East Coast College Trip Advice

Parents Forum
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<p>My family and I are planning a college visit trip to the East Coast for the summer and I was looking for some advice, since I know you all have great ideas to share!</p>

<p>The main schools to visit on the trip (in order of my interest in them) are:
1. Brown
2. Wesleyan
3. Amherst
4. Columbia
5. Yale
6. Tufts
7. NYU Gallatin
8. Bowdoin
9. Brandeis
10. Northeastern
11. Fordham</p>

<p>The lower schools on the list (in particular Northeastern and Fordham) will likely only result in short, unscheduled visits; however, I'm planning on at least 5-8 scheduled visits with a few interviews.</p>

<p>I, as well as my family, would like this trip to be a mixture of college visits as well as fun and touristy stuff. I was able to configure an itinerary from July 3rd-July 13th that would go from NYC up to New Haven and Middletown, CT, then up to Springfield, MA (Six Flags/Basketball Hall of Fame), on to Amherst, MA, then a scenic drive through New Hampshire, then Brunswick, ME, and then down the coast to Boston area schools, Plymouth, Cape Cod area, and Providence, RI. </p>

<p>A few questions I have:</p>

<p>1) Does this route seem like the best way to conquer these 11 schools, as well as seeing some tourist attractions and scenic stuff?</p>

<p>2) What are some cool things to do/see along the way for this trip?</p>

<p>3) My dad would like this trip shortened to a 7 or 8-day trip from July 4th-July 10th or 11th. What would be the most realistic things to take out of this trip plan to make that work?</p>

<p>4) Any specific thoughts on any of the schools I'm visiting from experience?</p>

<p>Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! You have no idea how grateful I am for your help!</p>

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<p>One piece of advice i’d like to offer is don’t visit more than two schools in one day. You’ll be so tired out and it won’t be fair to you or the school</p>

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<p>curryrocks: Yeah the most I’d visit in a day would be two (except for in NYC where Fordham would be a drive-by). Thanks for the tip! More thoughts?</p>

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<p>You didn’t mention siblings at all, but if you’ve got them, I’d actually suggest Fordham first, and drop them an one parent off at the zoo, (So long as it’s not Wednesday) which is right there. Then do Fordham and head back to Manhattan with one parent for the other schools, and if you’re leaving that night pick them up on your way up to New Haven (it seems like you’re driving.) But if you’ve never been to either the Bronx or San Diego zoo I suggest the stop as they’re wildly different from any other zoo I’ve ever seen except the national zoo slightly. Plus my younger brother works there.</p>

<p>Also, consider the best way to get around the city according to your plans. Where will you be staying? Will you be driving around the city? This is extremely difficult if you’re not used to it. Boston is also a hard place to drive.</p>

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<p>You are not taking into account summer holiday traffic, particularly for the Cape. People get stuck for hours over the Bourne bridge in the summer. This is not a particularly doable trip in 7 days given your timing and your desire to combine sight-seeing with college visits. Also, schools will obviously be closed over the holiday weekend.</p>

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<p>Perhaps you should reconsider making Fordham and Northeastern “drive-bys.”</p>

<p>These seem to be your safety schools. You need thorough information about them even more than you need it about the schools in the middle of your list.</p>

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<p>Which schools are you planning on having an interview - you want to plan the travel so that you are well rested for the interviews? What mix of school visits to sight seeing do you want? </p>

<p>At first glance I would cut out the Basketball Hall of Fame & Six Flags - there are better East Coast sights to see - save these for a day trip when you come to school on the East Coast. I would also cut out Plymouth & Cape Cod on this particular trip - it does not seem like you have enough time to enjoy these places during their peak season. Get your fill of coastal New England while in Maine. Also, if there is time when you are in Providence you could take a day trip to Newport, RI - also coastal and you can accomplish more in terms of site seeing in a one day format.</p>

<p>From Amherst I would head into to Boston (a straight shot on the Mass Pike) and visit the Boston area schools. From Boston I would head up the coast to Maine and visit Bowdoin. After Maine I would head back toward New York and stop in Providence on the way and visit Brown.</p>

<p>My guess is that you are flying in & out of NY. I would visit the schools on your list in this order:</p>

<p>New York ( Columbia, NYU, Fordham)
New Haven,Ma (Yale)
Middletown, CT (Wesleyan)
Amherst, Ma (Amherst)
Boston, Ma (Tufts, Brandeis, Northeastern)
Brunswick, Me (Bowdoin)
Providence, RI (Brown)</p>

<p>Also, since you are making a trip to see these schools I would make every effort to check in at each school and at least hear the info session. Check in so that they know you came in person to see the school - shows interest. If you just drive by admissions will not know that you came to see the school.</p>

<p>If you want to shorten the trip by removing some school visits I would remove Wesleyan & Amherst and do the following:</p>

<p>New York (Columbia, NYU, Fordham)
New Haven,Ma (Yale)
Providence, RI (Brown)
Boston, Ma (Tufts, Brandeis, Northeastern)
Brunswick, Me (Bowdoin)</p>

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<p>I hope July 3rd and 4th are travel days because I don’t think any school is open for tours or info sessions on those days. Some schools only offer tours and info sessions in the morning during the summer. Check with each school’s website before trying to figure out how many schools you can see in a day. </p>

<p>When my family has a traveling college tour we like to arrive at the school the night before, take the first info session/tour, have lunch on campus, then head out to the next school to visit the next day. Getting two school visits in one day is really a bit difficult, especially every day for a week. I would check each schools summer visitor schedule to see how much of this will actually work!</p>

<p>I guess you could do one “real” visit and then one walk through, apply, and worry about a more thorough visit should you be admitted. This plan just seems a little to ambitious to me, sorry.</p>

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<p>It’s easy to combine Columbia and NYU in one day, since travel time between them is about 20-30 minutes, and neither one takes forever to see. Use the subway to go from one to the other; don’t try to drive. </p>

<p>You can drive up to Fordham’s campus in the Bronx, but you are going to have to get out of the car to really see it, since it’s sort of walled-off from the street. If Fordham is a possible safety, I really encourage you to do that. The Fordham neighborhood is really vibrant. While you are there, check out the Arthur Avenue market, a great old-fashioned Italian market area a couple of blocks south of the campus, and maybe peek at the NY Botanical Garden adjacent to the campus.</p>

<p>Everyone is going to tell you to see Columbia/NYU/Fordham one day and Yale/Wesleyan the next. (Wesleyan is about 20 minutes from Yale by car.) I would think about doing things a little differently – NYU/Columbia one day, then Fordham the next morning on the way to Yale, and Yale in the afternoon. Yale is big and sprawly, so it’s hard to see in a couple of hours. Have dinner at Pepe’s on Wooster St., the best pizza in the world. (No kidding.) Then go to Wesleyan the next morning, and from there you can either go to Amherst or Brown (each about 90 minutes away, but in different directions). That would give you six schools in three days, which is a pace you can’t maintain without a break, so schedule something else the next day.</p>

<p>The obvious shortener is to cut out Bowdoin, which isn’t on the way anywhere, and is at least two hours from the closest other school, so one way or another is going to get its own day. (You might be able to combine it with one of the Boston schools, or Amherst, but then the next day or the previous day you will be limited to one school.) Also whichever of Brown or Amherst you are less interested in, although if you are driving back to NYC you can always go by the one you didn’t visit when you were outbound.</p>

<p>Another approach would be not to bother visiting Yale, Columbia, Brown. Trust me, they’re all great. You should love them. If you get accepted at any of them, you can decide to go there sight-unseen and be confident that it will be OK, or you can visit it then. Visiting Yale can easily get in the way of appreciating what other schools have to offer.</p>

<p>You need more schools to visit like you need a hole in the head, but you may want to scope out some safety candidates – not really, but safer-ties – that you are practically going to drive by anyway on your way: Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut College in New London, Wheaton College in Norton MA (minutes from Brown). And of course Boston University.</p>

<p>Finally, when we were driving Memorial Day weekend, I-95 in Connecticut had several construction projects going on that didn’t look like they were ending anytime soon, and that backed up traffic for 20 miles plus. The worst was just west of New London. Either going through it or going around it could add 40-60 minutes to your travel time between Providence and central Connecticut, in either direction.</p>

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<p>I would cut out Springfield, MA as a stop. You’re not looking at other schools around there, you can go to a Six Flags almost anywhere at anytime and the Basketball Hall of Fame, while interesting, is not worth the extra time added to stop in Springfield. Instead, proceed directly to Amherst. </p>

<p>Another good idea: instead of doing the scenic drive through New Hampshire to Brunswick, etc. Just do New York, Amherst, Boston. It sounds like you live in the area and Brunswick is an easy bus ride from Boston, or a cheap flight on Jet Blue to Portland. Better to do that on another, separate trip, instead of taking all the time to drive their to visit one school that’s pretty far down your list. That will give you more time in Boston and you can finish up on the Cape. If you still want to do a scenic drive, there’s one near Amherst on the way to Boston called the Mohawk Trail, which is in fact the oldest scenic highway in the US.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Since these are 2 of your top ranked schools, I don’t think this would be such a good strategy!</p>

<p>I agree with those who suggest taking out Bowdoin as as way of saving a day.</p>

<p>Also agree with researching Trinity in Hartford and Conn College. Vassar is another school that’s often considered by those looking at Wesleyan, Brown, Tufts and Brandeis. Clark in Worcester is another school, often a safety for those looking at some of the schools on your list. All 4 of these “new” schools could be fit into your itinerary…but you would need to drop others to meet your time frame. Just want to make sure you’ve at least looked into them as options for you.</p>

<p>As for activities…it really depends on what you and your family like to do. There are so many wonderful things to do in Boston and New York – you could easily take an extra day in either, or both. of these places and skip the things to do in Springfield. However, your mention of driving through New England, seeing Cape Cod etc. make me think you and your family may not be as much into the city stuff. In that case, the 6 Flags near Springfield, as well as the Basketball Hall of Fame are great places to go for a “break” from the college search…and the Springfield area will be lower key and a somewhat less expensive place to stay an extra night versus Boston or New York.</p>

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<p>ginab591: Yeah I have a sister who will be a sophomore in HS, so she will be coming along on most of the college visits. Thank you very much for the suggestion of the Bronx Zoo thought. I doubt we’ll have time to see it, but I’ll at least look into it. I was thinking of taking advantage of the subways in New York and Boston. As far as hotels, I was thinking of finding a hotel east of NYC. Any thoughts on good hotels? With a car and staying at a hotel east of the city, would there be a good place to drop off the car and catch the subway into the city? For Boston, we’ll probably stay at a hotel in the suburbs and also drive somewhere to park and then catch the subway. Any thoughts on a good place to do this in Boston? Thanks so much!</p>

<p>Sop14’s Mom: I will look into the traffic reports for expected delays and such ahead of time. Do you have any suggestions for what to see in Cape Cod/Nantucket/Martha’s Vineyard area, assuming we have time for it? I’m not too familiar with the area and how you get to the islands on ferries and what not. How much time would we need to allow for seeing this area without feeling in a rush? Thanks!</p>

<p>Marian: You make a very good point. I agree that I should probably spend more time than just a drive-by at those schools, seeing as I have a better chance of getting in there. I doubt I’ll do official tours there; however, I will definitely stop in the admissions office to check in and then walk around for 30 minutes to an hour. Thanks!</p>

<p>ccmom33409: I plan on interviewing at Wesleyan, Amherst, and Brown for sure, maybe more. I agree with you that the Springfield stop probably should be the first one to go, at least the Six Flags for sure. I really hope that I can keep Plymouth and Cape Cod in the trip, although, like you said, coastal Maine should be just as nice. I’m not to familiar with Newport, RI. Anything in particular there that is a must-see thing? Also, do you happen to know how much of a difference the drive time is between going from Amherst to Brunswick through Boston versus going through New Hampshire? Thanks so much!</p>

<p>amtc: Yeah the night of the 3rd would be the flying day and the 4th would be for sight-seeing in NYC I think. Is there anything worth seeing east of NYC? I’m interested in checking out Bayport, NY, because that is where the Hardy Boys books are based. I’ll definitely check out the school websites for the tour times and what not. Also, what you said at the end about doing one real visit and another walk through per day is likely what I’ll be doing throughout the trip. Thanks!</p>

<p>JHS: Thanks for the NYC advice! I’ll make sure to stop at Fordham. Also, the Arthur Avenue Market and the Botantical Gardens sound nice. Time-wise, I think I’ll probably end up doing NYU/Columbia/Fordham one day and Yale/Wesleyan the next day, although I appreciate your advice on not doing so. Pepe’s sounds good! We’ll have to check it out. Do you know if they offer vegan/vegetarian food? If it comes down to it, I’ll probably have to cut out Bowdoin. Also, what you said about skipping Yale, Columbia, and Brown makes sense, although since I’m right in the area anyway, I feel like I should probably take advantage of the opportunity. (Especially for Brown, since it’s my number 1.) Thanks for the additional schools, even though, like you said, I don’t really need anymore. I’ll probably see if I can work in quick walk-throughs at Connecticut College and Boston University at least. Also, thanks for the tip about the I-95 construction. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks so much!</p>

<p>SmithieandProud: I actually am from the Midwest. Thanks for the tip about the Mohawk Trail. If we decide to skip the scenic New Hampshire route, we’ll definitely look at taking that road. Thanks!</p>

<p>Thanks to all of you who read this! (Sorry for the lengthiness.) Hope to hear back from most of you, as well as others!</p>

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<p>2boysima: Thanks for the reply! Yeah I definitely don’t want to cut out Wesleyan and Amherst. Those are two of my favorites. Thanks for mentioning the other schools! I’ve heard of all of them, but I’ll do some more research on them. Most of my family likes seeing things in the city, especially related to history and sports; however, we also like to mix in some nature stuff on the way. Are there any good hiking trails in New England that would be on the way? (I imagine there are many.) Also, if we were to keep the Springfield, MA stop on the itinerary, do you think we could still accomplish all of those schools in eight days? Thank you very much!</p>

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<p>Long Island or Connecticut are the choices “east” of NYC. Both are not likely to have very inexpensive places to stay that would be near NYC…and…the train fare isn’t that inexpensive anymore (especially if your whole family will be taking the train.)</p>

<p>Since you’re coming from the West…someplace in New Jersey might actually be the best option for overnight…if you want somewhere to park the car and a relatively inexpensive place to stay near public transit. EDIT…just realized you’re flying. You could do priceline and get a hotel near LGA or JFK…if that’s where you’re flying into. Those hotels often have free parking, and you could get into NYC relatively inexpensively. Also…could consider waiting until your 2nd day to get the car…and just use public transport in NYC. Bayport could be a challenge…not really on the way anywhere. Although…if was really important to you…you could fit it in. It’s on the southern part of Long Island…but you could go there…then head up to Port Jefferson on the northern part of Long Island, and take a ferry to Bridgeport…then head over to Yale. )</p>

<p>For Boston…Northeastern is the only school you’re considering that’s right in the city. You’ll may want to drive to Brandeis and Tufts. Newton has some hotels within walking distance of the T. A few of the hotels in Waltham offer free transport (the Summerfield Suites in Waltham says they offer free transport within 5 miles of the hotel…so that should get you to the Brandeis Campus and a T stop to get into the city…)</p>

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<p>There’s lots of good hiking around Amherst (maybe another good reason to skip Springfield, there’s plenty to do in the Pioneer Valley and it’s a much nicer area. Eric Carle Museum, downtown Amherst & Northampton, Mt. Tom, Look Park, Emily Dickinson homestead, etc etc etc). You will also likely cross the Appalachian trail at some point and be able to hike small parts of that.</p>

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<p>Sightseeing on the 4th would mean NOT traveling outside of wherever you are staying unless by public transportation. I guess you could stay at the airport and take the subway into the city for the day which would be great fun. I know the Intrepid Air and Space Museum is having a special viewing of the fireworks - don’t know how much the tickets will cost but it would certainly be an amazing once in a lifetime event! Of course you could also just stand on the West Side Highway with the thousands of other tourists.</p>

<p>Trying to get out to the island on the 4th is probably not a good idea even with public transportation. I would pick one or two places in Manhattan to visit on the 4th and stick to walking or the subway. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is always a good choice!</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>If everyone likes sports…see if Yankees, Mets or Red Sox will be in town when you’re in those cities. Stub Hub is excellent way to get tickets to any of those ball parks. </p>

<p>July 3, 4, 5: Arrive, tour, NY Schools</p>

<p>July 6: Leave NY early. Yale and Wesleyan</p>

<p>July 7: Amherst (try for late morning tour/interview. Then head to Maine)</p>

<p>July 8: Bowdoin</p>

<p>July 9 & 10: Brandeis, Tufts, Northeastern, tour Boston</p>

<p>July 11: Brown</p>

<p>If you do Brown in the morning, you could leave later on July 11. Any chance you can fly out of Providence? </p>

<p>You can definitely do this trip…but…if you’re going to see Bowdoin…and you want some down time…it would definitely be nice to spend an extra day on the trip up to or from Maine to be able to hike or sightsee along the way.</p>

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<p>Hi bbarty! I’ll throw in a few comments on this thread alongside your midwest thread. I live in WI but I grew up on the east coast and have done 2 eastern school searches with my kids now (with good success!).</p>

<p>Here are my comments on your trip/list:</p>

<p>1) On your other thread, you said your stats were “good, maybe not great.” I don’t know if you mean this in a “CC” way, or in an absolute way. I don’t want to be harsh, but if your GPA isn’t pretty close to a 4.0, ACT below 30 and SATs not in the 700s, your schools are very reach-heavy. I hate talking like this, but it’s true when they say any school that accepts fewer than 20% of its applicants is a reach for anybody. </p>

<p>2) On the other thread, you said you liked both Northwestern for its exciting resources, larger-sized and more active campus, and proximity to the city, AND you liked Grinnell’s intimacy and “college-y” feeling, while you weren’t so keen on its isolated rural location. OK - this is really excellent information for you to use in narrowing down your list. You have a lot of Northwestern-like schools (Columbia, Yale, etc.), and a couple of Grinnell-like (Bowdoin, and to a certain extent Wesleyan and Amherst). How OK are you with the remote locations? You’re going to do a lot of driving to see a couple of schools that you might already know you won’t particularly like.</p>

<p>3) Having done several of these trips, and NEVER with a younger sibling in tow nor trying to have a nice vacation at the same time (although we did manage to see family and also fit in a lot of theatre when we were in NYC) - I will say that you have too many on your list. You can do 2 schools in one day if they are VERY close - Columbia and NYU; Northeastern University and Tufts - but not if there is a significant drive, and not repeatedly. After 2-3 schools, you general need a nice day off to digest and not get overloaded. Our trips have averaged 2-3 schools per 3-4 day cycle, and not all of them with actual tours - and again, this is one mom and one kid, no complications. Our biggest trip was 7 schools in 8 days; only 3 were full-fledged tours, and all were within 45 min of Manhattan (basically a tour of the periphery).</p>

<p>4) I’m familiar with pretty much all of those schools. I echo the advice not to duplicate visits to schools that are not all that different in size, style, location or selectivity. Visit schools as “examples” as much as you can. My D1 used visits to whittle her needs down to “mid-size, real college feel, suburban with good city access.” D2 had much the same criteria, interestingly - but she was OK with a longer train ride to a city if the school had her very specific preferred programs. D1 and great stats and could base her apps on that; D2 not quite so great and was going to audition at about half of her schools, so she had to balance her list in many ways to maximize her results. So we had to be efficient in visiting, not do too much “duplicating,” so she could make sure she had lots of options.</p>

<p>After 5-6 college visits, D2 got so she could do the kind of “drive-by” visits you’ve been talking about. But she did take in-depth tours of safety and lower match schools for the reasons the above posters mentioned. Don’t load on Ivies, or top-20 LACs, please. Look closely at the others. We know what it’s like to be out in the midwest and desperately wondering how we’re going to visit or revisit eastern schools in the spring when the results are in.</p>

<p>In case you’re interested - my 4.0 UW/31 ACT kid got accepted ED to Tufts (it met all of her criteria and hit her strongly as the “perfect” school as soon as she stepped on campus); my 3.6 UW/31 ACT kid - who was looking for a strong theatre program preferably a BFA - got into UMinn, Bard College, Goucher College, URI, SUNY New Paltz (auditioned), Adelphi University (auditioned), and Brandeis off the waitlist. She’ll go to Adelphi this fall, in their theatre BFA and Honors College (a UChicago-like Great Books program) with a full-tuition merit scholarship.</p>

<p>Good luck to you - I hope your family can have a nice vacation to New York and New England, while you get some really great college information. It’s doable. But you’re going to have to be very practical and focused.</p>

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<p>Go see the Newport mansions while in RI. In the summertime, it is totally worth it</p>

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<p>Wow! Thanks for all of the additional responses so far!!!</p>

<p>2boysima: Yeah I just started looking at hotels around New York and I’m leaning towards the ones by La Guardia. I know it varies by the hotel probably, but what would be the best way to get into the city from there? Airport shuttle to a subway stop? I guess I should probably leave out Bayport, that’s probably too much of a stretch time-wise. The Summerfield Suites in Waltham seems like a good one for the Boston area. As far as sporting events, assuming we have time, a Yankee game or Red Sox game would be a lot of fun. I’ve already been in Fenway Park before, so I’m thinking a Yankee game would be cool. Also, thanks for writing out the things to do per day. That is pretty much is exactly how I’ve been planning out the trip! I’ve been looking into flying home out of T.F. Green Airport in Warwick (near Providence) and it should work. I agree with you that one extra day would be nice. I’ll see if I can convince my dad to allow one more day; although, I doubt he’ll budge. Thanks for the recommendations!</p>

<p>SmithieandProud: I look into the sites you mentioned. Out of those sites, which ones do you think we could fit into a 2-3 hour segment? Thanks!</p>

<p>amtc: Yeah I was thinking of going by public transportation on the 4th. One question I have is if we stay the 4th in the Bronx (to make the 5th easier travel-wise), what would be a good way to get our luggage from the hotel by La Guardia to the hotel in the Bronx? Those fireworks viewing ideas sound nice. I’ll have to look more into them! We’ve already seen the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Times Square from a previous trip to NYC that was very short. Any advice on can’t miss things in the city to check out on the 4th? Would a Broadway show be possible? What’s a good way to get tickets for those shows? Thanks!!</p>

<p>EmmyBet: Thanks for giving feedback again! As far as my stats, I have a 3.97 UW out of 4.0, which is alright I guess; however, my SAT needs a boost (only 2010 right now). I agree that many of these schools are reaches for me, but I can’t help but dream. :slight_smile: I don’t mind schools that are in the suburbs or within an hour of the city (Wesleyan, Amherst, Tufts, Brandeis), for the most part, although I’m not sure about the ones that are further in the middle of nowhere such as Bowdoin. Yeah I’m hoping to plug in a few more relaxing things in between to separate some of the college visits and make the trip more fun for the whole family. When you say to visit certain schools as examples and not visit all of the schools that are the same, based on the schools in my trip, which ones would you say I should consider leaving out? Thank you very much for the encouragement and advice!</p>

<p>Myname2: I’ll look into the mansions. Thanks for the recommendation!</p>