What are the dates for MHC Experience? I’m trying to plot everything on my calendar as I have a feeling I’ll be rushing to make travel plans for D to visit a few schools before she makes her final decision.
April 10-11
Thanks
You’re welcome! I don’t know if you’re traveling from far, but when I called MHC, they recommended arriving Saturday night if I could as the program begins early on Sunday. We’re arriving Saturday evening and leaving Monday evening since we’re traveling from Texas.
We’d be coming from California. Thanks for the tip!
As a current student, I’d recommend flying to Hartford if you can swing it. The drive in from Boston is brutal - it’s only 40 min to an hour from Hartford, at least 2-3 hours from Boston.
Agree with FireflyLights–the Pioneer Valley is a straight shot up I-91 from Hartford airport, which is actually between Hartford CT and Springfield, MA, in Windsor Locks CT.
As of 2015, American Air eliminated the only direct flight from LAX to Hartford’s Bradley. DRAG BUMMER CRY (These flights were always jam packed with college kids around the holidays.) For students commuting to and from school a connecting Bradley flight is still the better than Boston. But for Parents, who will rent a car, possibly see other schools and depending upon the time of arrival ,Boston is decent second choice.
We are flying into Boston. Could not get tickets from Houston to Hartford that worked time-wise and weren’t a ridiculous cost or ridiculous flight (7 hours with 2 stops!). I figure since I’ll be renting a car, it will be nice to spend a couple of hours in the car with my daughter before she moves so far away!
@txserenity Start looking now for holiday tickets from Hartford to Houston. I use expedia’s price alerts. MHC and the five colleges do run low cost buses to both airports before break. Your daughter should look for the schedules at the student center.
@momneeds2no Great idea…I know that Thanksgiving holidays are Wednesday-Friday. I’d like to book her home Tuesday afternoon, but hate to book without seeing her schedule yet and I guess we won’t know that until much later. Her brother is getting married the day before Thanksgiving, so I guess I’ll look for a late Tuesday night flight?
I’d book her out of Bradly later in afternoon or early evening, if possible. Bradley’s about 45 minutes away, But with traffic I suggest budgeting an 1.5 hours for door to door. My daughter, however, likes to leave MHC an hour before her flight boards. Makes me NUTZ!
Also Id look for direct flights, even if they cost a little more, or push the limits of her schedule. Avoid connecting in chicago.
A Tuesday afternoon flight will probably be fine - in my experience classes that run late in the afternoon/evening are fairly rare (more common in the arts, for some reason) Labs do run from 1:15-4:05, but if she needs to leave a bit early it’ll probably be OK. As long as it isn’t a regular issue of missing class, most professors are absolutely willing to work with you. They understand the limitations of flight schedules. With the Thanksgiving rush, I’d recommend budgeting a little more time at the airport than usual. This year was fine at Thanksgiving, but I spent over an hour at the check-in lane coming home for Christmas. At the high-traffic times you never can tell.
Hi undercover mom, are you in the LA area, like we are? We haven’t heard yet…have you?
@puplvrs yup, in L.A. and waiting on regular decision.
Is April 10-11 the only days or are there other dates scheduled?
Yes only April 10-11. I called. Got plane reserv for the whole week to include Smith which is thurs Fri the same week. (Re-usable fare on american, also available on southwest, but no nonstops).
Thank you @puplvrs
If you can’t visit on the admitted students days, you can always try to come up at another time. I couldn’t make the admitted students day and so I came up a week later, sat in on a class, took a tour, etc. I didn’t miss the activities, and I thought it was a better look at what the school was actually like.
As @FireflyLights says, a trip at another time can work well. My daughter did an overnight the week before the admitted students days and met a few other prospies (MoHo-speak for prospective students) and was also warmly welcomed by her host, her host’s friends, and by students in the classes she attended. She fell in love with the school during her trip.