<p>We are driving to McGill from Northern New Jersey via Taconic and l-87. What other colleges can be visited on the way? My daughter is a rising Junior with a 3.8 GPA mostly honors courses. She has not taken the SATs yet.</p>
<p>RPI, Union, Skidmore, Vassar, Bard. There are also several SUNY schools you would go by on that route.</p>
<p>Williams, Skidmore & St Lawrence come to mind. There are lots of schools in upstate New York. How about a little more information about her interests, stats?</p>
<p>St. Lawrence is very hard to get to so you would need quite a bit of extra time to see it.</p>
<p>You can also take a short detour into Vermont and see UVM.</p>
<p>Make sure you buy gas in Lake George. LOL!</p>
<p>how many days is your trip? what majors is your daughter considering? is she thinking smaller or larger schools. </p>
<p>Great schools listed so far.</p>
<p>One suggestion would be to take the NY route one direction and see the schools mentioned so far (Marist is another possibility for this trip) … and take the Vermont route back (probably adds an hour or two to the trip) and see UVM, Middlebury, St Michaels, Champlain College, etc).</p>
<p>My kids and I have toured almost all these schools … let me know if you have any questions!</p>
<p>While in Montreal you can always take a look at the other english university in the city, Concordia. I believe it is just south of McGill so it should be on your way.</p>
<p>Hobart William Smith is not far off 81 or 90 but pretty far west of 87. I think St. Lawrence might be closer to your route, actually. I got a drive-through tour last month with a friend who graduated there and whose daughter is now attending. Pretty campus though there is major construction going on at the main quad at the moment, a new dorm I believe.</p>
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If the family has the time to head that way … central NY, central PA, and Philly have a ton of great schools to check out … and it’s pretty easy to design routes to see a bunch of them.</p>
<p>St. Lawrence is hours out of your way (as are Hobart & William Smith, Hamilton, Colgate, and for that matter Cornell and Ithaca College). That’s a whole 'nother trip, unless you want to go up to Montreal one way and circle back the other.</p>
<p>Not really far out of the way at all: The Hudson Valley colleges in emilybee’s post plus Skidmore, Williams, Bennington, Middlebury, SUNY Plattsburgh. Or, if you swung a little east and took 91, you could hit a jackpot of Yale, Trinity, Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Hampshire, UMass, Dartmouth, and then Middlebury, etc. University of Vermont is a slightly longer detour from either route.</p>
<p>I drove through Vassar for the very first time a few months ago and was amazed. What a gorgeous place. I would be sure to see Vassar, Skidmore, maybe Middlebury (VT) … also near your route would be Rensalear. Coming back south go slightly west and see Syracuse, Hobart, Cornell, Ithaca, and Colgate.</p>
<p>It really all depends on whether you are planning to add a day or two in each direction and do some serious touring, or if you just want to stop and have lunch at a college campus right off the interstate.</p>
<p>Just curious, if you are in northern NJ, why would you cross over to the Taconic to go back to the Thruway to go to Montreal?</p>
<p>(a) Cheaper (although maybe not once you have paid to get over the Tappan Zee)
(b) Prettier (but slower – and they have speed traps!)
(c) Vassar and Bard are on the east side of the river (albeit not so much closer to the Taconic than to the Thruway)</p>
<p>Two other colleges: SUNY Albany and . . . West Point!</p>
<p>^and adding to (b)–you are almost guaranteed to encounter deer at certain times of the day!</p>