<p>IMHO, you are cramming too many schools into the time allotted. I wonder, when its all over, whether you will be able to remember what you saw, and where, and make reasonable judgements.</p>
<p>Though I think public transportation in general is a good idea I disagree with the suggestion to use it on this trip (and as a resident of the NE Corridor I am familiar with some of the specifics here). It will add to the stress in terms of possible delays, the need to coordinate schedules, make reservations if you want a high-speed train, and the discomfort of traveling with a week's worth of baggage (and college information packets) on what can be unpleasantly crowded trains. Getting from Grand Central (the Hudson Valley trains) to Penn Station (for Philadelphia) is not much fun either. A drive from Poughkeepsie to the Philadelphia metro area isn't that long; you can cross the Hudson well above NYC (Beacon Newburgh Bridge, perhaps) and skirt the worst of NYC traffic, getting to Philadelphia in plenty of time to relax and get ready for your college visits--and then be able to leave for Baltimore at your convenience, not Amtrak's. (Keep in mind too that Swarthmore may not be on the same suburban train line as Haverford and Bryn Mawr, so without a car your flexibility of travel time is somewhat impaired for that part of the trip).</p>
<p>Amtrak would be fun...but to be honest, I don't think it would be all that easy to get to all of the colleges you want to see by train. AND you would not be able to drive around the areas to get a sense of them. I think your original plan sounds fine...but I would personally not stay in Newark...no reason to. And I agree that staying close to where you have to be in the morning is the best idea. I will say, you have a tiring schedule. We have done two college trips a 10 day one and a 12 day one...we visited 7 schools each time. It was exhausting. The unfortunate part for us was that one of our morning visits turned out to be a favorite and we didn't have time to stay. The afternoon school that day was a dud (for us). But, if you are only making one trip, and you are prepared to be a bit tired...your itinerary sounds good.</p>
<p>I agree with everyone else that it is doable but exhausting, sometimes you just have to do the best that you can!</p>
<p>To echo something that Thumper just said - be very aware that the 2nd school in a day is in great danger of suffering just because it is second, especially if you really like the morning school. This happened to us with Swarthmore and Haverford - the afternoon school did not come off nearly as appealing, and I think the biggest reason was that DD was tired and mentally whipped from the AM tour and interview (interviews, while necessary, are especially tiring, and you will want to interview at those 2 schools while you are there).
Be prepared, and aware that your tiredness may affect your perception of the schools, take good notes and have a good dinner each evening, watch a little TV, talk about something other than colleges.</p>
<p>You can take AMTRAK from Poughkeepsie to NYC and go to Penn Station(NY) and catch the train to Philly--you do NOT have to switch from Grand Central to Penn Station. Both go into the same station. (See Amtrak.com. Stations are POU and PHL.) The 4 hour time table I used as an example is with REGULAR Amtrak service, not high speed. </p>
<p>I'm NOT suggesting using Amtrak for the whole trip. I'm just suggesting that one could skip the Poughkeepsie to Newark or Philly drive. You can pick up a car again in Philly if you wanted to. </p>
<p>Again, just a suggestion...I'm responding mostly to point out that you do NOT have to switch train stations in Manhattan and/or use a high speed train.</p>
<p>Suggestion for Smith/MHC day. You can stay in Northampton or Hadley & be closer to both colleges. Seems like the Quality Inn in Hadley wouold be convenient to both schools. I've stayed there myself. There are several other hotels in that area, more in Northampton. The Autumn Inn is a short walk from Smith.</p>
<p>I agree with Cangel and all others that it is "doable but exhausting." Personally, though, I'd give some serious thought to what it is you want to find out from this trip, so you can concentrate on that, not just in covering ground. </p>
<p>I'm a big fan of advance preparation in order to get the most out of on-site visits. I also think (just MHO) that you have little to gain by limiting your visits to places that are exceptionally similar to each other--there is little to compare and nothing to contrast. I hope I'm wrong, but from what you have told us, I think you might benefit from more LD research. I mean, it seems to me that you have a list of schools all of which appeal to you on a basic level, and you're going visit them all and hope that lightning strikes to make one of them "THE ONE."</p>
<p>You mention your fear that you might be aiming too high, but there is only one school on your list that could be considered match or safety for anyone. The rest are so selective as to be pretty much a "roll of the dice" no matter the stats. Also, you have 4 women's colleges which all offer essentially the same sort of educational opportunity. You certainly aren't going to find great differences in the settings of any of these schools--they are all suburban or rural. The variation in size is minimal.</p>
<p>It just seems to me that if you have already narrowed down what you're looking for to this extent, it makes more sense to visit a collection of schools which have your basic requirements, but vary more in selectivity, price, and location. If it's going to come down to Wellsley vs. Mt. Holyoke, why not just apply and then visit if you are admitted to both? It's certainly less expensive and time consuming.</p>
<p>Also, have you visited (or plan to visit) the comparable schools that are closer to you--Carleton, Macalester, Mundelein (sp??) ? If you find things you like and dislike at these schools, you'll know better what to look for in New England.</p>
<p>Please don't take this as a negative criticism--you have my best wishes for success in your search.</p>
<p>wyogal makes some Excellent points.</p>
<p>Shadow, if you like, would you give us some info on your "stats", what schools you are considering for reach/50-50/sure bet and we can help you make sure you visit the right group of schools to give you the most info.</p>
<p>Re the sidetrack debate on trains, I am a big fan of train travel, but I believe it complicates things immensely for an out-of-area family trying to cover a lot of ground in unfamiliar territory. Adds a ton of "scheduling", too, when you already have to schedule school info/tour sessions. Just not the right situation here, imo.</p>
<p>I stand corrected about the Poughkeepsie trains--I see from the amtrak Web site that the long-distance trains that run through it do go in to Penn Station. but I still think that making the trip by car makes more sense; the drive from P'keepsie to Philadelphia (Newark seems no longer to be part of the equation) really is a fairly straightforward one and there are times when it just is very convenient to control your own schedule.</p>
<p>Regarding the possible duplication of school styles: I think it is fine to visit schools that are similar on paper (Smith may feel very different form Mount Holyoke, and both may feel very different from Wellesley for example; my D adndI both discovered found Haverford and Swarthmore to feel surprisingly unlike despite their seeming similarities.) It is true that the second school of the day may suffer, but you can take that into account when you reflect on your visits.</p>
<p>Poughkeepsie area to Phila. will be about 4 hrs drive. A relative lived near Poughkeepsie and traveled to visit family in Philadelphia regularly. You might want to take NY thruway to I-287 & cut through NJ that way. You are further away from the NJ turnpike and North Jersey/Newark Airport traffic congestion.</p>
<p>Re: Wyogal's suggestion for different colleges - I like it. Your schedule is already quite strenuous, but would you be willing to substitute or add another school in there - one that is completely different from the typical ones on your list? Maybe a big, urban, research school would be good to see; something might really appeal to you. When I was in high school, I was all about going to a rural school; ended up going to suburban/urban school that I loved and was ultimately more happy being near a city. Try to visit other schools, because something might really appeal. :)</p>
<p>If train travel becomes an option you decide to investigate, be sure to visit <a href="http://www.campusvisit.com%5B/url%5D">http://www.campusvisit.com</a> and check out their Amtrak discount. They provide a promotion code which allows for one free companion rail fare with the purchase of a regular adult rail fare ticket. You must be a junior or senior in high school visiting a college or university and traveling with one parent/guardian.</p>
<p>irishbird mentioned rt 287 in NJ I would avoidthis road atall costsif traveling during weekday anytime near rush hour</p>
<p>Thank you all so much! I expected to get 2 or 3 responses, but never 29! I feel so much less alone in thus process with all of you helping me along!</p>
<p>Now to address your questions/comments</p>
<p>I am afraid that the option of traveling by train is out, as my parents have decided that we should save money by driving instead of flying. </p>
<p>I have started checking the schools' websites for information about campus tours, info sessions, and interviews. At schools where I would eventually want to do an interview, I feel that I should probably do so on campus. This is because I live in a very rural area and I highly doubt that there would be any alumni available to do interviews less than 3 hours away from me, if I was lucky enough that there were any there.</p>
<p>As for my stats, I don't really feel that it would be helpful to list them. I feel that I am pretty well aware of where I stand for each of these schools. I am looking at Goucher as a safety or possibly a safe match. I see the rest as an assortment of reaches and super-reaches. I have a couple of safeties and a possible match closer to home, so don't worry about the idea of me finding myself with nowhere to go in the fall of 2006. I love my safeties and would be happy to call any one of them home.</p>
<p>What do you mean that it would be easier to do an overnight at some schools than at others? Do you simply mean this in relation to the driving distances or are some schools more willing to accommodate this request than others? I don't know if I want to share where I want to do the overnight visit because I do feel like sort of a fool for being in love with a school that I an 98 percent sure will reject me. However, I want to do an overnight there because I have dreams of applying ED.</p>
<p>As for more local schools, I have visited Macalester, St. Olaf, and some other schools in the area. I plan to do a more comprehensive visit at Macalester when classes are in session, as well as visiting Carleton, Grinnell, and my safeties.</p>
<p>As for investigating a large urban university, I have already done so. I have been on the campuses of several larger U's over the years and I have found that they are not for me. I have somewhere around 60 people in my high school class, and although I would like to be part of a larger class than this at college, (:)) I have found that close interaction with teachers is very important to me.</p>
<p>I would like to thank each and every one of you again for your input. I truly could not do this without you!</p>
<p>EDIT: Ay ay ay , now I don't know what to believe about that rt 287 in NJ. Does anyone else have any input on whether that would be a good or bad option?</p>
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<blockquote> <p>rt 287>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>The part of 287 you want to avoid is the part near the Tappan Zee bridge. It is not a pleasant place to drive...ever. From Poughkeepsie, take route 44 west to 87 south. Take 87 south and in Newburgh it will become 87/287 south. Stay on that part of 287...you will be well west of the BAD part of 287...that Tappan Zee portion. From there you will can look at a map and get to Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Y not visit Penn</p>
<p>I like all of your recent thoughts, Shadow. As for 287, we use it every time we travel to the mid-Atlantic. Don't worry about it; it seems you will be doing most of your driving in the evenings, so do a little thinking about the approximate time you will be in any congested areas and try to avoid that - early dinner, then drive; sightsee, then drive; hang around campus, then drive. You get the idea. Admissions Office people are super helpful - you can even ask them for suggested timing and routes. Some of them have maps/cards with driving directions to nearby schools - they know a lot of us are on The Grand Tour. :D</p>
<p>Just to agree with thumper and jmmom--you will be fine with the 87/287 connection; 287 can be clogged but it can also be just fine and in fact usually is--traffic may be heavy but it isn't any worse than many other interstates. As I had mentioned in an earlier post you can avoid the Tappan Zee Bridge by crossing the Hudson farther north (closer to Poughkeepsie) and thus avoid the worst of the potential traffic jams (whose timing is not always predictable anyway). Just check the best route to Philadelphia from northern NJ--possibly 287 to the NJ Turnpike, but I am not sure--a good NJ/Pennsylvania map will tell you; take MapQuest with a grain of salt for local driving, though for highway routes it is pretty reliable. It sounds as though you will be driving to Phila on the evening before your first Phila-area school visit, so any traffic delays will be (hopefully) minor annoyances, not impacting your daytime schedule.</p>
<p>I have to disagree with those who say doing two-a-day visits isn't realistic. For one thing, it depends a lot on how carefully you do the visits. If you go to the info session and the tour at every college, yes, it's too much. But my D and I did 9 colleges in 5 days--not counting Amherst, where she didn't get out of the car--including interviews at 3 of those, and I think we got a fair impression of all of them.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr (drop-in, walk around, left), Haverford (interview, 3 hour visit), and Swarthmore (2 hours) are all very close--that was one day for us, as were Smith and Hampshire (interview) (and Amherst drive-by). Bard/Vassar (interview at Bard; Vassar visit abandoned at 25 minutes because we were both appalled by what we saw during the info session). Wesleyan (with lunch with friend's older brother) and Mt Holyoke, same day.</p>
<p>Unlike many parents, I was just fine if we got to the campus and D wanted to leave after a short visit. This simplified things. I really believe first impressions matter. (I just read <em>Blink</em>--which is all about first impressions.) We only lingered on some campuses. There, we went to the admissions office, read the lit, sometimes went on a tour, sometimes not (usually only if there were only a few people going), went to the library and checked our email and the library/computer facilities, read bulletin boards and the student newspaper, and had a cup of coffee and eavesdropped in the cafeteria. Checked the bookstore to see what fiction was selling well. Sometimes if a student was sitting alone, we asked them questions. </p>
<p>We did all of our long driving in the late afternoon/early evening, which reduced traffic. Coming from the west coast, three or four hours of driving just isn't that big a deal, really.</p>
<p>I've done the 287/Tappan Zee drive a lot going from New England to the South and have usually found it to be fine unless it's rush hour. (Note that I usually hit that area around 9 am going south and early afternoon when heading north.) Rush hour is a mixed bag - haven't had many problems when heading south over the Tappan Zee in the morning. Anything after about 3 pm heading north on the upper portion of 287 is a nightmare, though. Problem for you might be that your family won't be used to that type of traffic. A lot of people go to areas like Boston or New York and are absolutely frightened by the traffic, roads, and the drivers, but the natives don't even bat an eye.</p>
<p>That all said, the Newburgh/Thruway is a good route to take. Less traffic, fewer cars, and it is often well worth the few extra miles.</p>
<p>How about smaller, urban schools? Just a thought.</p>
<p>Interviews: I'm an alumna interviewer in a rural area and have been able to accomodate all of the students who have wanted interviews. I do the bulk of the driving - couple hours each way - and it's one other person and I who cover half of the state. SoozieVT is also an alumna interviewer in a rural location and apparently does the same. You could probably call up the schools and ask if there are interviewers in your area - sure, all of the schools won't be able to accomodate you, but enough will so that you can not interview at a few places to save time. </p>
<p>Finally, I really like the idea of the "self tour," where you talk to students in the coffee shop and the bookstore. It can give you a great idea of what the campus is like.</p>