I admit I’m confused. I only have one friend with a recruited athlete son. He was invited to various colleges, and spent lots of time with coaches. He returned to his 2 top choices. Each of these visits took days.
A client may become a recruited athlete. Her parents are researching colleges with her sport now, and try to fit them in when they are nearby for a tournament. Academically, they are seeking out Match schools.
No stats provided or any comments on the suggestions that maybe match & safeties are a good ideas. The OP is set on the Ivies come whatever. And regarding GCs saying the kid is a rock star – all 20,000 high schools in the country have a rockstar or two. Every kid needs at least a match and a safety they would be happy to attend and can afford.
Unofficial visits are different than official visits for athletes. The OP said they were looking at the schools, not meeting with coaches. Many coaches aren’t even ON campus in June.
It’s her trip. She just asked about transportation. I’d go with a car if possible. Traveling around NE in June on a train or bus might be hot and complicated, but it is do-able.
For what it’s worth, I have a cousin who was a recruitable athlete interested primarily in Ivy League schools this year. Her application process was essentially over by the third week in September, when she submitted an ED application and got a likely letter by return mail. She wasn’t a superstar, I don’t think. Six people from her club team went to D-I colleges, some of them with much stronger programs than the one she chose, and not every college on her list made her an offer. But she had a strong athletic resume and a strong academic resume.
The point here is that some kids may not have the luxury of waiting until fall to look at the colleges they want to focus on first. If it turns out they are going to have to identify “matches and safeties,” they should know that in plenty of time to do something about it.
I’d hate to start looking in the fall if the athlete got injured. That would be a fire drill.
Considering some of the itineraries discussed, the OP should also research budget airfares from Frontier or Allegiant. Frontier flies in and out of the Trenton airport, which is minutes from Princeton, and an easy trip to and from Philly. If you want to travel by train, it is very near the West Trenton SEPTA station, or you could arrange to get to the Trenton Amtrak station from there. Allegiant uses the Lehigh Valley/Allentown airport. It is accessible to Philly, Princeton, and a pretty quick drive to NYC and points north. It is practically next door to Lehigh University, if you are interested in colleges outside the rarefied world of the Ivy League. You can rent a car easily from either small airport, and you’ll find that baggage collection, TSA, etc., are a breeze compared to larger hubs.
You will spend massively more time and money using trains and buses and taxis. All these universities (even Columbia) have plenty of parking for visitors. With a car, you also pick up massive flexibility in terms of when you come and go and what hotels you can stay in. Also, you really want to be schlepping your luggage through the streets of every major northeastern city in the middle of summer?
You can also visit tons of other non-Ivy schools if you have a car. Very easy to check out Harvard and Tufts and BU and BC while in Boston with a car. Doing that on public transit is a huge PITA.
Gas is only $1.50 a gallon these days and rental cars are dirt cheap as compared to buying two tickets on Amtrak.
Go north to south or south to north.
It is always nice to spend a day in NYC. There is a train from Penn station to right in the middle of Princeton campus. I think it involves the NJT and is cheap. It is about an hour and a half ride as I recall
I would fly into Boston, see Harvard (and Tufts/BC/BU), take Amtrak to Providence (45 min) (more comfortable and faster than the commuter rail, especially with luggage). Then, take Amtrak to NYC (3 hrs) to see Columbia and a few others, then back on the train to Philly (1-½ hr) then onto Princeton (30 min.) The train will be far easier and less stressful than driving or flying. Fly out of trenton, if Possible, or Newark or Philly. The total cost will be around $250 per person, and most of that will be the Providence - NYC leg. If they take the regional rather than the Acela, they can get it down to about $200 total. Cheaper than renting a car and paying for gas. Not to mention free parking is nearly impossible in many of these cities.
@intparent: It may be that “all 20,000 high schools in the country have a rockstar or two,” but if an experienced college counselor at one of the country’s top college prep schools tells you to shoot for the stars (and that he spends most years dissuading students and parents from aiming too high), you’d be a fool not to follow his advice. And, yes, “[e]very kid needs at least a match and a safety they would be happy to attend and can afford,” but OP’s question was specifically about organizing a trip to as many Ivies as possible. There are no safeties in the Ivies, and far more applicants will “match” the demographics than could ever be admitted. If OP’s daughter has the stats and the interest, I think it’s very wise to visit as many of the Ivies as possible. Our trip was very helpful in terms of limiting the schools that D wanted to apply to. Regards, ATS
Personally, I think there are advantages to doing some of it by train. One is that the OP’s D is unlikely to have a car at college and getting a feel for how easy it is to get around one may be part of choosing a college.There is a slight discount you might want to check out. https://www.amtrak.com/buy-one-get-one-50-off-with-college-campus-visit
Despite the fact you’re already in Providence, I’d begin the tour by going from Providence directly to Dartmouth, especially if you do plan to drive. The longest trip you’ll have will be the one getting to Hanover. I’d do this early on, before you are tired. It has the added advantage that Dartmouth will have some students around. It also has the highest admit rate.
So, drive or travel by bus to Hanover from Providence. Personally, I’d take the train–Amtrak or suburban–from Providence to Boston. Rent a car in Boston and drive to Hanover.
After Hanover, head to Boston. Dump rental car and go see Harvard.
Get back on the train and go to Providence. See Brown.
Get back on train and head to New Haven. See Yale.
Get back on train–again Amtrak or local (MetroNorth) and go to NYC. See Columbia.
Take local train to Princeton. See Princeton.
^^^ That looks like a very good itinerary.
I had a kid with “Ivy stats” who really liked LACs, ended up applying to no Ivies. If you don’t visit anyplace else, how do you even know that is what you want?
And you don’t know that the OP’s kid goes to a hot shot prep school. Also, it is unlikely that they will visit the two Ivies it is easiest to get into…
For two people on Amtrak, each leg of Boston-Providence-New Haven-NYC-Princeton-Philly costs you about $80. So that’s $400 bucks just for Amtrak fares. Then you have to take a bunch of cabs or buses from each airport to each train station to each campus to each hotel back to each train station and on and on. Maybe another $150 or so. Dragging your bags through each leg.
Gas, tolls, parking, car rental is cheaper than that. And much faster, convenient, comfortable, flexible and cooler in the summer. One way rental for a week unlimited mileage is maybe $200?
But go ahead and take the train. Your kid will hate every minute of it. And so will you.
FYI, I did Boston-Providence-New Haven-NYC-Princeton-Philly by car last summer and it was easy and cheap. And fun since we were not slaves to a train schedule and so fit in lots of side trips and sight seeing.
To get the best Amtrak fares you have to book a few weeks in advance and lock in your schedule. If you decide to do that be prepared to do that or pay much higher fares especially if the time you need happens to be an Acela.
Are you only visiting those seven schools from that single athletic conference?
Or will you schedule a tour to see the schools of interest in and around Boston, New York, Philadelphia, etc?
For what it’s worth, the gymnastics national championships are in RI in June so I assume that’s the event…
^^ That’s what I found. Four Ivy schools have gymnastics: Brown, Penn, Cornell and I think Yale. I’m not sure of the other schools have teams
I’m going to assume that the OP would have stated what the sport was if the OP wanted to. Don’t you all have anything better to do with your time than snoop on other posters and publicly announce personal information they choose not to disclose?
This is very useful information…
We’re planning a college road trip for the summer from Boston to DC. We’ve seen Harvard (we’re from the Boston area) and will probably fit in a day trip to Brown before June. So hope to visit Yale, Columbia, U Penn, Princeton, and also fit in NYU, Georgetown, and Johns Hopkins. We will drive and AirBNB. Agree that the flexibility trumps everything and driving is very reasonable pricewise if you are more than two people. S is a junior & D is sophomore so taking both along.
Any suggestions for good non Ivy choices south of us in the Northeast? We may be looking at reaches, but definitely also looking for matches where S would be happy. Hope the visits help us narrow down the list.
Original poster if you have time do visit other great Boston area colleges…Tufts, Brandeis, Wellesley, BC, BU, MIT, to name a few.