Yes. The area around station square is right across from the point, and downtown is on the point bit. Pittsburgh has lots of good restaurants, so go for it is something caught your eye. If you look at Google maps, you’ll see what the layout is. The rivers tend to create different neighborhoods. Which is part of the fun of exploring there…
Do you think it matters for morning airport commute, which side?
You’re going so early that it probably doesn’t matter. If you were driving at rush hour, it could be a factor. Only so many bridges…
@eandesmom , check out the U of Pitt website. They have a list of all the touristy things.
Love this link, @Longhaul ! Regent Square? Yes!!
Thanks longhaul!
He is officially admitted not to all the schools on the trip as of tonight so that’s good.
This is an old post. But if you haven’t traveled yet, I’d leave Ithaca on the list.
@momneeds2no thanks. He really had to cut somewhere. He has been offered admittance to all of the schools he applied to and frankly found that overwhelming.
Ithaca is the 2nd most expensive of the offers and just had a few too many strikes against it to keep it on. Cost was one but not the only one. 4 schools in 5 days, either meeting with faculty, attending a class or both is a lot as it is, not to mention 3 states and 4 cities. Had it come in lower $$ wise we would have tried to fit it in but it really makes no sense at this point as it’s not affordable travel and with flights booked, isn’t logistically possible.
Keep in mind that schools generally include merit offers with the initial acceptance, However, FA offers aren d your final price don’t come until later. Depending upon your income, Ithaca may surprise you. At first blush it does check all the boxes on your sons wish list.
Goucher is known for its commitment to study aboard. A few gals from daughters HS attended, both were of the artsy with backgrounds in theater and both loved the school.
UVM definitely has that college town vibe. Make sure to see the dorms and tour the department your son is most interested in, even if just to walk through the buildings and informally chat with students. 24 hours in burlington should be more than enough to get a feel for the “vibe”. Try to get a flavor for where the upper classmen live after dorms. Walk past those areas. late Feb/early march are typically VT’s greyest season.
Dont worry too much about missing the night in Philly. It’s a great city but pricy to stay over. perhaps one of the top city, if not the number #1, for college students. instead try to stay closer to collegeville or towns to get an idea of the area where hell be spending his day to day.
Are you still amtraking form NYC to Burlington? Be sure to factor in transfer times to and from the statins. Depending on the date, “the vermonter” is college student central. passing through some of the northeast’s most popular college towns. That said,Id try to fly from SEATAC to burlington if at all possible. save your self a day. Also the train station is in Exxesex junction. Im pretty sure they have Uber up there now. But you may want to double check.
I’ve found driving around the east coast less stressful than the PNW. Be sure to get an E-Z pass with your rental car.
Thanks! We do have our FA offer from Ithaca already (and from 6/7 schools actually). Subsidized loans aren’t my idea of additional aid. It definitely checks a lot of the boxes.
We are taking the train but it’s on a Saturday so have zero time constraints as long as we don’t miss getting on it on time lol.
Ursinus really shouldn’t be part of our tours at all in my mind. Throwing the kid a bone to be honest. He’s fairly sure he doesn’t want to go there and I’m quite sure it’s not worth the price at what they’ve offered (versus what could be offered). For the same price (slightly lower) I will take UVM. Which is more than I want to pay as well (3k lower than Ithaca though) but incredibly strong in his area. And while 3k may not sound like much, that’s 12 over 4 years and that UVM price is a bit over target already. So, no Ithaca.
He has a tour of his specific college in Vermont as well as a a faculty meeting, classes and/or faculty meetings at all the rest.
Great. Good to have the FA numbers to compare the “value” of each school. my only word of wisdom re: UVM is don’t stretch the budget too far. Day to day living (meals off campus housing cost, for my daughter who attends a larger U, was greater than anticipated. From what I hear other parents saying, we aren’t alone. Try to investigate where Umm students live after the first two years. Also plug in variety of dates from SEATAC to (insert airport) and check actual flight costs. Cost around the holidays are significantly greater. I rembermber many many moons ago, when I was touring UVM as high schooler, and thinking it was the coldest place on earth. have a wonderful trip, beware of dunkin’ donuts and be sure to report back.
I agree on UVM and that’s a huge concern. Outside chance of additional monies and I have factored in the travel costs. We get the off campus issues…older D is at Cal Poly and I suspect that Burlington is in a way the Vermont version of SLO or Boulder (or Fort Collins) so do not expect much savings if any with a move to off campus. Our costs at Cal Poly went up a tick with the off campus move.
I’m not sure I’m willing to pay the differential between UVM and better offers but I’m also not sure that I am not. If that makes sense.
@eandesmom That’s why you visit, to gain clarification. my advice is talk over your impressions of each school good, bad, and unexpected after the visit. Talk about your and his emotional reactions to the visit and why. Avoid comparing schools until after you visited each one. My daughter ended up choosing a school, which after the first visit seemed little ho-hum. By the time we arrived back in CA, and had a chance to sleep on it, she decided it was her #1.