It’s colder than the Arctic Circle – but not for long.

Posted January 24, 2011 by Christine Leland

Yes, really…Jason’s post last week was not that far off-base in terms of weather in Boston this winter. This morning Boston.com reported that the temperature in the city at 8:00AM (-2 degrees Fahrenheit) was colder than at the same time in Murmansk, Russia, the northernmost city in the Arctic Circle (6 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s chilly no matter which city you happened to be in at the time!
That said, Boston is not ALWAYS this cold, nor does it (thankfully) stay this cold for long.  As of this time tomorrow we’ll be enjoying temps in the mid-thirties, a welcome change. Weather like this tests your patience but mostly it gives you a good story to tell in the future – and I’m sure everyone has heard rumors about hearty New Englanders (“I trudged 8 miles to school in the snow, uphill both ways…”). While I certainly never had to walk 8 miles to school, I’ve lived here all my life and temperatures like this come along only rarely. In the meantime, I’m surviving by watching for Facebook posts from my family in warmer climates (Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Orlando) to give me hope for summer.  Or at least spring, which, when it arrives, will be lovely and well worth the wait.
In other news, we are approaching our application deadline and I’m feeling the need to post an update similar to how I did last year – but I found myself struggling to find a photo that captured the same feeling of overwhelmed-ness we are experiencing in the office right now.  Last year’s photo set the tone perfectly (and even matched my blonde hair and glasses!) so I gave up.
We’ve upgraded to a brand new, mostly online application system since last year, which is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because for all of you, it’s much easier to know when our office has received something. A curse because as I said, it’s a brand new system for us.  We are updating your applications as quickly as our little hands can scan transcripts and mark other items as received.  That said, please do know that even though you click “submit” and things appear instantaneous, it still takes a bit of checking on our end. We know you have all worked extremely hard to make sure we receive all your materials by the deadline, and your application won’t be impacted by any delay on our end. But if you notice any glaring problems, please do let us know so we can improve things.