<p>Can two of these schools be visited in one day? We plan on driving there, but am trying to determine how much time needed to visit. DD's order of preference would be Carleton, Macalester, St. Olaf, then Gustavus. Any advice about visiting?</p>
<p>Carleton and St. Olaf are easy to visit in the same day because they’re only a couple of miles apart in Northfield. We did that last spring.</p>
<p>Agree that Carleton and St. Olaf should be easily doable in one day (depending on their event schedules); they’re only about 5 minutes apart, if that. It’s only about a 45-50 minute drive (barring rush hour traffic) between Macalester (in Saint Paul) and Northfield, so in principle it could be possible to visit Mac and one of the Northfield schools in the same day.</p>
<p>Google Maps says Gustavus is 1 hr 21 min from Macalester and 1 hr 13 min from Carleton, but it’s a bigger 4-lane highway between Gustavus and the Twin Cities; to get from Northfield to Gustavus you’ve got to negotiate some smaller 2-lane country roads, which can sometimes be a challenge in winter (and MN winters have a nasty habit of extending into what others regard as spring). I think trying to squeeze Gustavus into the same day with any of these other colleges might be tight. </p>
<p>So depending on which direction you’re coming from I’d be inclined to do: Day 1 Gustavus; Day 2 Macalester; and Day 3 Carlton am and St. Olaf pm. Or, reverse the order.</p>