<p>I'm flying into Boston next month, and plan to visit these places:</p>
<p>Yale
Amherst
Bowdoin
Middlebury</p>
<p>What's the best order to visit them in? We'll be renting a car and driving around (can stay in motels and stuff, or overnight at dorms if I can), so the less time spent on the raod the better (I can get car sick).</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I think I’d go B - M - A - Y. Since you’ve got three small LACs and Yale, the size and Gothic grandeur of Yale may unfairly overpower the others if you see it first.</p>
<p>Why Boston? I’d fly into Hartford (BDL) … </p>
<p>Yale and Amherst are (relatively) close to that airport.</p>
<p>If you plan to leave Yale for last … a nice loop might be Amherst, Middlebury, crosslots/ states at the northern end – pretty drive, no highways to speak of – to Bowdoin, and then down 95 to Yale. Zoom up 91 and you are back at BDL.</p>
<p>Wow. That’s some serious driving. I assume you are coming into Logan. You may as well do Bowdoin first because from Boston it would be a good three hours up the coast. And that part of Maine is difficult to cross west, so it will be back down. And then west on the Mass Pike to Amherst and then into VT for Middlebury then Yale. Bowdoin creates the problem with your requst for little time in the car.</p>
<p>There is little in the way to spend less time in the car. If I were doing it I would drive right to Middlebury first. That’s a good 4 hour drive I would think. Then hit Amherst on the way back and do Yale. Then drive to Maine for Bowdoin. Good luck</p>
<p>It’s going to mean driving any way you approach it. We’ve been to these schools and my oldest is currently a student at one of them. I’d go Bowdoin, Amherst, Midd, Yale. It will depend on the type of campus your student is already familiar with and the things they are looking for… for instance, sports or science or performing arts facilities have a different flavor at each campus. If you are evaluating a campus in part for resources dedicated to a certain sport or activity, I’d start with the smallest program and finish with the grandest. Also, if you are towards the beginning of your college touring, you might start with a smaller campus which is easier to digest in one visit, and work your way up to larger campuses.</p>
<p>Middlebury’s newer science building, library, and sports facilities are eye-popping. Amherst’s freshman dorms are eye-popping. Bowdoin’s campus has its own charms, and Yale is obviously completely different than the others.</p>
<p>Why not Dartmouth as long as you’re in the region? Or Williams?</p>
<p>If you haven’t already purchased your flights, I second what cnp suggested: fly into Hartford. Hartford as a beginning and end point makes much more sense with the schools you are seeing, and it offers you far easier access than Logan.</p>
<p>Or fly into Portland Maine and out of Hartford. If you’re stuck with flying into Boston, you might consider taking a bus or Amtrak up to Bowdoin. Much less stressful than driving! If you drive from Bowdoin to Amherst, you can save a little time if you cut over north of Boston. Middlebury is a real trek from Amherst; you might consider checking out Dartmouth as long as you’re up north.</p>
<p>Another option would be to get on the train in Boston, stop at Brown, then go on to Yale. There’s a good Amtrak connection direct from New Haven to Amherst (looks like you could even walk to the campus). From there you would have to rent a car to get up to Middlebury and/or Bowdoin.</p>
<p>I also suggest Dartmouth and Williams. Very similar to the other schools on that list. Maybe Brown as well if you have time (close to Boston)</p>
<p>I’m combining this trip with a visit to my relatives in Boston, so it’s Boston or bust :).
I could probably do a day trip to and from Amherst. So that leaves us with…Middlebury, Bowdoin, Yale and even Dartmouth if possible.</p>
<p>In general, try to visit in the order of least favorite to most favorite, so that you have the most interview experience behind you when you get to your favorite school. It also helps to make the process get emotionally better and better as you go along, with each school seeming better than the last, except when you’re thrown a surprise. :)</p>
<p>Chelsea is right, you are in for some serious driving.
On one of our trips we tried to do a loop from Middlebury over to Maine.
The problem is not just the distance, but the highway connections and the traffic.
Toss in a snowstorm, and after this trip you’ll be ready to settle for a high school diploma.</p>
<p>I’d consider replacing Bowdoin with Williams or Wesleyan, or some other school along the straight path from Middlebury to New Haven. Or possibly a Boston-area school,
or Brown. The right selection could help decide your preference for big or for small, rural or urban, even if you do not see every school that is high on your current list.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, you can order the Bowdoin DVD from Collegiate Choice. These one-hour tours are very good, possibly even more informative than the college’s own tour. If Maine still looks promising, you could do a second trip next fall, or after your acceptances come in.</p>
<p>If you want to cut out some driving, take Amtrak to Portland–it goes along the shore and I’m told the views are nice-- and rent a car there. It’s only about 30 minutes to Bowdoin from Portland. That would be one day’s worth of travelling/visiting. (You might want to spend an hour or two checking out Portland, especially the Old Port. It’s a charming little city.) It takes about 3 hours to drive to Dartmouth from that area, and you could drive over in the evening so that you have time to see D, attend a class and all that in the morning, then drive to another school–either Midd or Williams–that afternoon/evening, and so on.</p>
<p>It depends whether you want to attempt more than one school in a day. Personally, I wouldn’t.</p>
<p>Last week we did two schools in one day that were 45 minutes apart, plus 1.5 to 2 hour drives at either end. That’s the maximum I’d want to attempt, and not for days on end! It was a pretty tiring day.</p>
<p>BollyGal - Allow me to be blunt: You should skip either Bowdoin or Middlebury this trip … preferably both. If you insist on hitting them all in one trip then do what GaDad suggests: B-M-A-Y. Day 1: 3-hour drive to B, visit B. Day 2: 5-hour drive to M, visit M. Day 3, 3-hour drive to A, visit A, 2-hour drive to Y. Day 4: visit Y, <2-hour drive to Providence, visit Brown (optional), drive <1-hour to Boston. Fiddle with this schedule a bit and you could add Dartmouth and/or Williams. Good luck with the trip!</p>
<p>There is just no easy way to drive between Bowdoin and Middlebury, particularly this time of year.</p>
<p>We did a similar trip and skipped Middlebury, added Wesleyan. It’s an easier drive but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend not visiting one because if your student is really interested in these schools, there are likely to be admissions overlaps and it’s much easier to start sorting them out a bit now. (And you might be surprised by which ones you like and which ones you don’t like.) </p>
<p>I would do B-M-A-Y. If I could knock one out in a day, I would do Bowdoin. Midd is almost 4 hours from Boston so I think it’s a little far for a day trip.</p>
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<p>How can you say that without knowing what BollyGal is looking for in a college? What if Middlebury or Bowdoin are first or second choices?</p>
<p>While at Amherst I’d suggest at least checking out the campuses of Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire College (you’re within 15 minutes of these schools). Wesleyan is (sort of) on the way to Yale also. Other schools you’ll (could) be driving by include Connecticut College, Brown, and all the Boston schools. Good luck … the trip will involve a lot of driving but it can be done. Last spring my daughter and I visited (at least checked out the campus) of something like 19 schools in a week covering Mass to DC in a car … it did a lot to shape her list … not only specific schools but more importantly answering a lot of fit questions (big/small, how far south, academic mix of kids, etc).</p>
<p>3togo, did you do tours and info sections on all the campuses? I can’t imagine doing more than two a day.</p>
<p>We had 5 days of actual visits … and the orginal plan was to visit two colleges a day with tours/info sessions. For example, day 1 was Amherst and UMass (our state school) and as we started our drive to Connecticut we stopped by at Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire College … so we hit 5 schools the first day. As the week went along we modified the approach a bit … we only attended info sessions after tours and only if the tour went well and my daughter was still interested … we didn’t really learn any new facts about the schools in the info sessions (my daughter had already done a lot of reseach) and they are unfortunately prime time for applicants and their parents to ask nitwit questions (“I know the application says we need to take 2 SAT IIs … but do we really need to take 2 SAT IIs” … the majority of questions are of this type) but the info sessions provided some interesting insight into the schools (at least it seemed they did).</p>