<p>anyone can answer this question but i'm more interested to hear from people who go to college in the northeast area. i live in a suburban town and many kids get cars in their senior year. are cars needed for undergrad students? would you have a parking space? and when you visit home would you drive back or would your parents pick you up?? i know the answer will vary for each school so if you could please post the name of your school first then reply, that'd be great. thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure it depends on the individual school.</p>
<p>It really depends. Many colleges don't even allow freshmen to have cars on campus.</p>
<p>Next year I'm going to Brandeis which is pretty close to Boston. Since the public transportation is good, I really don't need a car. However, I live in Georgia as do my family. Most of my family up there is elderly and can't really come and drive me around. So, I'll probably get a car my senior year (after study abroad) so I can more easily get up to see my family. It's a 30-45 minute car ride in comparison to about 2 or 3 hours on a train into Boston then catching a train north. It also makes other things more convinient.</p>
<p>However, if you're going somewhere like Williams which is in the middle of nowhere, then getting a car is probably a very good option.</p>
<p>Similarly if you are closer to the city like at BC (subway close by though not IN Boston), BU, or MIT, then getting a car would be absolutely stupid.</p>
<p>If you're going to school in NYC, having a car is just going to be a hassle and cost a lot, don't.
If you're going to school in the middle of nowhere, a car comes in handy, though at my school (Washington and Lee), the freshman parking lot is so far from the dorms that people rarely use their cars except to go home/come back.</p>
<p>thanks for the input. anybody know what the situation for freshmen would be at harvard or brown?</p>
<p>Harvard is in a pretty crowded part of town. Personally, I would never in a million years waste the money on having a car there. I suppose if you plan on making weekend trips to see your family often, but even that's a waste. There are so many buses and subways to catch and just walking around there is a ton of stuff to do, there's no need for a car.</p>
<p>so would you say boston is pretty accessible without a car? i hate dealing with bus systems</p>
<p>very very very easy to get around. as they say, 5 miles north to south.</p>
<p>Boston is harder navigate with a car than without. There are subways everywhere and even me, who's spent most of my life in a town completely devoid of any public transportation, could get around on it. Having a car is a complete waste of money if you're IN Boston.</p>
<p>Brown doesn't allow first years to have cars on campus.</p>
<p>The only top private school I can think off offhand where it would be nice to have a car (and I know it's allowed) is Duke</p>