<p>The worst road in New England, as far as completely inexplicable traffic problems and delays, is 84, which runs east-west through Ct (from Wesleyan to Vassar, as far as you’re concerned). You probably will have no trouble, but it’s always wise to check it on your smartphone, if you have one. I mean, I’ve hit traffic at 3 in the morning on a weekend.</p>
<p>Thanks for this info, marysidney. I’ll be taking a laptop, so I can try to check out the traffic before we leave each place but not on the way.</p>
<p>Has anyone mentioned Bowdoin?</p>
<p>You can do Bates and Bowdoin in one day. We did it last year. Check the schedules since you may HAVE to do one in the morning due to timing. We did Bowdoin in the AM. It’s a 45 minute drive between. At least Bowdoin, maybe also Bates, give you written driving directions to the other in the admission offices.</p>
<p>If you have to miss something (admissions talk or tour) miss the admissions talk. Last year at Bowdoin, the admissions guy spent almost the whole 45 minutes asking kids what their favorite food was. What a waste of time.</p>
<p>Middlebury is far away from everything, very hard to get to (mostly 2 lane roads nearby) and nothing else is there. Note that the bridge west across Lake Champlain West of Middlebury was demolished about 3 months ago, in case you had plans to drive south in NY to Vassar, or elsewhere. THe tour of Wesleyan was way too long, 1.5 hours. Suggest jumping off before seeing the gym - yeah W has a great gym, etc. - is far from the rest of campus; or stop at the deli near the gym, get a sandwich and wait until the tour comes back again. As I recall, we saw the dorms after the gym.</p>
<p>There are lots of quality but cheap hotels near Vassar. In Maine, well, its cold, as are the motels. Amherst has more restaurants than you can shake a stick at. Traffic around Brown and Boston is horrible. On 84, at Danbury, traffic can be bad. Good luck.</p>
<p>I posted this a few weeks ago elsewhere here, FYI:</p>
<p>Just about a year ago, we did a 3000 mile road car trip with my then 11th grade D visiting (in order): Skidmore, Middlebury, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, MIT, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Wellesley, Connecticut College, Wesleyan, Williams, Vassar, Franklin & Marshall. Fourteen colleges. Pfew. Wednesday to Saturday the next week. We always stayed overnight in the town near the day’s first target. Two per day sometimes. Doing two per day can be tough – you must make sure you’re on the rightly scheduled college tour. Check the school’s websites carefully, noting that schedules change during spring break. On those two-school days, I suggest having a sandwich in the car for lunch – no time even for McD’s. Also remember to check your gas tank status frequently (focusing on colleges, one forgets the basics). The info sessions were repetitive after a while (one school says about the same as another), especially since most of the information came again during the tours. Our trip did eliminate some from our D’s list, due to the tours and the kids that gave them. Ask questions about non-basic things to see how they respond (like how are parties – one school’s guide (Connecticut) said, “yeah we have them every Friday …” another school’s guide (Bowdoin) responded “We have the lowest incidence of hospitalization due to over drinking” – not exactly what I was asking). If you go north, plan to check into the hotel/motel before dinner. Turn on the heat, then go out to dinner. Usually the rooms of inexpensive hotel/motels are unheated when there’s no one there, and it takes 1+ hours to get them warm. Make sure the student signs in at the admissions office. Some schools take a visit into the admissions decision as a showing of interest. Also, the kid will get on the mailing list (post and electronic). Dress nicely, but nothing fancy required since you will be one of dozens. If the kid plans to interview, the kid should dress well.</p>
<p>I too would not bother visiting Brown if you need to save time. The smaller schools track “interest” and visits are very much appreciated. I was kind of wondering why Williams was not on your list but I see why now.</p>
<p>You could always add “drive bys” at Bowdoin, Trinity in Hartford, Conn. College in New London if you find yourself on 95 for some strange reason…don’t think you will be on that though.</p>
<p>84 is indeed unpredictable, I live near Danbury, and to be avoided around rush hour in Hartford in particular if you can.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>momrath: He wants to be a High School Social Studies teacher. Bard does not do certification, Bates and some of the others on the list here do, so he will be doing a one year Masters in Education program that includes certification at Bard (they have a graduate MAT program), Columbia Teachers College, or Harvard.</p>
<p>ConCerndDad: toured all but 4 of those schools. A great list. Have any decisions come in yet. Good luck if not. As an F&M alum I was wondering how you compared F&M. I thought the new facilities compare well to many of the schools on your list.</p>
<p>Calreader … a couple years ago my daughter and I did a one week trip through the northeast and mid-atlantic and we planned on 10 schools on 5 days (planning on Monday through Friday to catch schools during classes) … and in the end we added a bunch of drive-byes and ended up seeing even more schools. I think a school a day is absolutely doable … and I think you can sneak in some extra schools if interested …</p>
<p>Bates … visit Bowdoin or Colby
Wesleyan … visit Yale, Trinity, or Connecticut College
Etc</p>
<p>Even a drive through these extra schools may help your son understand what he likes and doesn’t like about schools.</p>
<p>CTParent:</p>
<p>My D ED1’d to Mount Holyoke and was accepted, tears all around.</p>
<p>F&M was really nice, but we were there on a Saturday open house with about 1000 prospies and their 2000 parents in attendance. We gathered in the gym at a few hundred tables, then toured in dozens of groups so close that you could hear the group in front and behind. Not a great idea for F&M. Also, our girl tour guides were way too sororityish and blonde - turning my D off.</p>
<p>ConCernddad…Congratulations a great school in a great area.</p>
<p>Large group crowds do make tours an issue. I have always thought colleges should try to pair different type as tour guides so there is less risk of a turn off. Hate to say it too but our three F&M tour guides didn’t turn us on either.</p>
<p>I wanted to report back to all of you who helped me - my son and I had a great trip, though we were pretty worn out by the end.</p>
<p>We ended up visiting these schools: Bowdoin, Bates, Middlebury, Amherst, Wesleyan, Vassar, and Tufts. We added Bowdoin because of the advice here and it was totally worth it. We dropped Brown, again because of your advice, since the students were on spring break anyway. I drove 1125 miles. It was very rainy on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, so it took over six hours in heavy rain to get from Bates to Middlebury, but other than that the driving was fine.</p>
<p>My son arranged ahead of time to visit a class at each school, and he ended up adding an extra class at Bowdoin, which was helpful. Thanks to a parent here, he had a terrific personal tour at Amherst. We have a friend who is a junior at Wesleyan, so my son met with this student, who also introduced him to some friends who are in some majors he’s interested in. We have a friend at Tufts who used to be a tour guide, and he spent about an hour and a half giving us the official tour mixed with his own experiences. Tufts was a last-minute addition on our way back to Boston, but it worked out well.</p>
<p>My son ended up feeling that it was the unscripted parts of our visits that made everything work. He was glad that we went to only one college each day; it was hard enough to keep everything straight that we couldn’t imagine doing more.</p>
<p>I got a speeding ticket in Vermont - it was rainy and dark, and I didn’t even notice we were in a small town until I saw the flashing lights :-). Does anyone know if they’ll report the points to the California DMV? I’ve already paid it, but I would love not to have to do traffic school.</p>
<p>We stayed in a mix of motels, bed and breakfasts, and hotels. They were all good, but maybe the best was a B&B in Vermont. I had gotten lost and the rain slowed us down, so we arrived at about 9 pm. We were cold and tired. The owner had a thermos of hot water and a selection of teas waiting in our room, with a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies. She handed us a menu and asked what we would like her to cook for breakfast. It was like staying at grandma’s house, and it was hard to leave in the morning. If you’re looking for a place near Middlebury, check this place out: Willow & Lotus, in Cornwall, Vermont, about 5-10 minutes from campus. Their web site seems to be down right now, so I won’t post a link, but you should be able to find it.</p>
<p>Anyway, it all worked out much better than I expected because of everyone’s helpful tips (and one parent volunteering her child :-)), so thanks. We wish we could have taken the scenic route over the White Mountains, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Next time.</p>
<p>Glad it worked out. I suspect VT will not notify CA about your ticket but cannot say for sure.</p>
<p>Sounds like you now need a vacation! 
Glad it was a productive trip.</p>