Ivy League Tour this Summer - Whats OUR best alternative considering . . .

Would have to know the student’s stats to suggest matches and safeties.

@intparent [and others]: We do not know what other places OP & kid are considering. We do not know where else they may visit. I repeat: they asked a simple logistical question about visiting the Ivies. They did not ask for your advice about where kid should apply. Maybe we could dial back the judgments?

Some thoughts:

Villanova, Swarthmore, Haverford, Widener and Bryn Mawr are all located in close proximity to each other in the western suburbs of Philadelphia, and you can drive through all of them in a couple hours. Yes, I know Bryn Mawr is women only, but other people reading this thread might have females in the family.

Drexel is next to Penn, and Temple is on the north side of Philadelphia.

If you look at Johns Hopkins, Fort McHenry is a great place to visit, and little Italy is good place for dinner.

How can one suggest logistics without knowing it is a 7 college or much larger tour?

Not having read the full thread yet, you do NOT need a car to get to Dartmouth. The Dartmouth Coach leaves from South Station in Boston (where the train from Providence comes in) many times each day, and it is round trip.

Missed the editing deadline.

If I wanted to visit all of the Ivies except Cornell, I would fly into either Boston or Philadelphia.

If Boston, take the coach or rent a car to Dartmouth and back, then the train or car to Providence, then to New Haven, then to NYC for Columbia, then Princeton, then Penn, and fly home.

If Philly, pretty much the reverse, flying home from Boston after visiting Dartmouth.

It all depends on how comfortable you feel driving in cites.

It’s not just comfort driving in the cities, it’s the hassle of parking. It is neither easy nor cheap to park in Boston. Providence is fine. Parking garage at Penn was easy, maybe $12 for afternoon. Someone said there is parking at Columbia but the trains are too easy in NYC for me. We stayed in Newark and took the train from Newark Penn to NY Penn.

The trip is doable. My guess is you won’t want to see any schools before the competition as that would be a distraction for your D. I’d do it this way: Rent a car in Providence, then see Brown, Yale, Dartmouth, and Harvard in that order, and return car to Providence. Take train to NYC for Columbia, then train to Philly for Penn. Rent a car in Philadelphia for Princeton (and perhaps see Hopkins, as well?), return car and fly home from Philly. Good luck at the championships, and with the tour.

" It is neither easy nor cheap to park in Boston."

It makes more sense to stay in Cambridge if you are visiting Harvard. Quite easy/cheap/convenient to park and stay in Cambridge. That’s what I did with my kid when visiting Harvard (and BC and Tufts and BU).

Thanks @Zinhead ! @intparent We don’t have all stats yet as many tests to be taken in the next few months. Probably better to ask for input after…

Yes, probably best to start your own thread, too. But if you have PSATs, that is a starting point. So go ahead and kick off a thread with that, GPA, ECs, possible majors, any size/cost/geography constraints, etc.

@intparent Sorry, new here. Will do as you suggest.

No advice on this specific itinerary but to me, the convenience of a car is worth any parking hassle. It enables you to drive around and scout out the college 's surrounding neighborhoods in a way you can’t if you’re reliant on walking. It enables you to stop by grocery stores for snacks and get to your hotels far easier than trains. Plus what are you going to do, schlep your luggage with you on tours?

OP hasn’t responded to the 71 posts since their initial post. I think we’re just beating a dead horse . Pretty much everyone is in agreement that they should drive so unless they come back to the thread and give a reason why it’s not an option, I think more posts repeating the same things are unnecessary. Good luck OP to your daughter in her competition and on visiting colleges!

Lots of people on this thread have toured the ivies, but only one said it was a waste of time. Did anyone else who has done it feel it was a bad idea to have done it?

We hear from students and parents every spring who wish they had spent less time on reaches and more time on match & safety schools.

^^ I don’t think you should be so cynical. The Ivies enroll some 12,000 kids each year. Obviously it wasn’t a waste of time for them to have toured the schools (not to mention the kids who ended up going to schools like Stanford, MIT, Caltech and a bunch of other top schools). Why did you automatically assume that OP is wasting their time? Again, it appears their daughter is a top athlete in which case maybe she’ll have her pick of schools.

I think it is a waste of time,[for non recruited athletes], given that the chances of actually being accepted at any one Ivy are so small.
IF a student IS lucky enough to be accepted, as my DS was at 2 Ivy’s, then it is better to visit and stay overnight during accepted students days/ weekends.
Then the student can have a much better idea of fit, feel, and suitability, without Mom or Pop right next to them.

I understand that proportionally in a college search, match and safety schools should get the most attention. The proportion of attention given to reach schools should be about equal to your probability of getting into them which is really small everyone.

I’d still like to know from @whitespace, @delurk1, @Much2learn , @ohiodad53, @Hunt, were your ivy visits valuable experiences? Thanks.

The problem, almost everyone’s probability is really low… especially if the school doesn’t compete in your sport so you are not a recruited athlete. The Ivies aren’t a match for anyone.