everything, and I mean everything!

 

Thank you for all your responses. I DO NOT want anything to do with cold. The coldest I would be willing to tolerate is low 50's maybe high 40's during the winter, ABSOLUTELY no snow.

The hot weather doesn't bother me as much as it being humid. I'm kinda partial to Cali because there's a lot of Asians and I can relate. But I would love to go to the U cuz I love the Hurricanes and watching them play football is amazing cuz they're such amazing athletes, and they dont suck like EVERY team in this area.

 

^Where do you live now? Centreville in Delaware? Virginia?

 

In Virginia. 5 minutes from Evolution . Nothing would convince me to move to Delaware.

 

Btw you're going for law school right? I think I recall you saying that in an earlier thread. Have you narrowed down your choice of schools yet?

I think UCLA, Berkeley, and USC (Gould), and of course Stanford all have top 25 law schools.

Davis and Hastings are just a bit behind them, and then you have USF (good for government and public works), Loyola Marymount, followed by University of San Diego and Santa Clara University (not ranked that high overall but has an excellent IP law program).

Might be easier to select a school, or schools, and then go from there. All of the places you mentioned should have mild climates. I'd highly recommend UCLA. It's a fun place to go to school, climate is very nice all year round (never too hot or too cold), and it's a high-ranked law program. But, of course, I'm biased.