mma

We will be taking our son college hopping during April vacation and were thinking of staying in Baltimore (for sightseeing, ball game, cheaper flight home) rather than DC. Thought we might commute into DC for a day (or two if necessary). MARC train? Are we nuts? Please advise. Plan right now: Providence to Midway, drive to Notre Dame, then Midway to Baltimore, and finally Baltimore back to Providence. Help!!!!!!!! We're new at this!

gail

While I know you are trying to fit a lot into April vacation, we found last year that after 2-3 colleges/trip, nothing sinks in. I might suggest you visit several colleges in the MD, DC, Virginia area, even if your son is not immediately interested in them - with our son just walking around some campuses helped him condense what type of environment he wanted. We did that at times when we were traveling to soccer tournaments, etc.

Also, we tried and were unsuccessful at combining pleasure trip (like I presume your trip into DC would be) with college visits. Our son either gets in vacation mode or purpose-trip mode; it is difficult to blast him from one to the other.

We did a few one-college trips (Boston to Savannah and Boston to Sarasota, FL) over a weekend or odd day off from school. It didn't really add much to cost of trip and our son was more attentive during that trip. Our HS will grant up to 3 excused absences for juniors/seniors to visit colleges - we did not use them, but you might find better airfare deals if your school has similar waiver - then you can visit during the week while classes are in session.

Since our son has a very specific field of study in which he is interested, it was easy to narrow down schools offering that program - and we actually have visited only 3 schools to which he is applying and if he is not accepted to any of these we will reserve trips to second-tier choices until after acceptances come in. (That is presuming he finishes filling out his applications this week; if he does not I am shipping him to Mars to look for the lost satellite)

Good luck - there is a reasonable chance you will live through this experience.

LN

If you're planning on visiting Univ of Md, Johns Hopkins or another Baltimore vicinity campus then you may as well try it. You can find all your location info at Mapquest.

As far as going into DC to visit schools, you'll probably need a few days for that also. GW, Georgetown, and American U are also really great schools. The Marc would be perfect for your use into and return to Baltimore.

Good luck in your school search.

patg

You are talking about 8 hours of travel just to get to Notre Dame, then will turn around and repeat the trip home. (Notre Dame is about 90 miles from Midway airport.) It seems to make more sense to schedule the first trip for areas easily reached from your home, and save the Illinois/Michigan/Indiana schools for another time - there are more here than just Notre Dame ;-)

BTW, there is a good post by Mom Admissions Person, searchable on this board, that deals with college visits. Also, if you haven't tuned into the various college boards, I'd recommend
princetonreview.com
collegeconfidential.com
studentsreview.com

Anonymous

Hard to figure out what to do, without sorting priorities and knowing how long the trip is.

Having just completed this quest (daughter is a HS senior), I'd recommend NOT trying to combine ND with the DC area, it's just too much travel and info to process properly. Unless he has some super-special need to visit ND, or just one or two schools in the Balt/DC area that he's interested in, I'd strongly recommend that you save ND for another trip (like next Columbus Day weekend).

And when you're considering DC schools, don't overlook Catholic U, that's my dd's first choice, American U is second and we didn't like GW at all. As gail pointed out, if you're just starting your search, you might find yourself surprised, as we were, by strong ractions to the physical campuses. My urban daughter, who wants an urban school, realized that she also needed a place with a "real" campus rather than scattered city buildings.

Keep in mind that many eastern school districts will be on break at the same time as you -- we visited DC last April and all the sessions were mobbed -- it was very interesting to see how differently the schools dealt with this situation.

CalDC

mmma, here's some comments from someone who has lived near South Bend, DC and Baltimore at various points:

1. South Bend has its own airport and at least from DC-Baltimore, there are often very low bargain fares available to go there. I would definitely consider that rather than going through Midway to visit Notre Dame, whether or not you will travel there from Providence (I'd tend to agree with those who would make this a separate trip)or from Baltimore. Of course, maybe your choice is being affected by wanting to visit the U. of Chicago, which is very close to Midway.

2. It is interesting that Gail presumes that the DC trip would be the pleasure one and Baltimore the college visit one, when your original post indicates the opposite. Both could be valid. I think that Baltimore is one of the most underrated cities in the U.S. and I can see it as a wonderful place to go to college--especially for someone with a taste for neighborhoods of great older architecture. It's cultural, restaurant and entertainment lives are surprisingly vital. And Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which you indicate is already in your itinerary, is one of the great baseball parks ever. If you are not already considering Johns Hopkins, Goucher, Loyola, Towson or one of the other fine Baltimore area schools for visits, you should.

3. You should know, both for your visit and for college choice, that train travel between Baltimore and DC is considered so convenient (and car traffic in the DC area so awful) that there is a well-publicized, growing group of commuters who choose to live in Baltimore and take the train daily to work in DC.

4. DC is more popularly recognized as a great college town, and deservedly so. Yes, George Washington is a scattered collection of buildings rather than a coherent campus, a fatal flaw for some, but it is in a picturesque old section of DC (Foggy Bottom/West End) and its very close proximity to all DC's best might make one want to redefine the word campus. Georgetown, of course, has perhaps the best of both worlds in having a campus that is both close in and traditional.

5. Contrary to LN's mention of it, the University of Maryland's main campus in College Park is much closer to, and more easily accessed from, DC than Baltimore. You might also want to visit, while in the area, George Mason University in suburban Fairfax, Virginia, which has a much newer, greener, less urban campus than most of those already mentioned, if that environment is preferred. Both of these State schools are good admissions "buys" in that they are still pretty easy to get into, but their academic reputations have been sharply on the upswing in recent years and degrees from them are likely to increase in value.

5. Don't forget there are some other outstanding schools in picturesque and interesting locations within an easy day trip of Baltimore/DC, including St. John's College in Annapolis, MD. and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

I'd love to hear your trip report(s) and impressions!

bluestructure

Marc only runs weekdays. check out www.mtamaryland.com for all the maryland transit(marc, lightrail, subway, bus) schedules. Colleges to check out in Baltimore would be Johns Hopkins & Towson U. A day of sightseeing in DC would be cool, take a break from colleges.

rb_travelerxATyahoo

A visit to DC when you fly thru BWI is not nuts at all - with several low-cost carriers flying into that airport, many use BWI as "the" Washington Airport.

Yes, MARC does NOT operate on weekends. To avoid "rehashing" what's already been posted on Fodors, here's a few links:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...1&tid=34458086

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...1&tid=34448521

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...1&tid=34440932

mma

Thank you all so much for your replies. Son (junior in hs)needs to prioritize the places he really wants to see. Unfortunately fall weekend visits are out due to band competitions. So we will bite the bullet and visit somewhere this April - either ND or DC area. I think my Baltimore sightseeing may have to wait as he is talking about four schools in DC. Thanks again for your info!