East coast school visit logistics...how to get around?

Parents Forum
21

<p>I agree with flying into Philly (have your daughter take the dinky to Princeton Junction, and from there she can catch a train to Philly - the schedules are easy to find at <a href="http://www.NJtransit.com)%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.NJtransit.com)&lt;/a>. Then I'd also work my way north. </p>

<p>Personally, I can't imagine fitting all of those schools in using public transportation. How long are you planning on? With first son, we did Yale and Brown on the same day, but it was way too tight and we hit no traffic or construction, had an easy time parking, and are pretty familiar with all of the roads and best routes. With second son, we hit Yale one day, Brown the next, and then drove on to Cambridge. Olin is a long walk if you don't drive (of course the campus is so small that there's hardly any walking on their tour which will balance this). </p>

<p>Is she interested in engineering? If so, remember that many of these schools give separate engineering tours which are quite informative but usually require an entire day.</p>

<p>I would check out renting a car in Phil, and returing it to Boston. If you need to do round trip airfare, then I would fly into Newark, take NJ transit to Phil, rent a car before Swat and head to Yale, Brown, Olin, ditch the car in Cambridge and take amtrak from Cambridge to NYC then back to Newark.</p>

22

<p>We flew into Boston and out of Newark and rented through Hertz there was no extra charge.</p>

23

<p>
[quote]
Working around trains and cabs and schedules and such sounds like a nightmare to me.

[/quote]
That's because you've never tried to drive in Boston or park in NY. ;)</p>

24

<ol>
<li><p>I am a huge fan of AMTRAK, SEPTA, and NJ Transit, but I think soup4U's plan is pretty good for realism.</p></li>
<li><p>People complain about the Swarthmore train being less convenient because it used to run twice an hour. The Swarthmore stop itself is on campus. Haverford and Bryn Mawr are also very train-accessible, but unfortunately not the same train as Swarthmore. Seeing those three schools with a car (20 minutes Swarthmore to Haverford, and no terrible parking problem anywhere) would be much easier than doing it by train (probably close to 2 hours Swarthmore to Haverford, by the time you get done with it). I think there is a bus that hits all three schools, run by them, but I don't know if tourists are allowed to take it.</p></li>
<li><p>Driving from Boston to Philadelphia can take as little as 5 hours, as much as 7. It's not a whole day lost, necessarily. But the Newark idea was a good one.</p></li>
</ol>

25

<p>Our college tour involved both a car (for driving from city to city) and public transit (into Boston). </p>

<p>If you do decide to bravely drive into Boston / New York, allow plenty of time for getting misplaced and finding a parking spot. Both of these cities do have very good public transit.</p>

26

<p>
[quote]
Olin College is accessible by commuter rail from Boston on the Needham line. The line originates at Boston's South Station, and may also be boarded at Boston's Back Bay Station. The nearest commuter rail stop to Olin College is Needham Center, which is located at the intersection of Great Plain Avenue and Eaton Square. The college is a short taxi ride from Needham Center.</p>

<p>Amtrak's Northeast Direct Service stops at Route 128 in Westwood, about six miles from Needham. From there, take a taxi to Olin College. Amtrak continues on to Boston's South Station, where commuter rail service is available (see above).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If flying into Boston, one can take the T (Silver Line) bus to South Station. South Station is also the terminal for Amtrak. From there one can take the Red Line to MIT/Kendall Square and to Harvard Square (two stops from MIT). From South Station, one can also take the Commuter Train to Needham as described above.</p>

27

<p>I agree with soup4U with one refinement - after visitng Olin in Waltham, drive to Cambridge and stay at a hotel in Cambridge. I don't know your budget but I suggest the Marriott in Kendall Sqaure near MIT. Return your car at a rental place in Cambridge (all the majors are there) Just bite the bullet andf pay the drop-off fee. Use cabs and/or the T to see HU and MIT, then fly home from Boston. An open jaw ticket should not cost more than a RT to Newark. The drive from Boston back to Newark is hellish and you willhave experienced it once going northbound. Forget the trains, it's too hard to juggle that with the timing of tours, interviews, etc.</p>

28

<p>I can only comment on the NYC piece of your journey.</p>

<p>General wisdom is correct: cars and Manhattan don't go well together. That said, a multi-city college trip is a bit different to plan.</p>

<p>Personally, I've not used the "motel in New Jersey" approach b/c my time is always so tight whenever I have to be in NYC.</p>

<p>IF you find it affordable, just get a hotel or Bed/Breakfast reservation on the "Upper West Side" or choose from a wider number of hotels in adjacent neighborhoods called "Lower West Side" or "Midtown/Theater District" neighborhoods. Just be sure to locate yourself on the WEST side of Manhattan Island, so all your other ground transpo and walking works better.
YOu don't want to be "across Central Park" which is "East Side," for this trip. </p>

<p>Whatever you spend extra on the hotel intown might actually pay off: fewer ground transpo needs; less time; much less stress. </p>

<p>If you'd rather make more use of the car, you could conceivably still use it to visit Columbia for a day. Columbia's right on the "edge" of Manhattan so you don't have to deal with much of it just to drive to that one neighborhood, as long as you come over the George Washington Bridge, down the Henry Hudson Parkway and into the neighborhood. Or, there's other bridges and tunnels into Midtown Manhattan, then you'd just come north (turn left!) almost immediately and up into Morningside Heights. Columbia's a real "edge-hugger"
neighborhood. You could actually drive to it and live, without encountering the entire mess of NYC traffic. </p>

<p>On the day of your walking tour, you could leave PLENTY of advanced time (an extra hour than you'd expect) to look for neighborhood side-street parking around that neighborhood, called "Morningside Heights" or the "Far Upper West Side." It's not easy or guaranteed, but with effort/time/luck I've always managed to find a metered spot on the bigger streets, and some all-day spots on side streets, walkable within a half mile to the campus. </p>

<p>If you can't get lucky, then just drive into a parking garage or open-air lot in the area. It'll cost too much, but it's only one day. You'll still have to walk from the garage to campus, of course. EVEN SO, allow TIME to find a parking garage; even 45 minutes to deal with it all. It's different. </p>

<p>People mention the Newark airport, and from there is a ground transpo bus for around $13 one-way that brings you in to Port Authority Terminal. From there, you''d take a subway or taxi up to the Upper West Side (actually, "Morningside Heights" ) neighborhood of Columbia U. The airport-Port Authority bus leaves every half hour; see airport's website under "ground transpo." </p>

<p>If you have several people travelling, it's often worth it to all jump in a cab WITHIN the city, to avoid 3 subway tickets...unless it's rush hour when the slowness for the taxi adds to the fare. </p>

<p>IN case your airline goes only to Laguardia airport, there's still ground transport to the same Port AUthority in "Midtown" manhattan. </p>

<p>(Hey... if you're absolutely intrepid like me, a city Metro bus goes from Laguardia and then locally along 125th Street (Harlem, "The Apollo Theater") before getting over near Columbia U. Many people don't like to approach Columbia from this direction b/c it gives a first impression of a poverty neighborhood (on the upswing, BTW) before they reach campus. But my S actually lives on 125th St, so I've come to use this odd approach. It saves me the entire transition through Port AUthority central bus terminal and into the subways. I go right from an airport to his doorstep, in other words, on a city bus for $2 or so. But that might be for a future trip, not this time...
Basically, west of Amsterdam Ave and south of 125th St you're not in Harlem anymore but in Morningside Heights. MH is a wonderful neighborhood, really beautiful, university oriented, walkable. To me, it's "urban heaven." From Amsterdam Ave and then going west until you fall into the Hudson River, that's the Columbia U. neighborhood, also
Union Theological Seminary, Jewish Theological Seminary, Bank St. College of Ed...so
the cafes and restuarants all feel very "university" in MH. Enjoy!! </p>

<p>An advantage of taxis or busses while you;re INSIDE NYC is you'll see the city, people, architecture, and have a sense of neighborhoods. The subway makes you feel very mole-like. Once you already live there, however, the subway is a blessing b/c it zips below all that street traffic above. If your D were to attend Columbia, she might often find herself on the subway to anywhere she likes within NYC, all for the same $2 fare no matter the destination. Or, if she likes, she can take the extra moment and use busses all over the city; they're slower due to traffic but much "prettier" always.</p>

<p>Adding a final word on that car: ALLOW PLENTY of extra time to deal with parking it, ifthat's what you choose, so you don't miss the tour departure time! In other words, if you need a meal and time to soak in the area, get the car parked FIRST in the day and then meander around. Never leave things to last-minute brinksmanship when it comes to unloading your car (millstone around your neck) inside the city.</p>

29

<p>It's nuts to drive Philly to New York or New York to Boston if you don't have to.</p>

<p>Check Southwest and the other discount airlines. Southwest serves Philly and Providence RI, so you could easily do one-way to Philly and one-way home from New England -- Providence or Boston.</p>

<p>The soonest you would want a car is after you have left NYC, probably no sooner than New Haven.</p>

<p>The above advice:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Drive back to Newark [from Boston] and leave car

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Doesn't even begin to communicate how miserable the drive from Boston to Newark can be. Absolute best case, it's demanding. Catch it at the wrong time and it's hell.</p>

30

<p>WHen deciding where to sleep in Manhattan, if that's what you do, check for whether the Columbia Teachers College or Union Theological Seminary still has their dorm rental system for people with university-related needs. Often it's a lot of advance notice, but maybe with summer it's better.
As I recall, Columbia U had on its website some links to recommend the nearest hotels in the neighborhood. If they are "too far" for you to walk, don't worry; that's when to jump into cabs.
A cab ride of 2 or 3 miles can save your trip! NYC has a fleet of several hundred thousand cabs, and they all roll up and down those neighborhoods that include Columbia and your other linking areas.
Just think of cabs as another kind of bus; and on any given Manhattan street block where you are considering, there will be several of them zipping by each minute.
NYC is a "walking town." So if you unfortunately run into this combination: rush hour + rain... some who normally walk will jump into cabs instead. So then it's somewhat harder to hail a cab. Other than that, you can count on cabs to get you places FAST. And you are staying above-ground, not up and down the subway steps, again...less STRESS AND NO DIRECTIONS to have to follow, when you're just visiting.
If you have to spend on something, spend on a cab inside the city. And then figure, if she goes to Columbia, she'll learn the whole subway/bus system herself so she won't always be paying for cabs. </p>

<p>If you stay in a hotel, ask the doorman to hail a cab for you. Otherwise, just put your finger (not the middle one) in the air...</p>

<p>PS, Without breaking my brains on it, my quick impression was the Soup4U came up with a good plan.</p>

31

<p>Here's the latest schedule for the Philly/Swarthmore R3 train:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.septa.org/service/sched/pdfs/R3ME.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.septa.org/service/sched/pdfs/R3ME.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>They run every hour except during rush hours M-F, when they run every half hour.</p>

<p>All trains to downtown Philly stop at the three main downtown stations (Market East, Suburban, and 30th St). So, if you took the train from the airport and your daughter took the train from Princeton, you could just meet at one of these stations and procede out to Swarthmore.</p>

<p>I'm all for having a car for much of college hunting trips. However, the key here is that Columbia, Harvard, and MIT are all places where the last thing you want is a car that has to be parked and they are all in locations that are very demanding to reach by car if you aren't used to driving in these cities.</p>

32

<p>The corridor in which you're traveling is the best in the U.S. for trains. At the same time, the driving can be and often is horrible, both in the cities themselves (particularly NY and Boston) and highways (with the NJ Turnpike earning gold for absolutely horrid). Mass transit is a very good option!</p>

33

<p>We drove to CT. to visit a few schools and found it very difficult to visit two in one day because of the way the information sessions/tours are set up. It doesn't really allow enough room to visit both schools the same day. I would like my daughter to see Swarth/Bryn Mawr and Haverford but very sceptical we can do this in one day or two for that matter. How have you all worked around tour times etc.? We will probably take a bus to NY from Boston to check out Barnard and NYU. We'll see. Also, we have stayed in Youth Hostels to save money which is not bad for the budget traveler. Obviously is not everyone's cup of tea, but you meet a lot of nice people from other countries.</p>

34

<p><a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/admissions/visit/visit_planner.cgi%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.swarthmore.edu/admissions/visit/visit_planner.cgi&lt;/a>

[quote]
**Campus Tours</p>

<p>Campus tours usually last about one hour and are available throughout the year. Tours begin in the Admissions Office on the second floor of Parrish Hall. No appointment is necessary. Please consult the Swarthmore College visit planner for exact tour times.</p>

<p>If you cannot join us on a formal tour of the College, please feel free to pick up a campus map in the Admissions Office and explore Swarthmore on your own!</p>

<p>Information Sessions</p>

<p>Prospective students and their families have the opportunity to learn about the college in a 45-60-minute group information session led by one of the College's admissions counselors. No appointment is necessary. Just stop by the Admissions Office during your campus visit and ask about our group sessions.</p>

<p>You can find specific group information times and dates by using our visit planner.

[/quote]
**</p>

<p>Bryn Mawr
<a href="http://www.brynmawr.edu/admissions/planning_visit.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.brynmawr.edu/admissions/planning_visit.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Haverford: scroll down for summer schedule
<a href="http://www.haverford.edu/admissions/visitcampus.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.haverford.edu/admissions/visitcampus.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

35

<p>In general it is very hard to do two schools in one day. You always miss something at one of them. We did Mt. Holyoke and Smith in one day and had to self-tour at Mt. H as opposed to being on their tour. It also made the interviews kind of breathless, and interviews are important at these schools.
With my son, he just would not have tolerated more than two colleges on a trip. Most of our trips were just to see one school at a time. It worked for us but not for all I know.</p>

36

<p>you can easily do Harvard and MIT on the same day and use the T. Take a look at the other schools in and around Boston too. There are some "gems" that aren't on the list, but you have mostly the heavy hitters and might want some that are "almost heavy hitters." BC, BU, Tufts..........</p>

37

<p>Incredible information; thanks so much, everyone. As an FYI, I called a couple of the cheaper rental car places (Enterprise and Dollar) and they wouldn't even rent cars one-way between Philly and Boston. The more expensive companies might, though; I'll check.</p>

<p>We're allocating around a week for the trip. I hesitate scheduling more than about one school a day just to avoid burnout and that feeling that they all start to look the same. I'm not sure how much say I have in choosing what schools to look at, though :) I'd like to include Penn and maybe one other school in the Phila area, but we'll see...</p>

<p>I've driven the I-95 corridor once and it was tolerable, more or less...but a round-trip between Boston and Philadelphia is something I'm definitely not looking forward to...thus the question. Never taken a train, though, so that seems a little intimidating. Sounds like that's what the locals do, though.</p>

<p>Off-topic, but in an effort to return the favor for the info, I'm using Google My Maps to plan. It's a new feature, and it's pretty cool. Here's an example:</p>

<p><a href="http://tinyurl.com/2uwnen%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://tinyurl.com/2uwnen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

38

<p>Red light, just for a moment; blucroo was perhaps hinting at something very well known on CC, that a list of powerhouse schools such as you're visiting doesn't have any safety schools on the list.
So, we trust you've already been down that road, and have safeties picked out, perhaps closer to home or lower down the academic rungs?
If you think I just insulted your D by suggesting "Safeties," I truly did not.
That's a whole other discussion than travel plans, maybe a diffferent thread for you to start. Anyway, if your D only wants her college to be in the Northeast, no matter how great she is academically, unless there are other schools elsewhere on your horizon not mentioned above, you did raise that flag in blucroo and me.</p>

<p>And b/c I can't resist...if she's in engineering, did she look at Smith?</p>

<p>and thanks for "Google My Maps" -- nice</p>

39

<p>Yeah. I was about to say....forget the travel directions, this kid needs somebody pointing her to some match schools. That's a very dangerous list of schools if you miscalculate even an iota.</p>

40

<p>p3t: yes, you picked up on my implication. My D was determined to live in the NE (we are from SoCal), so we made sure to visit schools that were "match" as well as "reach". Turns out D fell in love with Tufts and it wasn't even in her top 5 choices. This completely stunned us!!! One never knows how a school will "feel right" so add a few "match" schools to the travel list just in case.</p>