<p>Bowdoin is actually 25 minutes away from Portland and just over 2 hours from Boston. M's Mom, you were doing a great job promoting Grinnell on its own merits; perhaps better to stick to the positives.</p>
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<p>Williams is over 3 hours from Boston and over 4 hours from New York. Colby is a good 3+ hours from Boston. Middlebury is over 5 hours from New York, 3-1/2 hours from Boston, and 3-1/2 hours from Montreal. If these count as "near," then we might as well say Grinnell is "near" Chicago (4-1/2 hours), Minneapolis-St. Paul (4-1/2 hours) and Kansas City (< 4 hours).</p>
<p>I was looking at driving times from the airport, rather than to the downtown. It's 39 minutes from Portland Int'l to Bowdoin's admissions office, and 46 minutes to Bates', assuming good weather-per mapquest. The drive downtown may be quicker. Of course, the drive downtown is more relevent if you're a student looking for city life.</p>
<p>In that case, it is 30 minutes from Oberlin to the Cleveland airport. And there is regular bus transportation between the college and the airport, couldn't be simpler.</p>
<p>Wesleyan isn't poor, but it probably can't match Grinnell's capacity to spend.<</p>
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<p>Wesleyan made a huge investment in its science program many years ago, making it possible to leverage significant sums from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). As a result, the opportunities for undergrads to partcipate in publishable research (very important if you hope to go on in the sciences) are probably unparalleled among LACs. </p>
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<p>Wesleyan is certainly much closer to major urban centers like NY and Boston, though transportation connections to those places are surprisingly bad (no train service, and I believe no direct bus service) and my impression is most Wes students stay on campus most of the time, rarely venturing to NY or Boston, so exactly what that proximity buys you is an open question.<</p>
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<p>There's an Amtrak station (Meriden, CT), three miles from the Wesleyan campus, easy cab distance. The school hires shuttle buses to Bradley Airport and New Haven during breaks and holidays. OTOH, it is true that Wesleyan itself is a major net importer of music, dance and speakers to the area.</p>
<p>Most of my wesleyan friends take buses out of Hartford to get to NY/Boston, and have a friend drive them from school to the station. It's usually about $50 round trip to either city.</p>
<p>Not very convenient, but my friends seem to make it out of middletown a decent amount.</p>
<p>I just came back from Wesfest… It was truly awesome, the people were amazingly smart and their personalities were so multi-dimensional. The classes I visited were awesome, as were the professors. I loved the campus and everything. but I got kind of homesick, I don’t know if I’d be able to last out there for so long. </p>
<p>Grinnell is closer, but it likes a four hour drive and Wes is a 2 hour plane ride… idk. </p>
<p>the financial aid packages were basically the same. </p>
<p>If you loved your visit to Wes and felt comfortable there, that’s probably a good sign. Unless you’ve had an equally positive visit to Grinnell, I’d go with Wesleyan.</p>
<p>That said, I actually think a little more highly of Grinnell than Wesleyan based on my own experience…I just think the enthusiasm you brought back from your visit to Wes is telling.</p>
<p>My first thought is can I get somewhere that is a 12 hour drive from Des Moines and Iowa City. ;)</p>
<p>I’m not sure about weighing into a discussion when the O.P. has shared so little about herself. Only thing is that if you think you might be homesick being further away from home it might be a good thing you’re further away from home.</p>