<p>So my parents won't take me to visit colleges on the east coast. but I have a job and a relative's house to crash at in NYC. so theoretically, I could go on my own. But I won't be 18 and therefore cannot rent a car. I'm wondering if trains/taxis/subways would be at all feasable for the...uhm...6 states I want to visit (I'm so geographically indecisive). So the list is (by approximate increasing distance from my greenwich village location)</p>
<p>Barnard/Columbia
Drew University
Vassar College
Yale University
Colgate University
Connecticut College
Brown University
Bard College
Skidmore College
Swarthmore College
Oberlin College
Kenyon College
(The last few are kind of a stretch)</p>
<p>Am I crazy or is there any way I could do this on my meager restaurant salary? I live in washington state btw. I only want to pay for one round trip plane ticket if possible. My parents wont fund any college visits, they think they're uneccessary. Advice please?</p>
<p>Colleges I know you can get to (or close enough to get a cab to) by public transportation:
Barnard/Columbia
Drew University
Vassar College
Yale University
Brown University
Swarthmore</p>
<p>Ohio is a looooooong way from the east, though.</p>
<p>train and taxis will be quite expensive, so you really should total up all these costs, too, before deciding. Also, the travel time and the schedules to see how realistic your ideas are. Be sure that your stats are reasonable for these schools, a number of which are among the most competitive in the country! that having been said, you probably can get to Conn college by train, too. </p>
<p>Why don’t you just visit some of these schools once you see where you’ve gotten in? That way, I would imagine that your parents will be more supportive.</p>
<p>Maybe a current Barnard/Columbia student or alum can comment on this, but there are two ways to get to those campuses by subway. People told me that one way is actually pretty scary to go by, and that you have to take the other way.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I cant remember the name of the way to go by or to avoid. Oops haha. Maybe someone else can help out.</p>
<p>If you want to travel by train, Amtrak has a USA rail pass that allows you to take 8 train trips in 15 days for $389. (12 trips in 30 days for $579 and 18 trips for $749). A “trip” counts as every time you get on and off a train regardless of distance. Just something to consider.</p>
<p>WHY do your parents consider college visits unnecessary? </p>
<p>Have you had a frank conversation with your parents regarding them helping pay for college expenses? What are they willing to do and are there any caveats?</p>
<p>Is this about paying for college visits, or paying for college itself?</p>
<p>Have you toured nearby colleges?</p>
<p>You’ll want to check out which of the schools you’ve listed consider demonstrated interest (that is, actually give a fig about if you visit), and which schools don’t care at all. For example, the Ivys won’t care at all. There’s also the issue of which schools you and your family can afford. There would be no point in visiting a college if you know at the outset that their Financial Aid policies mean you could only attend by taking out massive loans.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How do your credentials match the schools you want to see? You can get a rough idea by looking at your high school’s Naviance information, or going onto CollegeBoard.com and comparing the schools’ average GPA’s and SAT’s to your own so far. If you don’t have near-perfect GPA and SAT scores with impressive extra-curriculars, vsiiting Columbia and Yale is kind of a waste of time and energy. It would be better to visit other excellent schools that are more realistic choices.</p></li>
<li><p>There are many ways to research colleges upfront to narrow down your list to the schools you really want to visit. Websites like UniversityYouTV and CollegeClickTV offer college video tours. Books like The Insiders Guide to Colleges by Yale Daily Press give student perspectives. Steven Antonoff’s College Finder indicates which schools are strong in specific majors, as well as a lot of informaiton on college atmosphere, student life and so forth. And of course, the Fiske guide. If you have researched the schools in every way possible before the visit, maybe your parents might even feel better about helping fund your trip.</p></li>
<li><p>Tell your parents that most schools expect you to visit, and “demonstrated interest” has become a factor for some colleges in acceptance because they know you are seriously interested if you visit.</p></li>
<li><p>If money is an issue for affording college, don’t waste time visiting private schools that don’t give merit scholarships. MeritAid.com will tell you which colleges do.</p></li>
<li><p>Visit some local colleges just to help you decide on some basic parameters: Do you like a really big school, or a small, intimate one? Urban, suburban or rural? These questions can be answered even by visiting some schools nearby.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You can also get to Connecticut College using public transportation. The New London, CT Amtrak station is right by the school.</p>
<p>Also, if the money you have to spend on this trip is money that would otherwise be put toward funding college, there are alternatives to in-person college visits. kristinehintz wrote about some of the ways to research colleges upfront before you visit. You can also reach out to anyone in your network that has attended the school’s you’re looking at, or even attended a different college. Generally, any college grad (or student) knows at least a little bit about most colleges, especially the one’s you mentioned here. They will be able to give you a feel for the traits more official resources can’t, like social climate, political climate, etc.</p>
<p>Barnard and Columbia are super easy from Greenwich Village. The #1 subway is best. Colgate is a long train ride but most of the other east coast places shouldn’t be too bad. However, as someone said, you need a better sense of what’s a reach, match etc. If Yale is a super reach, why bother to see it now? On the other hand, it’s great to have one back-up school that you like but you don’t need to visit 4 potential back-up schools. So you have to do the research on the match/reach.</p>
<p>Getting to Drew from NYC is quite easy too. You can take the NJ Transit from Penn Station to Madison, NJ. It’s very resonable. You should budget at least 1 hr each direction (there was some construction on the line when we visited in March) From the station, its a short walk to campus. Occasionally, taxis are available to take you to the school. Wear comfortable shoes because the campus tour can involve lots of walking.</p>
<p>I’d argue that it’s actually more important to visit 4 potential back-up schools, just to make sure you find one you love. Or at least like. If you just plan to visit one and you hate it on sight, make sure you leave time to visit others.</p>
<p>are you planning this trip during the summer? if so, you won’t be getting the most bang for your buck. It is very important to see a school in session and see what the students are like. My S saw a school during the summer, and then went back up after he was admitted and knew very quickly that it wasn’t for him.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice! I’d be visiting the first week of September because my high school doesn’t start until mid september. I’ve talked to my family in New York City and they are willing to help me out a bit, my cousins might accompany me on some of the longer train rides. I’m kind of afraid to wait until after I’ve been admitted to visit because I’m also looking at schools in the midwest and California, so I’m worried I’d spend the entire month of April off visiting schools, right before IB tests.</p>
<p>How do I find out whether or not a school takes demonstrated interest into account? Do I just have to call the admissions office?</p>
<p>If you look at the common data sets for a school, #C7 lists factors that are important, considered etc. in admissions. For example, if you look at the CDS for Barnard, <a href=“http://www.barnard.edu/opir/pdf/CDS2008_2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.barnard.edu/opir/pdf/CDS2008_2009.pdf</a> you will see that at the very bottom of C7, level of interest is “considered” although it is not an important factor. For schools that consider interest, you should try and visit if possible or at least make contact with the school.</p>
<p>The Fiske Guide mentions at the end of each entry whether interviews are “evaluative” or “informational”, so that helps to indicate which schools really care about them. Although almost all small schools like to see that you have visited and interviewed (except Amherst which doesn’t generally do interviews). Make sure to call a few weeks ahead for interview appointments!</p>