<p>Also…isn’t there a metro north commuter line that goes from Westchester to New Haven! That would be a LOT cheaper than amtrak!</p>
<p>@thumper1 , Providence is only a 3 hour drive from Westchester according to Google. That is NOT that far. LOL Ithaca is 3 hrs 45 mins away from Westchester. Princeton is 1 hr. 45 minutes away. @Tperry1982 and I obviously have a much higher tolerance for travel than others do. I just want the OP to have some perspective on this. We don’t know whether OP is wanting to stay in Westchester every night or stay in some hotels some nights. I will repeat that, in 7 days, we drove from NYC to VA, through Upstate NY, CT, etc., up to Maine, through Boston and to Providence. We were not tired. We were not exhausted. We ate at on-campus eateries and checked out surrounding towns–11 schools in 7 days. I honestly don’t think that OP’s plans for a half dozen schools–most within an hour or so of her home base–is overly-ambitious. </p>
<p>Suggest do yourself a favor, go to Cornell last.
Ithaca in mid-October is about the most beautiful place I’ve ever lived.
You may be a week or two before the peak foliage, but it still may be getting really nice there by the end of your stay.
More likely than earlier.
Stay overnight. If you’re driving, be sure to take in some of the nearby state parks: Taughannock, Treman, etc.</p>
<p>Otherwise.: Cornell itself runs"campus to campus" buses you can take, that run multiple times daily between Manhattan and the Ithaca campus, If you find them too pricey there is always Short Lines. Possibly to/from White Plains (in Westchester), otherwise it would have to be down to the Port Authority in Manhattan.</p>
<p>Here’s one itinerary that might work:</p>
<p>Day 1:
Columbia and NYU . MTA Commuter train, then bus or subway to Columbia. Then subway to NYU. Same day. Use MTA Trip Planner to plan your route.</p>
<p>Day 2:
If you are able to access a car, drive to Princeton (1-3/4 hrs from White Plains, + 3/4 hour additional if you get stuck at a bridge or tunnel coming back)</p>
<p>Else, you can undoubtedly get to Princeton and back by commuter trains, but there will be a lot of train switching involved. (something like MTA to NYC subway to New Jersey transit to Princeton; possibly change NJ transit trains in Newark)</p>
<p>Day 3: Drive to Providence (2-1/2hrs). After touring Brown, drive to New Haven (2 hrs); motel in New Haven.
If no car, this leg will take more figuring. You can get to New Haven on MTA’s New Haven Line, which runs along the eastern coast of Westchester. Providence is an Amtrak thing though. Or Greyhound. Or a plane flight.</p>
<p>Day 4: Tour Yale; drive to Ithaca (5 hrs). Stay over in Ithaca.</p>
<p>Day 5: tour Cornell. Drive back to Westchester (4 hrs).</p>
<p>There are lots of variations that would also work, You may be able to cut out a hotel, if you work at it.</p>
<p>You will have to pay close attention to the times of the various information sessions, to fine-tune your itinerary ultimately.</p>
<p>Happykidsmom…do you drive the roads regularly from Westchester to Providence? That three hours would be in IDEAL,driving conditions…no accidents, no car fires, no road construction, no lane closures, no rush hour. It’s not exactly a friendly drive for folks who have never made it before (my husband is actually driving back from Providence right now). </p>
<p>These are congested roads in the Westchester area. And the OP is not familiar with any of it.</p>
<p>And I still say…get a car. Get to your college destination the night before so you can be well rested for your visit the next morning.</p>
<p>Driving three hours and then going on a visit right when you get there isn’t exactly a recipe for success. </p>
<p>Oh definitely get an EZPass. Traffic up 95 is crazy. On a good day, it is 5.5 hours from my home (right outside DC) to New Haven. If I get caught in NY City traffic (95 North runs right through) or if the George Washington Bridge is backed up, it can take upwards of 7+ hours. I always travel up and down when I can go through NY in off hours.</p>
<p>I would probably take Metro North into NYC for Columbia and NYU (you may be able to do these two schools in a day depending on the timing of the tours/information sessions) and then rent a car for the other schools. Just try to avoid driving during rush hour in AM and PM. A car would give you flexibility in terms of timing and would allow you to drive right to the campus. I live in lower Westchester and Yale is a little over an hour away, Princeton is about an hour and forty minutes away, Brown is about 2 hours and 45 minutes each way and Cornell is about 4 hours away. </p>
<p>I would try to add a few days onto the trip – it would be a very tight fit to do all schools in 6 days (especially if you arrive on the 5th and leave on the 11th you really only have 5 full days). I’d try to add a couple of days onto the trip so you both have a bit of time to regroup.</p>
<p>Also plan ahead of time where and when you will be at each school and sign up in advance for a tour and information session. It will be a busy week for college touring so it is best to make appointments in advance whenever possible.</p>
<p>That weekend also includes Columbus Day weekend (10-12). It’s a crazy busy time in these parts, and getting hotel reservations could be dicey. We went to a wedding in Providence on the Saturday of that weekend one year and could not get a hotel within two hours drive. </p>
<p>I, for one, don’t typically find the roads here in Westchester to be so horribly congested, actuallly.Outside of rush hour.
With a couple of exceptions: notably the Hutchinson River Parkway in a couple of spots.
I find that often I-95 North does get congested in a few spots in Connecticut. I’d budget maybe an extra 20 minutes for possible delays there. North of Southern Connecticut I can’t say definitively; I don’t go up there enough.</p>
<p>One can find delays from time to time driving anyplace in the greater area, If you budget extra time for this eventuality you should hopefully be fine.</p>
<p>But the itinerary in #22 above, or some reasonable variation, should be doable.</p>
<p>The trip to Ithaca should not be horribly congested. Coming back to Westchester there may be some delays though, given the seemingly constant road work in spots throughout the Catskills, and backups as one approaches the Tappan Zee Bridge…</p>
<p>I agree you should plan in advance and make advance motel reservations. Especially in Ithaca. And I agreee EZPass will be a big help.</p>
<p>For the benefit of others in the future, suggest you should post what you wound up doing and how it worked out.</p>
<p>I second most of MonyDad’s suggestions above at post 22. The campus to campus bus to Ithaca drops you right at the campus, and I believe some of the other bus companies stop on campus as well. There is no train service to Ithaca. For Princeton and New Haven, the local trains are cheaper than Amtrack. New Haven is serviced by Metro North, and Princeton by NJ Transit. There is a station adjacent to the Princeton campus for NJ transit. I have only traveled to Brown by car, and we went in a non tourist season, so no traffic then. I recently was in RI on rt. 95 and I can say that it was horrible traveling through connecticut with the terrible traffic. Perhaps there is a train from New Haven to Providence? </p>
<p>I really hesitate to suggest driving to all of these places alone when you are unfamiliar with the area, roads etc. It is not that any are so hard to find, and with a GPS you can easily do it, but it is a lot of driving and some of it is stressful. In terms of driving times, it can be 5-5 1/2 hours from Princeton to Ithaca by car, and the route through Pennsylvania and NYS usually only has traffic due to construction (not due to thousands of people visiting the seashore as I found in CT.) This would be a variation on Monydad’s route.</p>
<p>I think monydad has laid out a nice itinerary. I probably would shoot for driving back to Westchester after Brown to save on the hotel bill. But I’m a cheapskate. </p>
<p>I did the reverse commute from Manhattan to central Jersey for a year of my life (similar to the Westchester to Princeton drive). In my experience, the commute is not that unpredictable. Do things sometimes happen? Yes. But for the most part, the day and time of the week is repeated, week after week. On Monday mornings, traffic is hellacious getting over the GW. On Friday mornings, it’s generally a dream. Once you hit the Jersey Turnpike, it’s usually pretty smooth sailing until the merge but since you get off at exit 9 in New Brunswick you shouldn’t have to worry about that. If you want to get a good sense of the time it’ll take you, look at google maps each morning for a few weeks at the same time and it’ll let you know the traffic situation and you can extrapolate from there.</p>
<p>Over these last five years, I have probably driven the round trip between Philadelphia and New England more than a hundred times. I almost always do the round trip in a single day. It can be unpredictable, particularly in Connecticut, and (fair warning) you never, ever want to go above the speed limit on I-95. If I were driving to Brown, I’d leave before 6 am just to account for traffic. You’ll probably get there two hours before you need to be there, but then take a look around the town and campus. Stop into admissions and see if you can go on an earlier tour.</p>
<p>The first thing, the most important thing IMO, is: are these schools just for sight seeing purposes or does the student have a true (eg welcome to the lottery) shot? </p>
<p>Ithaca in mid-October can legitimately be for sight-seeing purposes, it’s worth it . School or no school.
I might go up there myself. OP may be a week early, though one can never tell.</p>
<p>To give you a “spoiler alert”:
<a href=“http://www.pinterest.com/pin/173247916887167076/”>http://www.pinterest.com/pin/173247916887167076/</a>
<a href=“https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/tonyshi/8686343095/”>https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/tonyshi/8686343095/</a>
<a href=“fall on north campus. | North Campus, Cornell University, It… | Flickr”>https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/matt_hintsa/4064604105/</a>
<a href=“Photo: Fall Creek-Stewart Ave. ithaca, NY | Gallery / Group 2 album | Barry De Libero photos | Fotki.com, photo and video sharing made easy.”>http://public.fotki.com/greybear/grey_bear_gallery_-/fall-creek-stewart-ave.html</a>
<a href=“https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/ess_el/sets/72157624902910927/?page=2”>https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/ess_el/sets/72157624902910927/?page=2</a>
<a href=“https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/ess_el/sets/72157622498237715/”>https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/ess_el/sets/72157622498237715/</a></p>
<p>BTW, OP remember to take Fall clothing, Northeast-style, It will be colder there than in Arizona!</p>
<p>OP, one more thing, you may want to check the fall break schedules of the schools that you are visiting. A lot of cc parents and students prefer visiting when school is in full swing. This was not a concern to my family, and we visited when we could, as I presume you are doing. Even during the short fall breaks, however, there will likely be plenty of students at the schools you are considering visiting since many people who have further trips to home stay on campus since many of the breaks are only a couple of days.</p>
<p>All of these are drivable from Westchester. Rent a car. Download the Waze app on your phone and it will route you around the traffic spots. </p>
<p>The 3.5 hour drive from Westchester to Providence would be in optimal conditions… such as no other cars on the road very early in the morning perhaps. It can and frequently does take an hour on 1-95 to get through New Haven, then following New London I-95 goes from three lanes to two. If you have a few accidents (went just past Providence this past summer for family visit). There is a nasty merge and in our case we had 3 accidents. It took us an hour to get past Providence. Of course you would be exiting there but between the 2 lanes from 3 and the traffic on/off the highway from the Indian casinos… it is not the easiest drive.</p>
<p>Yes, Metro-North does go to New Haven. Not sure where in Westchester you would be coming from… but you can check schedules and see if you can pick up/connect in Stamford or Greenwich.</p>
<p>Mapquest says more like 2.5 from White Plains to Providence, not 3.5. But we don’t know where OP would be leaving from exactly.</p>
<p>It would be prudent to leave substantial margin, but intelligent planning re: time of day should help.
One can get caught in accidents driving anyplace. The more margin you leave , the more likely you’ll be someplace on time. Ultimately the most secure way to ensure being someplace is to drive there the night before, as somebody posted previously. .We used to do that at work for important new business presentations. But OP & mom can decide how secure they want to be about that.</p>
<p>MTA trip planner will tell you the best way to get to New Haven via MTA . Depending on where OP actually is, it will likely be faster to drive to a New Haven line stop, if that’s an option, than , probably go down to Grand Central and switch to the New Haven line.</p>