<p>August 10 Goucher
August 12 - Warren Wilson</p>
<p>Visit D.C.</p>
<p>August 16 -- Hamilton
August 17 -- Skidmore
August 18 -- Amherst
August 19 -- Brandies</p>
<p>Visit boston</p>
<p>August 22 -- Wesleyan (Yale- drive-by)
August 23 -- Haverford</p>
<p>Visit NYC </p>
<p>This trip is for both of my girls -- one is graduating early and will be "senior" this year. She is in love with Whitman, so she is comparison shopping. My other daughter is staying with her class, and an equestrian program in a co-ed school is important to her. Comments?</p>
<p>Stop at Haverford and Swarthmore (possible in one day) on your way north from DC. Consider a stop at Bryn Mawr as well (if Haverford is appealing, Bryn Mawr is a different educational philosophy in the same location with shared courses. (Disclosure: I went to high school across the street from Bryn Mawr--but chose to walk 1 1/2 miles three times a week to take chem classes at Haverford while I was in high school. I think Haverford is wonderful but couldn't persuade either of my children to apply there.)</p>
<p>Yes, time permitting, we will add other schools that are close by -- but only if a drive-by or visit does not compromise the visit to the listed schools.</p>
<p>I don't know what days of the week these fall on or whether you are flying into and out of New York. But..</p>
<p>Otherwise, why go to Haverford and then to NYC? It would make more sense to visit NYC and then go to Haverford. I also don't get why you'd start in DC and finish in Pennsylvania. You're going to be driving back and forth over the same roads a lot. </p>
<p>Also, please note that Equestrian is a club sport at Yale. I don't know if that matters to your daughter. If she wants a reach school with an equestrian team, Brown would make more sense if she's good enough to make a varsity team.</p>
<p>Having just driven from Baltimore to NY back to Philadelphia then down to Charlottesville, VA then back to BWI in the past week, I think you need to rethink your schedule a bit.</p>
<p>First, I'd save WW for a later visit. It just took us a full morning to drive from Charlottesville to Baltimore - Ashville is going to be a full, long day of driving each way. I'd save it (WW is for your 2007 grad right?)</p>
<p>Second, as Jonri points out, it doesn't make sense to drive up to CT and then back to Philadelphia. If I were taking this trip, I'd probably arrange it this way:</p>
<p>Fly into D.C., spend a few days sight seeing. Leave DC and see Goucher early the next morning. Then drive to Philadelphia. See Haverford and possibly Swarthmore the next day. Then drive to NYC (it took me a solid 2 hours to drive from NYC to Swarthmore). Spend a few days there. While staying in NYC, consider a day trip to Wesleyan and Yale, perhaps by train. Leave NYC head for Hamilton (allow a day to drive there), see Hamilton in the morning, then head to Skidmore. After Skidmore, do the Mass. colleges. Fly home from Boston.</p>
<p>Another possibility is to catch a few of the other pennsylvania colleges - they are all relatively easy to get to. Suggestions: Gettysburg, Dickinson, Lafayette, Franklin & Marshall. We did a three day trip last year where we visited Goucher, then F&M and Dickinson. We could have easily added Gettysburg on the way from Goucher. Both of my kids found the Amish areas of PA to be fun and interesting so an extra day there might be worth considering. F&M is about an hour and a half from Philadelphia, less if you hit the traffic right.</p>
<p>Ok, we are flying into Newark on the 9th. Only my 2007 grad wants to see W.Wilson and Goucher. My other daughter will be at camp and a conference in Barryville NY, and we get her on the 15th.</p>
<p>The reason for then driving to PA. and then to NYC is so that we can get rid of the rental car before heading into Manhattan.</p>
<p>Does that make more sense now? </p>
<p>ps.</p>
<p>TD: Whatever schools could you be thinking of? LOL</p>
<p>DMD77, kind of off topic, but I have some questions:
[quote]
Consider a stop at Bryn Mawr as well (if Haverford is appealing, Bryn Mawr is a different educational philosophy in the same location with shared courses.
[/quote]
In a nutshell, can you explain the different "philosophy"? Bryn Mawr might be a good match/reach for my daughter, so I'd like to learn more. Haverford is too much of a reach, and Bryn Mawr is the strongest for her intended major - though my daughter has a cross-disciplinary interest that might be best served combining the Bryn Mawr major with courses only available at Haverford or Swarthmore. But the comment about "educational philosophy" suggests that maybe there is something we should know about the Bryn Mawr academic culture that will help determine fit.
[quote]
I went to high school across the street from Bryn Mawr--but chose to walk 1 1/2 miles three times a week to take chem classes at Haverford while I was in high school.
[/quote]
I assume that this means that Haverford is located 1.5 miles from Bryn Mawr. My daughter is averse to the idea of an all-female school, but will consider it if there are plenty of boys nearby. Barnard & Scripps pass the "near enough" test - she's willing to cross a street. I'd like to get a sense of how easy/convenient it is to get to Haverford & Swarthmore, and their events as well as classes. Don't know if & when my d. will have a chance to visit, so we want to get a sense of the geography beforehand.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr is actually more "intellectual" than Haverford or Swarthmore. It has a long history of serious education for women in the non-sectarian tradition. (Think Smith or Wellesley.) Haverford was (until very recently) a nice small Quaker men's college with sports and a tendency to send its grads on to graduate school in law or business. (It was a safety school for several of my male friends in HS.) My mother ran a boarding house for Swarthmore students during the 80s (when she was in her 60s)--they also had a somewhat more liberal tradition (then) than Bryn Mawr.</p>
<p>All three colleges are part of an exchange. Haverford and BMC are quite close (a nice walk, IMHO, although most people take the bus) and readily share classes. Many students take almost all their courses at the other campus.</p>
<p>I suggest visiting both Haverford and BMC to see the differences I mean.</p>
<p>There are millions (it seems) of horsey people in Haverford and Bryn Mawr (along the entire Main Line, in fact). I have no idea if there's an equestrian club or not, but I'd be surprised if your D couldn't find a place to ride regularly. (The place where I rode regularly is now a highway--the Blue Route, it's called--and a housing development.) </p>
<p>If BMC is a good fit for your D's intended major, go visit. Just make sure to make an appt. My D had an appt at H'ford and we had time to stop at BMC--but they weren't interested when she didn't have an appt.</p>
<p>Also: it is discussed as an NCAA "emerging" sport-- so, like crew, if you pick a jock school they will likely want women for their Eq team to balance the men's football for Title 9.</p>
<p>I recall your D from earlier posts and suggest you peek at: </p>
<p>Conn College
BC
Bucknell
Dickinson
Franklin & Marshall
Fairfield
Juniata
UVm
UConn
Tufts
Lehigh
St Lawrence</p>
<p>Obviously you can't do them all in one trip-- but maybe do the research first and pick one or two that seem best to see.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the info, DMD77 & SBMom. Exactly what I was looking for. Although my d. isn't one of the horsey ones -- she's a city girl, much more likely to be impressed by proximity to Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Be sure to check on freshman moving in/orientation times.Campuses stop giving tours during these time periods and you might be crossing some of the earliest ones,especially that Aug 22 week.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is very easy to get to from Philadelphia. It's about 30 mins by train - but that's only 11 miles from downtown Philly and by car probably a 15 minute ride.</p>
<p>Haverford is a little farther but not that hard. If you're going to take in Swarthmore and Haverford in the same day, you have to make sure you go to the morning session in one (and go a little early, say at 9) and the afternoon one in the other. There is a quite a bit to see.</p>
<p>Haverford, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr are all a less-than-10-minute walk to the nearest train station. Haverford is 10 miles from Center City and Bryn Mawr 11 miles. When I was in HS, the trains ran every 25 minutes, but these days it's less, except at commuting hours.</p>
<p>The Warren Wilson leg is what may cross the line from "ambitious" to "stressful". That's a solid 8+ hour non-stop drive, and then turn right around and come back to DC? I know you've built in some extra days there, but you could really end up being very tired at the beginning of the trip. </p>
<p>But, if you're comfortable with that, why not swing by UNC-Asheville (maybe just a drive-through) while seeing Warren Wilson? A very under-appreciated public liberal arts college.</p>
<p>If you are going to Amherst, do Smith and Mt Holyoke as well. You can do two of them in one day. They may pleasantly surprise your girls. MHC has a strong equestrian program and a beautiful campus.</p>
<p>Iderochi: I agree that the WW leg represents a lot of driving, but after weighing the costs/benefits of making two trips from the West Coast, and given the fact that I love to drive (and do a lot of long-distance driving showing my dog), i came to the conclusion that the "car-time" is worth it. I may live to regret that, but we will see.</p>
<p>It's a long drive, but if you stay away from the DC area (or once you get out of it), it isn't too bad. 81 never has traffic. A warning, though: 81 at night can be downright creepy: no lights, 2 lanes rural areas, and crazy truck drivers. There is also some phenomenal scenery - would be a shame to race through it and miss the Blue Ridge Parkway (hands down one of the prettiest places on the East Coast - but, with a speed limit of 35 mph, not exactly a drive-through).</p>
<p>If you are doing that trip, why not at least see some of the VA colleges, many of which are very "horsey?"</p>