<p>Hello, wise parents.
Since you are all more experienced than I am when it comes to this sort of stuff, I was hoping you might be able to help me. I have a logistical/financial problem that involves visiting schools and my family's small budget. My situation is this:
We live in western Washington. I was accepted at Georgetown early action. I also applied to Princeton regular decision. I really would like to visit both schools. However, my parents are unsure if they could afford the trip. We are inexperienced when it comes to travel, and have never been to DC or anything. I was looking around on travelocity, and even early April tickets cost hundreds of dollars, not to mention hotel and transportation costs that would have to be factored in. It's important to mention that neither of my parents went to college, and they expected me to attend a state university. It wasn't until relatively recently that vastly different possibilities opened up to us. So, they are a little anxious about all of this, and I get the impression that they'd rather I stayed closer to home. It isn't that they aren't supportive, just more conservative in their expectations than I am. But anyways, what I'm really concerned about is being able to see these east coast schools. I can't attend a college I've never visited, and I think we just don't have the money. Do you know of any sources of funding or inexpensive ways to travel that I don't know about? Chances are there are some, I just don't know enough about flying to other states, as it's something I rarely do. Also, if you happen to know what I could say to my parents to alleviate their concerns, I would appreciate it. Thanks for any advice you can give.</p>
<p>we are in washington as well
my nieces attended a school in upstate new york without ever visiting- but coming home for holidays and breaks can be very expensive-
FOr students I imagine that there are on campus visit days where you would be hosted by a student- if you really want to come- Im sure you are old enough to travel without your parents- also if they want to come- there are hostels that are much cheaper than hotels
I would have two thoughts
one- if you can't afford to visit- how will you afford to come back and forth for vacations etc?
but two- there are cheaper ways to travel-priceline may have airfare- stay in hostels- but also use the schools blogs- videos- and message boards to get info about school without visiting</p>
<p>While I didn't discourage my daughter from attending school on the other coast- in fact I encouraged looking all over the country- there have been many benefits to attending a school within a days drive.
We are able to visit- friends from high school are able to visit- her sister is able to take the train down with friends to visit.
When she had to take a year off- she still was able to keep in touch with college friends by visiting and by them coming up here.
Since she plans to stay in the area of her college aftergraduation- as many do- it is still easy for us to visit her.
while these might be deterrents for some- for us they have been positives in choosing a school in same region of country- of course it was fortuitous that the school is a great fit- if it was say in Florida- she still would have wanted to attend</p>
<p>You do have to think long-term about being so far from home. No matter what happens. it is going to take a half day to get home from Washington D.C. to Washington state. That means you may not be going home for long weekends, or even Thankgiving break. If there is a family emergency, you'll be in a tight spot. </p>
<p>For your immediate situation, trying to arrange a cheap flight to the east coast, there a lot of resources available on the web. I assume you know about sites like expedia.com, travelweb and travelzoo? </p>
<p>You need to be savvy about flights (one-stop is often cheaper than non-stop), airports (DC has 2; the convenient one is DCA (Reagan), the inconvenient one is Dulles) and flight timing (early April is a big tourist time in DC because the cherry blossoms are in bloom). You would do better by looking in February or early March. </p>
<p>Since you plan to visit two schools, you may want to fly into an airport between the two. (You'll almost always pay more to fly in and out of two different airports.) Also, try to fly at a time that's inconvenient for business people. Depart on a Wednesday or Thursday, and return late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. </p>
<p>For lots of travel related information, check out Fodors.com (general travel) and the Thorn Tree (students/backpackers board).</p>
<p>We are from Western Oregon. Son never visited Pittsburgh or any of schools applied to. Virtual tour is all he did. </p>
<p>He had the means to make visitation, but saw the effort as valueless. The money could be spent more productively elsewhere. </p>
<p>Why don't you visit your local schools and see what real value you get from the visitation. If you think you get value, then by all means make the investment. Not all airlines use Expedia or like sites. Some can only be access by their website only-like Southwest, JetBlue.etc.</p>
<p>If you are really poor, you could ask Georgetown if they'd fly you in. Princeton may do the same if you are admitted.</p>
<p>One caution: Even with substantial financial aid, it can be very difficult to go to college 3,000+ miles from home. I think that most colleges that provide aid worth 100% of your documented financial need think that what they give will cover a trip home for Christmas and a trip home at the end of the school year, however, due to the high costs of travel, that simply may not be the case.</p>
<p>Travel over the holidays and at the end of the school year also is very high since planes are packed and few discounts are offered then.</p>
<p>In addition, most students like to go home for Thanksgiving, Easter and perhaps some other times. Even going to school a couple of hours drive from home can seem like a long distance. I grew up in Upstate NY, and went to college in Boston, a 2.5 hour drive away, and the culture shock was a big deal. It was good to be able to go home about 4 times during my first year in college.</p>
<p>For that reason, I wouldn't feel comfortable sending one of my own kids so far from home unless he had had prior experience being that far away from home and visiting the campus. </p>
<p>On the other hand, when I went to grad school the first time, I went to Stanford sight unseen, and I had never been farther from home than Detroit. This was well before the days of videos and Internet web sites and boards telling about various colleges. Stanford ended up being virtually exactly what I had expected (although the laid back northern Cali. lifestyle was a surprise), and it was overall a nice experience, so it is possible to go to a college sight unseen and have things work out. In fact, that's what a lot of parents on these boards did back in the old days.</p>
<p>I hope you're also applying to some good West Coast colleges to give yourself some alternatives in case you decide to go closer to home. I don't think that your parents are being unrealistic to be cautious about how far away you go especially if you haven't lived or traveled that far before.</p>
<p>Although I'm not quite from Washington (e.g.: Los Angeles), I do have the same predicament as you do (East Coast school, living on the West Coast, amazingly expensive travel fares). </p>
<p>If you do visit Georgetown, you can try and arrange an overnight stay with a student (on your own) that you may know, instead of hotel accomodations. This implies that you travel alone, of course. Transportation costs in D.C. are rather cheap (thanks to our Metro system).</p>
<p>In terms of finding the cheapest fare, I would suggest the following:</p>
<p>Kayak.com
Orbitz.com
Expedia.com
Travelocity.com
Hotwire.com</p>
<p>Kayak will search all websites, but sometimes there are fares on other "travel-facilitating" websites that Kayak doesn't have (e.g. my airfare home was $242 on Travelocity, Kayak said $270~).</p>
<p>I do not suggest you use Priceline for booking a flight; however, it is great in booking hotels.</p>
<p>Some schools have fly-in visitation programs; alas, Georgetown does not... yet. I mean this in the form of an invitational program (e.g. Vanderbilt, Williams, or Bowdoin). I don't know anything about transportation costs on an individual basis.</p>
<p>This year, I decided to forgo a Thanksgiving visit (... I'd visited a friend at Bowdoin earlier, entirely at my own expensive ...) but that just makes winter break all the better. Plus, Georgetown's finals schedule has students going home at different times. There's a chance (because of this schedule) you'll avoid the Holiday fares (if you decide to attend Georgetown).</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice. I will look into the resources you mentioned. Staying in hostels is a good idea.</p>
<p>I fear you may be have a point about the recurring cost of long distance travel. My family is not dirt poor or anything, and I believe that we would be able to afford my return trips for vacations and such. The logistics involved in getting my parents and myself over to see the campuses for the first time is the most challenging part, though.
Ironically, one of the primary reasons I applied to Georgetown and Princeton was financial. The endowments at both schools, but particularly Princeton's, allow them to offer more generous financial aid deals than I could count on from a typical liberal arts college.</p>
<p>itstoomuch; I have visited enough local colleges to think that it is important to spend time on a campus to get a good sense of it. Also, I agreed with my parents that I should visit any college I want to attend. Thanks for the info about Southwest.</p>
<p>Any other advice?</p>
<p>PS as for getting home fast or cheap: Anything past east of the Cascades will not be proportionally longer or cheaper. If you live in Seattle area, how long does it take to get to Washington State University and cost? Compare that to getting to SF, LA, PDX or DC, Phil, or NYC.</p>
<p>I appreciate everyone's quick responses. I am applying to a state school and two liberal arts colleges that are nearby in case long distance travel doesn't work out. I would like to think I could handle living far away from home, but ultimately, I guess I won't really know that until it happens. The culture shock will be big for me no matter where I go, though, as I am from a small town and have never lived in a city.</p>
<p>A floormate of mine is from Western Washington (I think... my knowledge of Washington's geography is.. um.. right..). Although I haven't asked him, it seems he's responded to GU quite well. I know from my own experience that living far away from home hasn't been a problem.</p>
<p>From the stats that you listed on another post, I think that you'd be a highly desired applicant at many places because you are: the valedictorian from a school that sends few to excellent colleges; first generation college; from a rural background and from the Pacific Northwest; a place where many students prefer to stick close to home.</p>
<p>Have you considered colleges closer to home such as U Washington (where you might get major merit aid because of being in-state), Whitman, Reed, and even Stanford, where your being first gen college, rural, etc. might help you get in? </p>
<p>To me, it sounds like you've done a good job taking full advantages of the opportunities in your community. If colleges see your achievements in the same light, they may take you over students who have higher scores, but have had more advantages, including better school systems and educated families.</p>
<p>"My family is not dirt poor or anything, and I believe that we would be able to afford my return trips for vacations and such."</p>
<p>How could that be easily possible if you're having a tough time getting to visit the colleges? You have more options to shop around for good flight deals to D.C. now than you'll have if you go to Georgetown because when you're a student there, you'll be traveling to and from home at the peak times for college students' flights. As a result, trip prices will be high.</p>
<p>Did you realize that most colleges will allow accepted students to sleep for free in their dorms so they can check out the campus? I think that most also will give you a voucher so you can eat for free on campus. Consequently, your main expense in visiting colleges will be the flights.</p>
<p>I have gotten wonderful flight prices through Priceline, but the problems are that I think you have to be 21 to use the service, and while you can pick the day that you travel, you can't pick the times or the airlines. The closer you use Priceline to the day you want to travel, the better the deals, but if flights sell out or if you decide to change your flight date, you can be stuck.</p>
<p>Here are the stats that you previously listed:
"* SAT: 2050
* SAT IIs: Not taken
* GPA: 3.99
* Rank: 1/55
* Other stats: None</p>
<p>Subjective:</p>
<ul>
<li>Essays: [rushed, but okay]</li>
<li>Teacher Recs: [good]</li>
<li>Counselor Rec: [well meaning, but poor]</li>
<li>Hook (if any): Must be the poor rural high school that has never sent anyone to Georgetown before. Otherwise, I have no clue.</li>
</ul>
<p>Location/Person:</p>
<ul>
<li>State or Country: [Rural Washington]</li>
<li>School Type: [public]</li>
<li>Ethnicity: [Caucasian]</li>
<li>Gender: [male]</li>
</ul>
<p>*Extracurriculars:[President NHS and science club, student rep to school board, Boy's State, Student Ambassador, organize toys for kids drive, actor in drama]</p>
<p>*Other Factors: Neither parent went to college. "</p>
<p>BTW: What would the Deal Killer be? The color of the buildings, the amount of grass, The weather seen the day that you visit, the bathrooms, the cost of transportation, the effort in making transportation happen, no car, the apparel that kids wear, color and makeup of the student body and environs?</p>
<p>I think you should wait and go see both Georgetown and Princeton in April (if you get into Princeton, that is). By then you will be able to see your financial aid packages and know if they will be affordable for you in any case. In addition, if you book the ticket now, you will be able to take advantage of very cheap fares. I just found $206 round trip in early April Seattle to DC on Orbitz. </p>
<p>It is usually cheaper to fly Tu/We/Th than any other day of the week. It is also cheaper to reserve at least three or four weeks in advance.</p>
<p>For the poster who said that time would be the same for WSU or many cities, that is true, but unfortunately, it would also be far more expensive, since many many people drive from WSU to the Seattle area and no one I know has ever had any trouble cadging a group ride.</p>
<p>I do not have direct experience with the below site, but bookmarked it on the recommendation of a poster in a previous thread on good travel values. It is specifically for students, so you may want to explore it (and perhaps someone with firsthand information will chime in):
<a href="http://www.studentuniverse.com/fly/?err=true%5B/url%5D">http://www.studentuniverse.com/fly/?err=true</a></p>
<p>Most who have commented so far have cautioned you about the issues of choosing a school so far from home. I tend to be of the opposing persuasion, so will just say that there is a value to going far - experiencing another part of your country, perhaps a greater feeling of self-reliance and independence. Just be aware that there are pros and cons, and balance them out in your own mind.</p>
<p>If you are going to go to a school within say 2-3 hour drive of home, that is one thing. Once you begin to think of any school beyond that, the travel issue begins to recede in my mind. A half-day to 8-hour day of travel is just that - whether it be a long drive, a flight from where you are to Southern California, or a flight to the mid-west or East Coast. I think that may be what itstoomuch is also getting at. </p>
<p>I'm not sure I'm right on this, but you should also look into Independence Air for Washington, DC travel. I believe they often don't show up on the travel search engines, and they are a low-cost carrier going into Dulles.</p>
<p>If you decide to see Princeton and Georgetown in one trip, you can fly into any of the DC area airports: Dulles, Reagan or Baltimore-Washington; or to Newark or possibly to Philadelphia. Search for which airport will get you the best airfares. See one school and drive ca. 3 hours to the other and return for your flight home. You can check to see whether you can fly into DC area and fly out of Newark to save the driving both ways, but even if the airfare is comparable, rental car drop-off charges may occur.</p>
<p>If you are travelling alone, you will be able to set up overnights at the schools, saving any hotel costs. Of course, your parents would need accomodations, but it can be a valuable family experience and they may find themselves better able to envision you at the school once you have all experienced it together. </p>
<p>You should definitely call the Admissions offices to set up overnight visits, let them know of your cost concerns and see if they have any suggestions (or make an offer to fly you in, as NorthStarMom alluded to).</p>
<p>PS The Cherry Blossom "season" in DC does not consume the entire month of April, so you should be able to work around that.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I do not have direct experience with the below site, but bookmarked it on the recommendation of a poster in a previous thread on good travel values. It is specifically for students, so you may want to explore it (and perhaps someone with firsthand information will chime in):
<a href="http://www.studentuniverse.com/fly/?err=true%5B/url%5D">http://www.studentuniverse.com/fly/?err=true</a>
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I've searched on StudentUniverse before, and on occasion, it does surface some great deals. Most of the time, however, it's not exactly what you need; a departing/return flight may be unavailable or the prices may be simply too high.</p>
<p>Another website I'd recommend is: <a href="http://www.statravel.com%5B/url%5D">www.statravel.com</a>. Booked there once, decent prices.</p>
<p>Northstarmom; I'd forgotten about my Georgetown post! You have a good point, in that I only recently realized that I was more attractive at highly selective schools than I'd thought. By the way, to make my stats "complete" I did take the subject tests, and got WH-800, AH-770, and Lit-720.</p>
<p>itstoomuch; I agree that day visits to colleges can be highly subjective. Little things can influence one's perception of the place more than they should. But I couldn't bring myself to attend a college I had never seen before, and my parents certainly wouldn't let me.</p>
<p>dmd77; It would probably be cheaper to reserve in advance, but as I don't find out my acceptance offers and financial aid deals until early April, that doesn't leave me much time before May 1. So I guess that means I pretty much have to schedule ahead of time. Should I do that, even if I have to cancel a flight if a school didn't work out for me? Or should I just try and visit before May 1st and not worry about receiving acceptances and financial aid deals beforehand?</p>
<p>"See one school and drive ca. 3 hours to the other and return for your flight home."</p>
<p>Since car companies won't rent to 17 and 18-year-olds, his option would be to take a train or bus to visit Princeton.</p>
<p>I know the OP doesn't think that the transportation costs will matter that much when he's in college, but even with generous need-based financial aid, most family's budgets are squeezed. In addition to having a tough time affording to go home for major holidays, his family would have a tough time visiting him, including for Parents weekend or to help him move into and out of college at the beginning and end of the year. All of these can be major inconveniences.</p>
<p>"If you are going to go to a school within say 2-3 hour drive of home, that is one thing. Once you begin to think of any school beyond that, the travel issue begins to recede in my mind. A half-day to 8-hour day of travel is just that - whether it be a long drive, a flight from where you are to Southern California, or a flight to the mid-west or East Coast."</p>
<p>Actually, I see a big difference because of the increased # of flight delays and missed flights due to storms and similar problems. Odds are that one isn't going to run into this kind of problem with a 45-min. point-to-point flight that one can get if one is 2.5 hours from home. When flying longer distances, however, it's very probable that one is going to run into storm-related flight delays particularly over the winter holidays. With airlines becoming less and less generous in providing accommodations, food, etc. when these kinds of problems occur, the delays can become huge hassles. BTDT.</p>
<p>One also doesn't have to go to college an extremely long distance away to be able to face the challenges of becoming independent and adjusting to new cultures. Simply going from a rural environment to an urban one or going from the western to eastern part of a state can provide enough change for one to learn a lot about how to adjust to moves.</p>
<p>Baird17</p>
<p>I work in a school system in a rural part of the South. Many of my students are first generation, and few of my students venture out of state. I have found that my students with excellent stats also tend to stay in-state, in part because their parents are very reluctant to have them leave. I wonder if you would share how much influence you think your parents' desires will ultimately have? Do you hope they might be more likely to let you go farther if they visit Georgetown and Princeton?
If this is important, of course you will want to have their input during the visits, if you can make that happen.</p>
<p>Congrats, by the way, on getting such extraordinary scores, and for moving through this process without the benefit of parents who have "been there" before you!</p>
<p>momofthree;</p>
<p>My parents will naturally have a big say on where I do end up. However, I think their primary concern is for my well being. If I can show them that I can be safe and happy on the other side of the continent, something that visiting the campus is important for, than I think they will support my decision, wherever I go, as best they can.
I think I know your position somewhat. My school is similar to yours in that those few who do go to college automatically attend a public university. There's nothing wrong with that, other than few realize what options are available to them. And of course, far fewer attend college than could or should.</p>
<p>Thanks for the valuable input, everyone.</p>
<p>Reserving in advance: You already know you're in at Georgetown. If that and Princeton are your only east coast schools, reserve now for DC in early April (Georgetown can probably tell you its admitted student weekend) and plan to take the train to Princeton (and back) if you also get in there. You will not be able to get your $$ back if you don't use non-refundable tickets (and refundable ones cost three or four times as much). It's a nice train ride.</p>