<p>Oops, I hit "submit" way too early. Sorry.</p>
<p>I have been thoroughly avoiding giving any indication of which schools I an interested in for fear of being facing derision because of my poor stats, but I guess my principles go right out the window the minute I need help. </p>
<p>I am hoping to go out East (from my home in the Midwest) to tour colleges later this fall. Because this entails a journey of several thousand miles for a somewhat economically disadvantaged family, I will only be getting one opportunity to see everything I want to see. For this reason, I want to pack as many visits into as few days as possible. I have conceived a tentative schedule for my visits, but I have never been to the east coast and I really don't know much about how plausible such a schedule would be. I used google map service to form my tentative schedule, and the distances I listed are from that source.</p>
<p>Day 1
Arrive at Boston, MA in the morning
Tour Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA (14 miles from Boston)
Travel 80 miles to the hotel in Chicopee, MA</p>
<p>Day 2
Tour Smith College in Northampton, MA (20 miles from hotel)
Tour Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA (15 miles from MHC)
Travel 50 miles to the hotel in Cromwell, CT</p>
<p>Day 3
Tour Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT (5 miles from hotel)
Tour Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY (90 miles form Wes)
Travel 90 miles to the hotel in Newark, NJ</p>
<p>Day 4
Tour Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA (105 miles from hotel)
Travel 8 miles to the hotel in Philadelphia, PA </p>
<p>Day 5
Tour Haverford College in Haverford, PA (20 miles from hotel)
Tour Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, PA (2 miles from HC)
Travel 70 miles to the hotel in Aberdeen, MD</p>
<p>Day 6
Visit Goucher College in Baltimore, MD (30 miles from hotel)
Go Home. </p>
<p>So, east coast gurus, how does it look. I realize that it is a demanding schedule, but it is my one and only chance to see the colleges that I may be attending in the fall of 2006. However, I do want to know just HOW demanding it would be. Is it even possible to see so much in so little time?
Thank in advance for your input!</p>
<p>Assuming you have an adult with you so that he or she can rent and drive a car, most of your itinerary makes sense and is very feasible. BUT why are you stopping in Newark after your Vassar visit? It would make a lot more sense to go straight to Philadelphia or a suburb of Philadlephia, spend the night there, and be right near Swarthmore in the morning.</p>
<p>Other than that I think your planning is fine; the distances aren't that great, and seeing one school in the morning and one in the afternoon will work. It is a lot to take in a remember, but if you take notes and pick up all the brochures and information available, you should be fine.</p>
<p>A few general comments -
1) College tours are surprisingly exhausting. The tours seems designed to take you around in figure eights so you have no idea how big the campus really is or what is really near what. A hectic schedule can be phsyically draining. Two colleges in one day, is doable, but be prepared to be exhausted at the end of the day. You have a couple of days in a row of two colleges a day - and on the second day you have a long drive between. You will be tired.</p>
<p>2) You get a lot of information thrown at you. Take notes or you will never remember which college you heard what at. And even with notes, you may get confused.</p>
<p>3) When your travel takes you past a city (eg, Phil or NYC) be prepared for traffic to be awful depending on the time of day. Going from Vassar to Newark, depending on the time of day you hit it, could take longer than you think because of traffic. If possible, take that into account when planning the route - if there is a way to go that avoids the city, it can be faster than a "shorter" route that goes through the ciry.</p>
<p>4) You have to check the tour times and info session times at the schools' websites - even though it may be theoretically possible to do a schedule, if the school doesn't have sessions the times you can get there, it doesn't help you. There were two colleges a half an hour apart I wanted my daughter to see - but it was almost as if they deliberately scheduled their sessions so that it was impossible to get from one to the other in the same day. And also plan for the tour or info session to run longer than they say - take that into account in scheduling.</p>
<p>5) In addition to tours and info sessions, try to work in some time to just sit and hang out in the dining hall or book store -- Look and see if you can see yourself fitting in with the students, who in these environments (as opposed to formal admissions forums) will simply be being themselves. If you are in too great a rush, you can miss this important type of glimpse at a college. If there is a specific department that is important to you, see if you can work in time to schedule a meeting with someone from that department. Since this is your one trip, try to get all the info you will need.</p>
<p>Now having said all that - it can be done - people have done crazy strenuous tour schedules because that is what they have to do in order to see all the schools they feel they have to look at. Just be prepared - wear comfortable shoes, have snacks in the car for when you are running crazy and don't have time to stop between colleges for lunch, get good nights sleep. Reserach the schools ahead of time so you know what questions you want answered in each place. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Shadow - While I haven't visited <em>every</em> college on your list, I think your schedule is realistic. Others will say you should stay longer at each school, see classes AND tour AND etc. etc, but sometimes that just isn't realistic and I found great value for our family in seeing some schools only for a half-day. </p>
<p>One change I would make: at end of day 3, skip Newark (unless you are going there for relatives/friends) and stay in Philadelphia. More fun and closer to all the schools you want to see on Days 4 and 5. And you can stay in one hotel for those 2 nights, which makes everything a little easier.</p>
<p>Also, on Day 5, why not travel all the way to Baltimore? 205 miles will be about 4 hours drive - you'll be tired, maybe, but you'll save driving 1 1/2-2 hrs in the morning. In general, I think it's nicer to stay in hotels as close to the school as possible - more chance to explore the school environment.</p>
<p>Also, when you have 90+- miles between two schools you are seeing on the same day(Day 3), that can be tricky. Check tour/info session schedules and make sure you can do the morning school early enough and the afternoon school late enough to actually make the appointments.
I don't think your travel times are too demanding; I've seen others plan mucho long drives in one day, and yours are all pretty handle-able.</p>
<p>Let us know if we can help more.</p>
<p>The schedule seems pretty reasonable, except that I agree with the others about skipping Newark. If you plan to have interviews at the colleges, be sure to do some research about them on their websites or cc. Have fun and take notes in the car so that you can keep track of how you felt about each school. And please post trip reports for all of us on cc!</p>
<p>"One change I would make: at end of day 3, skip Newark (unless you are going there for relatives/friends) and stay in Philadelphia. More fun and closer to all the schools you want to see on Days 4 and 5. And you can stay in one hotel for those 2 nights, which makes everything a little easier."</p>
<p>I definitely agree with jmmom on this one!</p>
<p>You folks are amazing! Only 15 minutes after I posted my question there are already three very well thought out responses waiting for me! </p>
<p>Thanks for the advice about skipping Newark and Aberdeen. I had no particular reasons for wanting to visit these places, I just have ZERO knowledge of the east coast and had thought to chop the driving up into manageable chunks. </p>
<p>That being said, I do have a few more questions. I do know that these things will be different at every college, but I just want a generalization that will most closely resemble the policies of the average east-coast LAC.
1. How long is the average information session?
2. If I wanted to interview at some of these schools, how much time would that most likely take?
3. At what times do most schools run information sessions?
4. There is one school at which I would like very much to do an overnight visit. How long into the morning do these visits usually run?</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your help. Without your advice, I wouldn't be able to even contemplate such a trip.</p>
<p>Ooohhh, two more! :) I didn't mean to exclude you from my statement of "three well thought out replies," but I hadn't read your responses yet. THANK YOU to everyone who has posted here.</p>
<p>PS: I will be sure to take good notes and give trip reports when I return. If I get to go, that is. I am pretty sure I almost have my parents worn down. :D</p>
<p>You may want to leave the campus interviews off this busy schedule and instead ask to schedule alumni interviews in your home area, for any schools you're still interested in. You should be able to tell ahead of time from the schools' websites whether they offer alumni interviews and/or whether they require interviews at all.</p>
<p>There is no single time at which info sessions are scheduled: some schools will only do one a day, some will do three or maybe more. They are usually an hour or less, but then are followed (or preceeded) by a campus tour, which can last another 60 to 90 minutes. You can find the details for each school on their website.</p>
<p>Regarding your recent questions: I would suggest that you look at the admissions Web sites for each of the colleges you plan to visit; they are often quite specific about the length of info sessions and tours, as well as posting schedules. (The ones that do give this information will be good guides for the ones that don't.) Often the tours and information sessions are scheduled and timed to fit together very neatly.</p>
<p>Interviews are more variable, and of course require appointments made as far in advance as possible, especially when you have the travel schedule worked out so carefully. (You may find that scheduling interviews will make the Wesleyan/Vassar day trickier than the others, though still doable I think). When you call to make interview appointments you can ask how long the average interview will take (I'd guess about 45 minutes but I know they can be longer or shorter). You may also find that schools do not offer evaluative interviews or that you can schedule off-campus alumni interviews this fall after your trip. That might be a better option, given the time constraints.</p>
<p>As far as the overnight, I think you can leave whever you wish, keeping in mind that on weekdays your hostess may have an early class but on weekends people sleep ridiculously late (that's a parent's opinion of course).</p>
<p>Also, note that some schools want/require(?) appointments to attend their tours/info sessions (largely so they can be sure to have enough tour guides, etc.). So check each web site, figure out what time you need to arrive on campus and call/email to make appointments where needed.</p>
<p>We found virtually every school gives very good driving directions on its website and also makes it easy to find Admissions once you arrive on campus, but do allow a little time for the possible directions "glitch."</p>
<p>Which school would you like to do an overnight at? It would be easier at some schools than at others.</p>
<p>Also, if you do an overnight, will you arrange it on your own with a student you know -- or will it be arranged through the Admissions Office? Latter arrangements often need to be made 2 wks or so in advance. Read the college web site for this info.</p>
<p>We just completed a very similar tour. You can do one college including info session (1 hr), tour (1 hr), and interview (30 min) in a half day. I agree with the other parents about skipping Neward AND about continuing on to Baltimore. We found it was much easier to take the long part of the drive at the end of one day then waking up and seeing a new campus fresh. Yes, yes, take notes. Or it will all run together.</p>
<p>FYI at Bryn Mawr you can stay ON campus at the alumnae hall for about $100. I agree two nights in Phila area will be helpful.</p>
<p>There is a nice Sheraton Hotel right next to the Goucher campus if you drive straight on into Baltimore. (better than staying in Aberdeen as it is not that great of an area and nothing much to see there)</p>
<p>I agree with the advice about looking at the websites to get the info re times and lengths of tours and info sessions - it varies by school. It can also vary by time of year at a given school. Also - don't hesitate to contact the admissions offices directly with your questions. Whenever I contacted an admissions office with questions related to scheduling a visit they were usually veryh prompt in replying and very helpful in answering questions.</p>
<p>The trip looks quite (hectic but) doable ... my one suggestion would be to try to stay on campus in a dorm instead of in a hotel whenever possible; especially at your top choice schools. For me, my overnights gave me a much better pulse on the students and the life on campus than the tour and classes did.</p>
<p>Economically, this may not make sense, but..</p>
<p>If I were you, I'd consider ditching the car in Poughkeepsie. Take Amtrak to Penn Station (NYC) and then on to Philly. (See schedule at <a href="http://www.amtrak.com)%5B/url%5D">www.amtrak.com)</a>. Choosing this Thursday, just as an example, you could leave Poughkeepsie on the 5:16 p.m. train, give yourself 40 minutes to transfer at Penn Station (NYC) ..just in case it's running late...and still make it to Philly by 9 p.m. Of course, things don't always run on time. Fare per person would be $56 without discount. Expensive..yes...but whoever is driving would miss the worst of it and if you check out the "See America" type fares, you might save on your hotel/motel in Philly. You could also rent a car in Philly and/or take the commuter express which runs from the same station..and be at Swat in about 20 minutes train time plus, of course, the time you wait for the connection. (The commuter train station is right at the edge of the Swat campus.) </p>
<p>If you stay at the inn/hotel at Bryn Mawr someone else mentioned, you could at least walk around at 11 p.m. or so and see the campus and Haverford's as well. (Believe it or not, I always found that a great time to walk around a campus in good weather. I wanted to see how safe the campus would feel at that hour.) Then, I think you'd have 2 days to see Swat, BMC and HC. I actually think it's feasible to see all 3 in one day, if you start early. Two would be better though...you could adjust your schedule and spend extra time at whichever campus you liked best of the 3. More importantly, I think you could easily stay overnight at any of the 3. (I mean that even if you ended up seeing Bryn Mawr last, you could still overnight at Haverford if you wanted, since the two are so close together. Even overnighting at the first college you saw would be okay.) If you saw all three in a LONG day...and stayed overnight at one...you could stay up and sleep in late the next day or go to a class with someone. </p>
<p>If you wanted to, you could also take the train from Philly to Baltimore.</p>
<p>Anyway, Amtrak's just an idea.</p>