<p>I'm going to MIT's campus preview weekend from April 8-11, and I'm planning on visiting Cornell from the 11th-12th. With a six hour car ride, I could leave Boston and arrive at Ithica in time to check in, but I'm 18 and visiting by myself. This is preventing me from finding any place that will rent me a car. I need a way to get to Ithaca (bus, train, car, anything). Does anyone have an idea on how I might travel from Boston to Ithaca in a reasonable amount of time?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Take your own car? (Parents’ car/family car?) Take a plane ride? (Probably too long.) Catch a bus or train? I think bus or train is your best bet.</p>
<p>I live in Texas and have already booked a ticket to Boston, so the car doesn’t work. Greyhound would work, but it’s over $200 which I think is pretty ridiculous, considering it’s half the price to get to Syracuse (but I wouldn’t know how to get to Ithica from there). I don’t think any trains go directly to Ithica either.</p>
<p>Fly from Boston to Syracuse and catch some kind of shuttle? It seems as though when we visited Cornell, people flew into Syracuse.</p>
<p>The problem with flying or taking a train to Syracuse is getting from Syracuse to Ithaca. The cab ride from Syracuse’s airport will set you back $100 and the Ithaca Limousine shuttle will cost slightly less than that (I think it’s around $90 one way). Unless you can find a ride, it sounds like your least expensive option is the bus to Ithaca.</p>
<p>In my day, you’d hitch hike!</p>
<p>PS: there aren’t any trains. Did you look into traveling (train/bus) from Boston to NYC and then Bus up to Cornell?</p>
<p>PS: there aren’t any trains. Did you look into traveling (train/bus) from Boston to NYC and then Bus up to Cornell? </p>
<p>this ^^^^^^^^</p>
<p>It is neither easy or cheap to get to Ithaca without a personal vehicle. This should be taken into account when looking at colleges. </p>
<p>–P’10, P '14</p>
<p>We just got back from visiting schools in Boston and then traveling to Cornell. The problem of getting from Boston to Ithaca was one of the reasons we drove our car on this trip. My daughter’s friend goes to Ithaca and travels home to the South several times a year. She gets a ride to NJ and then flies home out of Newark. She uses a website to arrange her rides to NJ, paying a nominal amount for shared gas. She says it is usually the same group of kids she ends up traveling with. Pain in the neck for sure, but doable!</p>
<p>i have had to spend nights in airports b/c of flight delays leading to missed rides from airports to and from ithaca/syracuse!!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>To be fair, for a lot of colleges it isn’t cheap or easy to get to without a car. Think of places like Notre Dame, Penn State, UVa, or any one of the countless liberal arts colleges sprinkled through New England and the Midwest. How does one get to Middlebury? Bowdoin? Colby? Oberlin?</p>
<p>Even getting to a place like Duke, which is in a major city, is a $40 cab ride from the airport.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>To be fair, for a lot of colleges it isn’t cheap or easy to get to without a car. Think of places like Notre Dame, Penn State, UVa, or any one of the countless liberal arts colleges sprinkled through New England and the Midwest. How does one get to Middlebury? Bowdoin? Colby? Oberlin?</p>
<p>Even getting to a place like Duke, which is in a major city, is a $40 cab ride from the airport.</p>
<p>No argument about many colleges being off the beaten path. It’s not just Cornell.</p>
<p>As a Cornell parent … I’m very aware of just how hard it is to get to Ithaca if I don’t want to or cannot drive. It’s a continual frustration for me, as I travel on business and need to get to Ithaca for sports events (yes, NEED) and I find that you just can’t get there quickly, easily, and on a budget. </p>
<p>This spring I will skip an important trade show to be at Cornell. Last fall, I skipped an awards banquet at Cornell and fall ball, because I needed to be at conferences and buying shows. </p>
<p>Cornell’s gorgeous location has it’s pluses and minuses. Getting there is one of them!</p>
<p>It’s weird that Cornell doesn’t offer transportation from a nearby city on their campus preview days. Syracuse is 80 miles away, so that’s <$10 for a car one way. Four travelers should be able to pack into a car and the price should be really cheap. Aren’t they expecting 100s of people on certain days in April? I’m probably just going to have to pay the $50-$100 for those 80 miles.</p>
<p>You’re absolutely right about that, someone should mention it to admissions.
I guess a problem is people would be coming in at all different times. But still, they should get some kind of shuttle going.</p>
<p>Meanwhile. should OP put a “ride wanted” ad on Ithaca and Boston craigslist? Or is there some other place? The Sun?
we used to have “ride wanted” boards in the Strait.</p>
<p>My family’s been fortunate as NYC metro residents, there’s generally been plenty of drivers and buses for us. And we’ve no problem driving there.</p>
<p>You can take a bus from Boston to Albany, then a bus from Albany to Ithaca. Another, but longer way, is to take a bus from Boston to New York City, then New York City to Ithaca. I think that’s your best bet.</p>
<p>Bos–> NYC, NYC > ITH might actually be the cheapest</p>
<p>i think an asian friend told me there were cheaper buses available that run out of NYC Chinatown to and from cities like boston?</p>
<p>People are talking about taking trains to Ithica but, according to the cornell website, “The nearest train stop is Syracuse, NY, located approximately 80 minutes from Ithaca.” That means I’m going to have to take a bus/car/taxi/shuttle at some point in time.</p>
<p>It’s not spelled Ithica…it’s Ithaca!!! : )</p>