Boston Trip

We’re thinking of doing a college trip in late April to the Boston area. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about planning this. My daughter is leaning towards the sciences and the schools that would appear to be on the radar include Northeastern, BC, and Boston University. I’m not sure how close or far apart they are. Any other suggestions for which schools to look at, tours, or where to stay would be appreciated. Thanks

There should be a couple of recent threads about this, you should look those up.

Got it

@RonaldP66 Here’s one of the recent threads about going to Boston to visit schools: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2127909-going-to-boston-to-look-at-schools-p1.html

Typically we would find 2 college tours in a day works. We tried 3 once because the times worked, but it was exhausting rushing from one college to the next. Time for lunch or coffee and a chat about the school just visited inbetween tours is goods. Some schools have more tour options than others so check what might work best logistically.

As tourists we liked staying in the Back Bay area, central, nice, fun stuff to do and quite easy to reach the colleges you’ve mentioned. We used the T and Uber to get around.

Make sure your kid takes notes, everything seems to blur after a few days of intense info!

Late April is the point at which current seniors are visiting schools and making final decisions. Check with the schools to see if they’ll be doing the same at that time; their staff may be stretched thin with handling accepted students and nervous parents.

@CAtransplant Saw that. Thanks… Go Ducks.

We toured Northeastern and BU on the same day with one D. With the other D, we toured BC and BU the same day. No problems with either, we even had time to get lunch on campus. I don’t remember where we stayed but someplace central so we could easily sightsee.

I’m seeing many threads about potential students/families coming to Boston to look at schools and nearly all are looking at very selective schools. You really need to have some idea of what a “match” school looks like on paper for your student before making the list of which to see. Touring a school like Northeastern without the stats to match only leads students to become invested in places they won’t be accepted. Not saying this is you, just saying.

Try to leave some time in your schedule for general sightseeing and enjoying time together as a family. We ended our New England college visit trip last year with a visit to Salem and it was the highlight of our trip. It takes time for college impressions to soak in, and going to too many colleges in too short a time leads to confusion and diminishes the individual colleges.

We did Tufts, BC, BU and Northeastern in two days many years ago (2 tours per day). It was tiring. You should stay in the back bay/copley area (as some have already suggested - lots of hotels there - pick whichever is cheapest that day - sheraton, hilton, marriot, collanade). From all of these hotels you can walk to Northeastern or grab the correct green line out to BC and BU (different lines). BC is the farthest away (technically not in Boston) and a rather long train ride. I suggest doing BC alone (because of the longer distance and combining BU and NEU on the same day (one morning and one afternoon). All of the hotels near Copley are walking distance to some of the best Boston sights (so you can definitely include that as well).

@RonaldP66 - there are many great schools in the Boston area but as @NEPatsGirl mentions, many of them are highly competitive. Have you looked to see which ones are a good fit academically and financially? I did not see her grad year so not sure how close she is to applying. Brandeis is another good option - has a little higher acceptance rate than BC/BU/NEU but still competitive. I have heard good things about Clark in Worcester for science, again a higher acceptance rate.

Agree with @ninakatarina - we scheduled our tours for Monday/Tuesday and spent the preceding weekend in Boston. Lots to see and soak up. You don’t always get time to get a feel for the city when touring so it’s great if you can, especially for schools like NE and BU which are urban.

Ignore the person who said that they could do 3 colleges in a day.
I would not recommend too many days with 2 colleges per day…you rush and rush and don’t really get to do everything you want.

Agree, I would not do more than 2 colleges in a day.

Not knowing her stats, a couple of other options you might consider especially if she likes the more suburban schools might be Brandeis and Tufts.

@bopper , the person who said they had done 3 colleges in a day once was advising against it…

We did BostonU tour by ourselves over thanksgiving… it was more about were I lived, eat and “studied” … kid loved the campus and we took a detour to the castle for my daughter a huge Ghostbuster fan… we aimed for ED2 but sadly had to switch to RD… if you can stay at Commonwealth Hotel on Kenmoure

And no kid of mine is applying to BC or Northeastern! That’s a sin by itself for a Terrier! Lol so no tours there

After looking over all the feedback it looks like we’ll do 2 a day and leave the third day for sightseeing (Salem I think)… She’s just a sophomore and this trip will take place in late June. Just getting a feel right now if, in fact, Boston is where she’d like to be. She was born in Oregon and we moved to Los Angeles seven years ago but she has no desire to stay on the west coast for college. We’re dropping her off at a program at Yale after we look at the colleges. Thanks for all the insight.

We like the Residence Inn Fenway as it’s right around the corner from BU, but you get a full suite and breakfast. I agree that we could never do 3 in a day and unless you’re touring on your own, I think it might be impossible as most have a morning and then an afternoon session.