sactomama

We will be traveling to the east coast this spring break to visit these five schools: Columbia (NY), Brown (RI), Princeton (NJ), Yale (CT), and Dartmouth (NH). Can anyone PLEASE help us figure out the best travel plan. Do we fly in and out of NY and make a driving loop of the schools? Do we fly in one location and out a different location? Rent a car or public transportation? What is the travel time between these places? What order should we visit these schools? Any help/advice will be greatly appreciated!!!

QC

OK, this is how to do it without too much stress and allowing for some sightseeing and exploration of the towns:

Day 1. Fly into PHILADELPHIA. You can also add Penn to your tour if you want.

Day 2. In the morning, Take an Amtrak Train to PRINCETON JUNCTION, NJ [1 hour]. You will then take a NJ Transit shuttle train to PRINCETON [15 mins]. It's a short walk to the campus from there. After touring Princeton, continue by train to NY PENN STATION [1.5 hours]. You could then take the subway to Columbia directly from Penn Station, or wait until the next day.

Day 3. Take a Metro-North Commuter Train to NEW HAVEN, CT [1.5 hours]. Take a taxi to Yale from there, it's not far. Then, RENT A CAR in New Haven.

Day 4. DRIVE from NEW HAVEN up Interstate 91 to HANOVER, NH (it's almost a straight shot and will take about 4-4.5 hours) to see Dartmouth.

Day 5. Drive from HANOVER, NH to CAMBRIDGE, MA for relaxation and to see Harvard [about 3 hrs.]. Cambridge is fun in its own right and saves you the additional drive to Providence, but you can skip the Cambridge step if you want.

Day 6. Take "T" Commuter Rail or Amtrak from BOSTON, MA to PROVIDENCE, RI [1 hour].

You can then either fly home from PROVIDENCE (Southwest flies there) or take the train back to BOSTON and fly home out of Logan Airport.

With this route, there is little driving, three major East Coast cities, 2 additional Ivies (if wanted), time for sightseeing and getting a 'feel' for the various communities, and no doubling back except for Providence-Boston, which may not even be needed.

Anonymous

Columbia, Yale, and Brown are easily accessible by several forms of public transit, including Amtrak. High-school students can get a form signed by their guidance counselor and bring one parent for free, so it's equivalent to getting two tickets for half-price each.

http://www.campusvisit.com/amtrak/

Watch out for blackout dates, which correspond to holidays and the school vacations in the northeast, when regular demand for Amtrak is inflated. When we used this discount, the ticket counter staff never actually collected the form.

Amtrak from NYC to Providence would be about 3 hours, though of course you'd be making a stop in New Haven, roughly an hour outside NYC; don't invest in the faster Acela train, it doesn't really save much time.

I'd rent a car for Dartmouth (3 hours from Prov), since even if a public bus is available it would be more expensive, inflexible, and time consuming than renting the car. And spring break is a lovely time to see the northeast.

Whether it's cost effective to fly into one city and out from another depends on your home base; it might actually be worthwhile to return the car in Providence and return to NYC to fly home, or to fly in and out of Prov and take Amtrak to and from NYC, with a stop in New Haven on the way.

Hanover NH (Darthmouth) is roughly equidistant from both Prov and New Haven, so that increases your options, too.

Based on our own college tour experience, if you visit New Haven later in the trip, it will suffer badly by comparison to the other locations.

Anonymous

QC's itinerary is very good, but I would not spend time visiting Cambridge if it's not a serious contender. It's easy to go into overload when looking at several schools in succession.

My daugher takes the comuter rail between Boston and Prov, it's very handy and much cheaper and more frequent than Amtrak, but doesn't go all the way to Prov on weekends.

sactomama

Thank you so much to those who replied. Others, please make your suggestions now!! We need to make these travel arrangements very soon. We really appreciate the detailed trip itinerary. First question is why would we fly into Philadelphia, PA if NJ (Princeton) is your suggested first stop. Is the PA airport closer to the Princeton campus than anything in NJ? Do you know of any inexpensive air carriers between Yale and Dartmouth to avoid the 4.5 hr drive?

Anonymous

New Haven CT to Hanover NH is a straight shot up Route I-91 and shuld take a little over 3 hours, maybe 3.5 but certainly not 4.5. And there's no airport particularly close to either town. By the time you added-in the ground transport, the early airline checkin, the need to rent a car once you get to NH anyway, you really haven't saved any time.

Newark Airport is a little bit closer to Princeton, but more hassle and fewer flights.

Anonymous

One factor that hasn't been raised here, but which affected the college tours that I took with my own kids, is the schools' own schedules and their effects on campus life and access to the admissions offices. Some might be on breaks at the very beginning or end of your trip, and a few don't offer tours on weekends (including Brown, IIRC).

Anonymous

And one further thought: Why these 5 schools? They are all part of the Ivy League, but what about their fit for your kid? Each has a strong personality of its own, four of those you named are urban and one is in the middle of noplace, etc. Why these universities, and none of the other excellent schools in the area?

escargot

There is an airport in Manchester, NH (there may even be another closer that I do not know of) but this airport is about one hour from Hanover (Dartmouth) - I know Southwest flies in and out,, not sure what other carriers, as my husband mostly uses for business and uses Southwest - their web is
www.flymanchester.com

You don't say if your son is touring, or actually choosing from recent acceptances - if touring, when I did it with my two, I often enjoyed having the car, for ease of checking out some areas - this is certainly not necessary for NY, RI, CT (not much to see further than Yale, and some surrounding areas not the greatest, so I don't think a car is important here - he would train to most other destinations from there ) and in the others there is public transport and walking to most things - if you are staying overnight for Yale visit, a good hotel, very close to campus, that my daughter frequently uses is the Omni.

You may want to think of flying into Manchester, renting a car just for that short leg of the trip and driving to Dartmouth - it is more secluded and he may like driving around a bit to see what else is up there.

If you were coming from Yale, I'm not sure where you would fly out from (maybe Bradley Airport in CT) - but truthfully, by the time you get to Bradley, take the plane, rent the car, drive to Hanover, it might end up about the same as driving all the way - you would have to figure mileage/time by researching both options with traveling routes on mapquest or michelin and airling routes and times.

You also don't say how much time you have - if you are spending a day or so in each destination or zipping between them all - I will say while I found I always needed at least 6 hrs on each campus, I enjoyed more the ones we had a full day and an overnight at to really get a feel for the entire picture.

Also, if you haven't, check each colleges web pages - they usually have a link for parents or prospective students and many of them list drive times between 'similar schools' or schools in the area, suggested lodging, airports, train locations, etc.

escargot

also, although I've never visited Princeton, - the rest of them are strong city schools and Dartmouth is in the middle of nowhere - there is no huge city close by - and maybe it won't matter to him, but their academic calendar is far different than the other schools as far as timing - and I think they still do the one summer semester - just all things for him to think about in case this time, you kept that one out of the mix unless the visit is what will help him decide that location factor.

Also, as someone mentioned about when traveling and who will be on campus - this is also important to remember if he is planning on seeing anyone other than admissions during his visit (athletic coaches, theater or arts department, science - if he has a particular interest and would want to try and email/meet with a rep from one of those areas.

sactomama

thanks for the thoughtful comments. all are very helpful and appreciated. it sounds like the original itinerary is our best bet and that we might substitute upenn for dartmouth at this time. we only have one week so we want to visit only those schools which might lure us away from the sunny west coast.

nytraveler

I would try to narrow down the list of school s based on the students prefernce for city vs country life and major specializations. (I know a lot of kids change majors - but you usually have some idea of what you want - and while you can get a good education at any of them - these schools focus on different faculties - ie Yale Drama etc).

(Remember doing a similar tour with one of my cousins when she was picking schools -I was a year behind her - and after the first 3 they all started to run together for both of us. And she ended up at Columbia - which is what she intended all along - because of the strength of the program in her areas of interest.)

nytraveler

Oh - sorry - and be sure to check the schools ASAP as to what days/times they offer student tours - unless you get a chance to talk one-on-one to at least one current student - preferably in your area of interest - you've wasted your time.

escargot

nytraveler is right - they all start running together and we'd end up with conversations afterwards like 'this what at this school" and someone else saying "no, that was the other place" - with my first -

with my second, we took a camera - a few photo ops at each place - and she kept a log sheet which she had typed out particulars for her interests on and could jot a few notes after visit in the car/train - things like: proximity to (pick one: town, city, theaters, skiing) and choices for getting home (plane, train, etc) - ability to visit other areas on weekends - class sizes, majors, etc - that stuff in all the catalogues, her list was based on more of what she was looking for personally -

and read the bulletin boards while you are walking thru places and remember to pick up both the school sponsored newspaper and the alternative newspapers to get a feel for what is going on vs. what hte guide books tell you.

gail

If you cross Dartmouth off the list, then you have a more reasonable geographic plan. If Southwest is your airline of choice, they fly into Providence and then I would drive south from there, flying out of Phila.

That said, while there is no substitute for seeing a college, websites of colleges are so wonderful and detailed today, visiting too many schools can really be too much of a good thing. And there are some, in my opinion, some equally wonderful New England schools in the same area that you might want to add to your list - not just limit to Ivies. (And before I get slammed, I am a graduate of Brown, so I can say that!)

Your prospective student really needs to do some research and soul-searching into what s/he wants - both academically and socially/environmentally - such as city/rural, size, field of study - and not just go with the name value of an Ivy league school.

Good luck - our first kid is sophomore in college and second is sophomore in HS - so we re-start the search again soon. (And our son visited only 4 schools, researched others, and has no regrets)

lcuy

sactomama- My firend did almost this exact trip last year (also looking at Swarthmore, UPenn, and Bryn Mawr, Boston U and Boston College).

She debated driving (flexibility vs haing to stay awake)/flying (expensive and inconvenient) /train and in the end flew into Philadelphia and took Amtrak the whole way, then flew out of Boston. She said it was a wonderful trip, especially since they did the student/free parent ticket.

Like you, she go a lot of advice to look at less schools with a longer time on each campus, and only those that her daughter could get into.

She found (just like I did the year before with my own daughter) that you don't need very long at some schools---you often know pretty fast if you don't like a campus. My friend said that everyone at one of the schools was so unhappy looking and the student center felt so dreary that they knew in minutes that it was not for her daughter. A few hours of touring and questions only confirmed it.

Other schools will feel like possibilities, so its nice if your hotel's location allows you the possibility of going back to the good ones in the evening.

If your child wants to go to an Ivy, I think you've got a good variety-(city, rural, college town- but I would sugest you look at UPenn as well.

BTW, I flew into Philadelphia to visit Princeton a few month ago. I had thought about taking the train, but ended up drivin. Very pleasant drive, and the PHL airport is a lot easier than Newark to get out of.

And relax!! Your child is obviously going to get into a good school. From my experience in dealing with my kids and lots of their friends going off to college over the last three years -your child will likely be happy at any of these schools once they settle in.
If not, transferring is no big deal.

lcuy

Oh, and escargot's tip on taking a camera and lots of notes is a "must do". After just two or three schools, you won't remember which one had the coed bathrooms, weird school calendar or fabulous gym.

In addition, you''ll need to save these thoughts and review them again once the acceptance letters come!

sactomama

Ok, so we have our general itinerary figured out. We just need specific information as to the best mode of travel between each. QC, I hope you can respond!!
Fly into Providence, RI. Tour Brown (RI), Yale (CT), Columbia (NY), Princeton (NJ), UPenn (PA), in that order. Fly out of Philadelphia. PLEASE HELP!!

Anonymous

As lcuy pointed out, you can do most of this trip by train, which relieves you of concerns about finding places, and gives you some hanging-out time to discuss and digest what you've seen.

But, also as lcuy mentioned, sometimes a school just doesn't feel right, and you don't need much time in order to rule it out. This happened with us -- after 5 minutes on campus (possibly even before reaching the campus), my daughter knew that she was not interested in spending 4 years in New Haven. If you're traveling by car, you have the flexibility to move on to the next school right away and spend more time there, as well as flexibility to explore the surrounding area. Even if you take trains, with most schools you'll still need a taxi or other transport to get onto campus. Some schools have parking set aside for visitors.

KikiLee

Basically just follow QC's advice, but in reverse. Would recommend train travel from New Haven to NY, then from NY to Pton, then from Pton to Philly. Don't bother with Amtrak on the NH to NY leg (take Metro North) or NY to Pton (take NJ Transit to Pton Jct, then the small "Dinky" train from Pton Jct to Pton) - the commuter lines are much cheaper and only marginally less convenient. Agree that Amtrak is worth it for the Pton to Philly leg. (Take the Dinky from Pton to Pton Jct, and catch the Amtrak from there.) It is cheaper to take NJ Transit to Trenton, and then Septa to Philly, but in my opinion in this case it is worth it to spring for the extra convenience of the direct Amtrak.

Where are you planning overnights? Agree that the Omni is by far the best choice in NH. Keep in mind that many of the hotels named "Princeton" are not actually located in Princeton borough proper. The Nassau Inn is the closest to campus.

Oh, and if you want to try famous New Haven-style pizza but don't want to make the trek to Wooster St, have dinner at "BAR". It's not as good as Sally's or Peppe's but it's pretty fantastic. And, across the street, if you are by some miracle still hungry (and in my experience teenage boys often are!) you can go to Louis' Lunch, rumored to be the birthplace of the hamburger. (Just don't ask for ketchup!)

But, agreed, these schools are kind of an odd mix of choices - while they are all Ivies and excellent schools, Pton and Darthmouth have a very different feel (rural, slightly preppier) than Yale or Brown (urban, more alternative). Regardless, have a great trip!