advice about visiting Bryn Mawr, Smith, Wellesely

College Search & Selection
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<p>I will be visiting Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, Smith, Simmons and Mt. Holyoke the first week in April 2012. I am flying from Northern CA. Seems like flying in and out of Boston is cheapest, unles someone knows better. If anyone has advice about where to stay, what to do (besides college tours), where to eat, etc. I would appreciate it. </p>

<p>Also if anyone is planning a visit to Northern California from Seven Sisters areas, perhaps we could stay at each other's places, save some money? </p>

<p>Anyway, ideas about how to do this visit are much appreciated. Thanks!</p>

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<p>Unless you just really want to be in Boston, you will find Simmons in NO WAY measures up to the other schools on your list! It’s the poor little cousin! If you are really set on a women’s college though, it is easier to get into, so could be a safety for you if it works financially. Mt. Holyoke and Smith are within 1/2 an hour of each other, so you can schedule a tour, etc for one in the morning, and the other in the afternoon. Don’t let the suburban feeling of Mt. Holyoke bother you…a major mall is just 15 minutes away, UMass Amherst 30 minutes in the other direction, and plenty to do when you want something to do!</p>

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<p>We visited Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, Smith & Mt Holyoke - my D is now at Wellesley. </p>

<p>Campus-wise, I think W & BM are the two prettiest, followed fairly closely by Mt H - Smith is a certain look and feel that you either like or don’t. W & BM are in similar upscale suburban environments, though BM has Haverford nearby and W students have to go a little farther to find a male social life. Personally, I don’t get all the fuss that gets made over Northampton. It struck me as similar to any one of a number of crunchy-granola-small-cities; Northampton just happens to fly the rainbow flag a little more strongly, that’s all. </p>

<p>Bryn Mawr is your outlier - have you seen how far Philly is from MA? How were you planning on getting to Philly? Honestly, coming from out of state (we were coming from the Midwest), we did Bryn Mawr in one trip that covered Philly and Wash DC, and then Wellesley / Smith / Mt H in another trip that covered Massachusetts schools. Are there other schools in Philly that interest you so you’re not doing that schlep just for the one school?</p>

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<p>I’m planning to visit once I receive my acceptances/rejections. Depending on where I’m accepted, I’ll fly in since I’m from Florida and most likely rent a car to visit Wellesley, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, and Barnard. Then I might fly to Philly for Bryn Mawr.</p>

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<p>We visited the same four schools as Pizzagirl and I pretty much agree with all of her observations. Wellesley, Mt Holyoke, and Smith are relatively close to each other and Bryn Mawr is quite a distance away, you should check the travel time. Flying into Boston seems a good choice since Wellesley is close by and Smith and Mt. Holyoke are not too far away. I’m not sure why, but neither I nor my daughter particularly cared for Smith. While we thought the others were very nice, daughter ended up only applying to Wellesley.</p>

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<p>I don’t think it makes sense to drive to Barnard but then fly to Philly as Barnard (NYC) is much closer to Philly then it is to Boston. Might make more sense to fly to Boston and back from Philly, NYC or Washington, DC. By the way, my daughter loves Barnard!</p>

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<p>Didn’t know that about Simmons. Thanks!</p>

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<p>I think I have to make my visit in one shot. Plan on renting a car and the 5 hour drive between BM and Northampton seems doable. I also wanted to visit Gettysburg College.
Thanks for your input :)</p>

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<p>I see what you are saying, perhaps fly into NY and then equidistant to Pen and Mass!</p>

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<p>If the price isn’t drastically different, consider flying into Boston, then driving to NY and then Phila. and flying back from Phila. (or vice-versa staring in Phila. and going north to Boston).</p>

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<p>^^^ This “triangle” itinerary is a great suggestion.</p>

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<p>“Open jaw” airline tickets–arriving at one airport and returning from another–are often not much more expensive than a standard round trip, and sometimes cheaper. In fact, if you fly Southwest (which now serves both Boston and Philadelphia), they’ll just charge you the standard cost of each leg whether you’re flying round trip, open jaw, or one-way. </p>

<p>Before booking flights, however, I’d carefully investigate car rental costs. The drop charge for a one-way car rental can sometimes be very high. If that’s the case, it might make more sense to fly into New York or Newark, rent a car there, hit the New England schools and then Bryn Mawr, and return the car to the same airport. (Smith and Mount Holyoke are about 3 hours from NY and 2 hours from Boston).</p>

<p>On the other hand, you don’t really need a car for Bryn Mawr. The train from New York to Philadelphia 30th St. Station is pretty fast, with frequent service; Acela Express trains are pricey but conventional Amtrak trains are more reasonable. It’s even cheaper (though a bit slower) if you take NJ Transit trains, which you can do with a change of trains in Trenton (NY Penn Station-Trenton, Trenton-Philadelphia 30th St. is around $15 one-way on NJ Transit). From 30th St. Station there’s a SEPTA suburban commuter train that will take you to Bryn Mawr in about 20 minutes; the Bryn Mawr station is literally a block from the Bryn Mawr College campus. If you’re willing to do the Bryn Mawr leg by train, it opens up other possibilities: e.g., fly into Boston, rent a car, see Wellesley, Smith, and Mount Holyoke, return car to Boston, take train to Philly/Bryn Mawr, return flight out of Philly. Or, fly into NY/Newark, rent car, tour New England schools, return car to New York/Newark, take train to Philly, etc. (a little more driving time this way, but the train will be cheaper from NY than from Boston).</p>

<p>My D1 visited all four of these schools and liked Bryn Mawr the best of them, but she’s now at Haverford, her #1 choice where she was admitted ED. She would have applied to Bryn Mawr and Wellesley if she hadn’t gotten into Haverford ED. My D2, currently a HS junior, has also visited all 4 and is drawn to Bryn Mawr and Mount Holyoke (the latter mostly for its international studies) but may apply to Smith and Wellesley as well. DW is enchanted with Smith but so far that seems to have had little influence on either daughter; or maybe it’s exerted a negative influence, I’m not sure.</p>

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<p>We may fly in for the March 31st open house at Smith. Has anyone attended one of these events? Are they fairly crowded?</p>

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<p>Well, maybe it’s because I like “crunchy-granola small cities” but to my taste Northampton is far and away the liveliest and most interesting college town among these four. Wellesley and Bryn Mawr are in bland upscale suburbs that really aren’t geared toward college students, though you can certainly take care of life’s necessities there. Mount Holyoke is in a tiny village, really a more rural setting; I think the campus is drop-dead gorgeous, especially in the fall, but there’s not much of a town there at all, and a lot of the students go into Northampton or Amherst on weekends because those are livelier towns. (I agree, though, that Wellesley and Bryn Mawr are even prettier, as campuses go). “NoHo” in particular is just teeming with writers, artists, and musicians—unlike the towns of Wellesley and Bryn Mawr which are teeming with stockbrokers, bankers, and corporate lawyers. NoHo also has an extraordinary number and diversity of restaurants for its size, many of them affordable on a college student’s budget. And it’s got a very lively local music scene, something you won’t find much of at the other 3 schools.</p>