<p>When it comes to visiting schools, don’t teens/parents visit the web sites/look at maps and know where they need to park before heading out there? </p>
<p>Some schools will stamp the parking ticket at admissions.
At one school, we brought the garage entry ticket to admissions before the tour and they stamped it…so our parking was free. </p>
<p>Parents who didn’t bring their garage ticket were out of luck.</p>
<p>fogfog, as you undoubtedly know (a compliment – not snarky – darned internet) many schools have this info on the “getting here” or directions portion of the website.</p>
<p>Then, there was Barnard, our most frequent visit, forget about it. (I tried for the delightful Brooklyn phonetics often used but failed in spelling correctly.)</p>
<p>DS has to move his car frequently at his very rural school. He calls when he’s walking back to his dorm. His dorm as only three permanent spaces. It’s a smallish building.</p>
<p>Morning Mythmom</p>
<p>When I was in school–I had to move my car every weekend- that there was a home football game --as the parking lots near my dorm where paid spaces for tailgaters–!
If it wasn’t moved–it got towed and that was a royal pain…</p>
<p>I hear ya ;o}</p>
<p>I guess I wonder when parents complain about visiting and driving around…why if the Admissions and website gives you a heads up–why they don’t take the advice ;o)
I am all about the shortest distance between two points and visiting someplace I haven’t been will include alot of research beforehand…
Right now I am trying to figure out how to see UPenn/Columbia/Princeton and Yale over spring break w/o a car…just flying in, taking the train etc…</p>
<p>Have a great day!</p>
<p>fogfog – sounds like staying in NYC and taking trains everywhere else. Princeton, Yale, and UPenn are all easy, quick, cheap train rides from NYC. You can take MetroNorth to Yale and don’t even have to get involved with Amtrak and there are commuter trainsto Princeton too, I believe from Penn Station. Should be to Philly, too.</p>
<p>Staying in NYC might be a bit pricey but it is central to the places you list. Or stay in New Jersey, save money, and come into Columbia and go on to Yale and stay overnight and go back to New Jersey and Newark Airport.</p>
<p>Both workable plans. I envy you. These are all gorgeous schools. D visited friends at all these schools while at Barnard (well not Columbia of course; that was home base.)</p>
<p>There are many train and bus connections from NY to Philly. Check out Boltbus (complete with internet access) as well as Amtrak. It is possible to take SEPTA (the regional transit) from Philly and connect with NJ transit. That could take you either to NYC or Princeton. Both systems are easy to find with google. Good luck.</p>
<p>Just thought I’d add to the threesome discussion, as weird as it is in this forum, but one night my husband and I were watching a news special on polygamy and my husband made the comment that he didn’t know why any man would want two wives because then they would do “tag-team nagging.”</p>
<p>fogfog - Princeton is about midway between NYC and Philly, but I think you’d need one day per school if you wanted to do the tours and info sessions. Amtrak/NJ Transit run between NY and Princeton, and Amtrak runs to Philly too. I know Amtrak used to offer a special for college visits, so you may want to look into that.</p>
<p>We visited Princeton recently, and the ease of the Boltbus was mentioned - I think it will take you right by the campus from NY or Boston (not sure of the exact route).</p>
<p>proud_mom: Some men really are gluttons for punishment.</p>
<p>Worcester Polytechnic Institute.</p>
<p>re post #768–FYI: BoltBus stops at the Cherry Hill Mall (NJ) and 30th between Market and Chestnut in Phila–if you are lucky you may even snag one of their one dollar fares. My D is bolting home to NY from Boston next week for a buck!</p>
<p>With all due respect, folks, this thread should be Exhibit A to “What’s wrong with the college admissions process.” I cannot believe all of the trivial reasons that so many of you are posting - or allowing your kids to take into account - either in choosing colleges or in striking colleges off the list. You’re not arranging a marriage, after all, only a college. There’s no such thing as a perfect fit, and there’s something to be said for kids just sucking it up and making a good school that might not be perfect work for them. </p>
<p>Select a half dozen schools with programs you want, reputations and acceptance rates that match your qualifications and cost what you can afford – then just apply, get in, go already, and make it work.</p>
<p>^^totally agree with the “go already” part…it literally made me laugh out loud…</p>
<p>as far as the “trivial reasons” that we let our kids take into account; it is THEIR decision, not ours to choose a college or strike one off a list; while I do agee that sometimes there is no perfect fit and sometimes their reasons are ridiculous to our adult mentalities, I repeat it is THEIR decision…</p>
<p>otoh, I do agree that kids do need to suck up issues they have with the schools THEY picked; but in no way do I want my kid coming back to me and saying, “you thought this would be good for me?”…</p>
<p>It’s our job, imo, to guide them and support them, but ultimately say to them,“it was, is, and will be, your decision”…right or wrong, good or bad, and hopefully, if bad, they can “suck up”, as you say, and make lemonade out of lemons…</p>
<p>toured susquehanna U. Lovely tour guide. Beautiful campus. HOwever, all of a sudden D and I smelled what can only be described as a “poopy” smell. The tour guide explained that in the fall the gingko tree fruit falls and that it has a horrible odor and you have to avoid stepping on the fallen fruit. That did it for D. Didn’t want to go an interview and immediately crossed it off her list!</p>
<p>novaparent, of course many of the reasons are trivial and absurd. You don’t think we could fill a 52-page thread with only good, sensible reasons, do you? :D</p>
<p>True, people could easily just suck it up and succeed at the colleges they’re rejecting for absurd reasons, but by the same token they can also just suck it up and succeed at whatever colleges they end up at because they rejected other colleges for absurd reasons. So, no harm, no foul. It’s just human quirkiness on display.</p>
<p>Holliesue: My college in California had a road lined on both sides by beautiful gingko trees. My bio teacher explained that this primitive type of tree has male and female versions- like holly bushes. The landscapers knew enough to plant only MALE trees to avoid the stinky fruit. I guess the Susquehanna U landscapers didn’t do their homework.</p>
<p>Vasser. Son, who is an athlete, found the school dingy, the non-athlete students and prospective students too quirky, and the team in his sport poor.</p>
<p>First of all, novaparent, do you have a kid? Because you really can’t force them to not have a stupid reason for not liking something. And with college, which is a huge investment of money (someone’s) and time and effort (theirs) shouldn’t they be where they want to be? Presumably they are not PICKING schools for stupid reasons–I’ll only apply to schools who’s mascot is a flea, who’s color is purple, who’s name starts with w–just rejecting them. So they’ve already determined what might be a fit, and they’re looking for ways to weed things out. We don’t criticize people for buying a car in the color they like, or a house with a certain style of architecture, or whatever. One person’s trivial annoyance is another person’s dealbreaker. I can’t see a problem with this, and I also give a secret cheer each time we eliminate a school because it’s one step closer to finding the right one. Your mileage may vary, of course. All that said, I have for some time been an advocate of having kids choose schools when they are in third grade, when they are so much more sensible and earnest than they are at 18…</p>
<p>lol quilll, my oldest son actually decided what school in grade 7. applied to 2 others as well at my insistence as the 1st is difficult to get into…admission by audition and maybe he would have a bad day. but he got in and was right school for him, i should have listened to him back then as i could have saved more money for college knowing that would be it.</p>
<p>daughter’s reaction:</p>
<p>CAL - loved the campus hated the area
Stanford - a forced march because mom make her, hated it, uber pretentious math geeks.
UCSB - loved loved loved it. first choice, she’s a surfer has campus point right there
UW - loved the school, too far from the beach.
NYU - too far from cali, to cold
UCLA - not so hot for it, but resigned to the fact that mom and dad will make her go there.</p>
<p>yes, we the helicopter parents, made her go to UCLA. for us it was based on fiinancial aid given and ucla gave her the best package. so, now she’s really happy and can’t imagine going anywere else. even though giving up ucsb was tough…</p>