My dream is to go to Brown University. It is, however, a 6+ hour flight away from my home on the west coast. Is this really really hard or not that bad?
It all depends on you and how well you think you’ll be able to cope without the ability to go home whenever you might want to. My husband and I live in Asia and our daughter goes to school in Massachusetts. It takes her almost 30 hours to get home. We are all coping fine, though it was hard at first.
For any distant college, add in getting to the airport, TSA time, layovers, whether costs means you have to take a zig zag route, then time from the airport to the college.
But you have to know, lots of kids go to distant colleges, from CA.
Thank you guys for your responses! Any more are welcomed
We live in east coast and D wants to go to engineering schools in CA. We believe young people should spread their wings as wide as they want.
@2023doctor we live in MA and D attends college in L.A., the opposite commute that you would be taking on. If you attend Brown the closest airport is in Warwick. You should check whether they have any nonstop flights to your nearest airport. If they don’t, your travel time could increase significantly with layovers. Logan in Boston has many nonstop flights to west coast airports, but you should check bus and train options for getting there. Remember that Boston traffic can be incredibly bad, particularly around holidays. By bad I mean delays of over an hour are common. There is train service between Providence and Boston, but delays are also common. Also check whether Brown runs any shuttles to either airport that would make things easier for you.
If Brown is your dream school and you are admitted, don’t hesitate to go for it. Just go in with your eyes open and In the long run you’ll figure out a way to make it work.
DD went from CA to NY for school in upstate NY and graduated in year 5. Southwest is definitely your friend. Pack very lightly including your headphones. DD packed computer and one or two outfits so that she didn’t have to worry about luggage claims.
When you get your syllabus in August, with your estimated finals dates, book your flights for Christmas break.
Same goes for Spring break. These will be less expensive booking them in advance.
If you need to change your flights, then you still have your ticket and you can call the agent and pay a small rebooking fee. A lot better than paying thousands for a flight in December.
You have to plan on staying for Thanksgiving for 4 years, so find a friend.
That flight time isn’t too bad. You will get used to it, as long as your family has the cash to pay for flights. I also fly internationally and once you do that 5-6 hours is nothing. Are your parents cool with it?
We are from CA and DD is attending a school in MA, 6 hours flight. The school is a perfect match for her, but the east coast weather is a challenge. When you consider cost of attendance you need to factor in travel experiences for you and your family. It really adds up and could add additional 5k per year easily. Holliday flights are 2 or 3 times more expensive then regular.
The flight itself isn’t bad, it’s more of only being able to come home at long breaks that’s the problem. It’s nice to be within reasonable (1 day) driving distance to be able to come home for a long weekend or something. School is important, but being able to see family is nice too. It really depends…
@Mandalorian Would you go somewhere closer if you had the chance to start over?
@“aunt bea” thats great advice! Bummer about thanksgiving, will miss going home.
@jmek15 great tips, thank you!!
I’m not Mandalorian, but in my case, no. I live in Europe and go to school in New England. Fortunately I’m helped by direct flights. However, I did apply to other colleges that are either on the West Coast or (like Brown) do not have an airport with direct flights. That might have gotten old very quickly.
@2023doctor- Maybe, maybe not. It’s a good life experience in the sense it makes one independent and teaches how to live on one’s own, but losing a whole day to go home stinks. There’s pros/cons either way.
We live on the west coast, and my kids did/do go to school on the east coast (and no direct flights). For them, school fit was the most important factor, and it was well worth the hassle. My DD felt that she grew more as a person in her first year than her pals who went to school close to home (DS is a freshman, so the jury’s still out for him). If you’re an independent type, it can be an amazing experience!
Good luck on your choice!
For many families, a 6 hour drive adds to roughly the same amount of time.
Compared to your dream which will decide where you will be in the next 10 yrs, 20 yrs, you should not be thinking about 6 hours flight. You can always facetime your family and go back during holidays. Trust me, after the first half of semester, you probably do not even want to be at home if you make a lot of friends.