@NateandAllisMom i would not describe the San Jose airport as regional. Whoever was saying that during your visit was mistaken.
The SJ International Airport has non-stop flights to Japan, Canada, Mexico, England and China.
I agree. I went to SCU and flew in and out of San Jose to Chicago several times a year (never flew out of SFO).
Thanks for the correction. Good to know.
I don’t want to veer homerdog’s thread off on a tangent but appreciate the recent information about SCU. DH is from the Silicon Valley and most of his extended family is in the Bay Area. FIL was an SCU grad and I was Jesuit-educated myself. It’s not a fit for S21 but I’m going to keep it in mind for D23. D17 didn’t want to be in northern CA so we didn’t look at it during her college search but she ended up at school in southern CA. With all of our visits to CA, D23 has mentioned possibly going to school out there and having so much family nearby makes it even more appealing.
Southwest has a daily nonstop flight to San Jose from Chicago-Midway just in case homerdog wants to consider it. ?
I’m ready to get beat up about what I’m about to write but here goes!
I think we are dropping W&L. Not because of the no-class time thing. Because it’s just too dang hard to get there. I just started making a spreadsheet and added a column for travel. Direct flights to Roanoke are only on United and American and then the airport is still one hour from campus. I don’t know. That’s just a giant pain. And we really prefer she’s on Southwest.
I’m feeling a little deflated this morning after looking at how to get to the four schools. Something will have to give. Davidson is good - direct flight and 30 minute drive. For Richmond, she’d have to fly through Atlanta with pretty long layovers to stay on SW but I guess it can be done. Wake is kind of an issue. Some kids do fly out of Charlotte and Wake has a service to get kids to and from that airport but it’s $180 round trip for the shuttle. Most kids who go to Wake fly in and out of Greensboro. If we have her fly United or American into Greensboro, at least it’s only a 30 min taxi to campus. I’ve checked United flights to Greensboro and they are pretty cheap.
I guess we just feel like, of the four schools, W&L seems a little random from here. No one goes there from our school. D had never heard of it before I mentioned it would work to visit on our trip. The SAT scores are the highest of all of the schools on her tentative list. I mean, geez, can’t she find a school that’s a fit without flying to Roanoke, VA, and then taking a bus for an hour?
And SW doesn’t fly to Syracuse either so no longer sure about Colgate…
We really really aren’t looking for planes, trains, and automobiles especially when that cost will really be high. Using SW means we can use miles (which I get is money but they need to be used somehow) and those no change fees and free baggage add up. So far, I’ve had to change every one of S19’s flights so it’s something that can happen often.
I wasn’t clueless about the travel to Wake and Richmond and I knew it wasn’t ideal but I think we’re willing to look at those schools regardless of the travel issues since (1) Wake ticks seriously every box for her and (2) Richmond does as well and we have a very good local friend whose daughter will start there next year and the girls are friends.
How much do you all consider travel when choosing schools? We are comfortable using SW miles to fly our kids. Not fans of non-direct flights but better than no SW. Next best, I guess, is United with short drive from airport to school. United and then a long drive just doesn’t seem worth it. It will likely be near $2500/year for that scenario when we consider flights and travel to the airport.
@homerdog, I feel your pain. We’ve been to Maine and western Mass in the past few weeks and even driving home from work twenty minutes suddenly feels like a slog. It doesn’t help when my daughter says Williams and her friends say Williams and Mary???
So go see the others. Chances are something will leap out at her and the entire search is suddenly over. You could always drop in an application and if after acceptances she wants to take a look then you’ll adjust. We found the after-accepted visits a little more fun because it’s like seeing a prize you already won!
I think whittling the list down based on difficult and/or expensive travel is reasonable.
I didn’t realize W&l was an hour from the airport, that is unattractive for sure.
Like you, I have changed most of D19’s flights which were expensive to start with. The one time she had to connect, she was delayed because of weather…it added hours to her trip.
We will see what happens with S21. Oregon has made his list so I checked the travel there from Chicago and it’s a long, unappealing trip.
@homerdog, Sounds like you’ve made a wise decision (though I have no horse in the W&L race!). We initially kept the field open, since we have family all over the East Coast who are ready and willing to help when needed. Still, when we visited Dickinson and F&M in the fall, we realized that getting to family and getting home were two very different things! We’re still stretching our limits a bit (Vassar and Mount Holyoke come to mind as not as easy as I’d like), but we are also willing to knock some off the list because D already has a few places that she’s excited about, which don’t involve complicated travel.
It’s good to come to this realization now. Going to parents weekend. Maybe a game later on. Maybe there is something at school she’s presenting on. Do you really want to miss that stuff? I would also over estimate your travel needs. My son’s 5 hours away by Amtrack. 3.5 hour drive for us and a 45 minute flight but getting to the airport etc he might as well take Amtrack. He can relax and it’s like $25.00/each way if that since there are student rates.
Are there option like that for her?
Also has she actually made this trip before? That might bring some reality to the situation
But on the other hand their young and if she does this with others could be a fun or positive experience.
Seems like a sorority concerned about a prospective new member’s parents is basically trying to style itself as a club of old style inherited aristocracy.
But then they may be taking a cue from UVA itself, which considers legacy in admission, despite being a public university.
That’s a first. I’ve never heard of choosing a college based on the availability of a particular airline.
D ruled out one college due to travel. It involved two expensive flights, the second of which had very limited availability. Two ordinary flights wouldn’t have been a problem. An hour from an airport to a college seems fine to me. I don’t think that’s unreasonable at all. Two hours, maybe too much.
I do find it a little concerning that your daughter seems to be hung up on the idea that she must know someone from her school at college. Is this something that is very important to her? You’ve mentioned repeatedly that some colleges aren’t being considered because kids from her high school have never heard of it, or she is interested in a school because she knows someone there. Yet she wants to get pretty far from Chicago. I think she needs to compromise a little more. And is it possible that your SouthWest requirement is going to limit some otherwise good options?
I agree that travel considerations are as good of a reason as any to narrow down the list.
We were prepared for our D to be a flight away when she chose Purdue as we were expecting to move to Baltimore. Now that we are in the Chicagoland area, she’s a 3 hour (with traffic) drive away. I can’t begin to tell you how nice it’s been to have her within an easy drive. We’ve been able to go down for her shows and even to take her to lunch when there has been a long stretch with no breaks. Easy to move her in/out too.
I can’t tell you how many times her friends have had flight issues because of weather and flights are expensive around holidays/breaks.
@ucbalumnus: I know of several public universities which consider legacy status as an admissions factor.
D19 and I visited UVA…there’s a lot to like about that school.
But, after hearing from a number of people about the rush process and sorority demands/behaviors, D was really turned off…that was the main reason she took it off her list. IMO that’s a good a reason as any to shorten the list as well.
Travel issues are a very reasonable reason to cut schools. For us, we really don’t want flights. Logistically a pain, but also expensive. You gotta make a cut somehow - that’s as good a reason as any!
Yes, about 30% of public colleges do (versus about 60% of private ones). For public schools, it signals that their purpose is more the perpetuation of inherited advantage, rather than promoting opportunity for those state residents who otherwise would not find it.
@Lindagaf Really? Well you must not travel on SW then! We are “saving” a lot of money by flying S19 on Southwest. His flight home for spring break would have been $600 if we didn’t use miles. Being a full pay family who is not entirely thrilled with that title (I mean, who is?), we are looking to save where we can.
As for knowing someone at school, it’s not about her actually hanging out with that person. It’s about having someone we know well and trust who can tell us what it’s really like to go to school at those places. Our high school sends 88% of the 700 student graduating class to four year colleges so, when a college isn’t represented at all, it does seem a bit random. Like, why would we be the ones finding a great fit school from our community but no one else has ever gone there? Parents here are pretty savvy so, when a college is completely left off of the list, I wonder why. In the case of W&L, I bet it’s (1) the travel and (2) that it’s an LAC which isn’t as popular at our school. That being said, other LACs are on the list of schools where our kids go so I really am thinking it’s the travel to W&L that’s part of the problem and maybe the perceived conservative bent of the students.
We made a rule that S20 could apply to non-driveable schools as long as there was direct flight from our city. If the college was further out from the airport there has to be a well established shuttle service. Draconian? I don’t think so. My wife and I work, have parents, and other kids so ease of travel became a requirement. It’s worked out.
To me any reason that a family has for not considering a specific school is totally okay. Who are we to judge? I know people think I’m crazy for not researching schools in CA but hey, I’m okay with that. Who cares? and why? To me, anything that makes our lives either significantly easier or on other hand more stressful - well, those are important variables.
For our family, we have 2 sets of aging parents (Gp’s to our kids) and I’m mindful that it’s probably likely that one or more funerals may occur during S21’s college years. Morbid? Yes. Realistic? Also yes. So, If being close to a way home be it air or train, or whatever, then for us that is something I’m mindful of. And with so many good school choices out there, no doubt there is another school that all of our respective S and D’s can find and like.