<p>It looks like you’re going to Caltech first, then Harvey Mudd. For your NCal to SoCal flight, I’d use Oakland to Burbank. Ontario is closer to Mudd. The only catch will be that you’ll be renting a car at Burbank or Ontario, and returning it to LAX. Make sure that you compare car rental rates with that in mind.</p>
<p>California native here. Might I suggest flying into SFO, taking Bart from SFO into San Francisco for the first two night. Next day take caltrain to Stanford, and back after the tour. Next day take Bart to Berkeley. Then Bart back to SFO. That also gives you a chance to see a bit of San Francisco as it would be a shame to get that close and never see the city. Fly SFO to LAX (Southwest or Virgin America…) There you are going to need to rent a car. I’d suggest you stay over night in Pasadena two nights. It’s a lovely city. Then the last night, a hotel near LAX.</p>
<p>[Santa</a> Clara University - Welcome](<a href=“http://www.scu.edu/]Santa”>http://www.scu.edu/)</p>
<p>Santa Clara is very close to the San Jose airport. Beautiful historic buildings on campus if that matters.
If your parents are new to West Coast colleges, it might be worth looking at as a different reference point. More “well-rounded” instead of intense math/science. If you might need merit money instead of need-based, it would be good to look at. And ask us later if you need more ideas.</p>
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<p>Wow that gets to the point.</p>
<p>Any recommendations on hotels? Roads to take? Random info that might be useful to first time Cal visitor?</p>
<p>For ground transportation in California, a rental car is the only way to go. Forget public tranportation.</p>
<p>You can rent cars out of small airports just as easily as big ones. They may not have as many cars on the lot to choose from, but you only need one. Also one-way rentals do cost more but nowhere near an extra $1000. It’s been a while since I did one, but I remember the one-way extra fee being closer to $100 than to $1000. </p>
<p>Southwest Airlines has many flights daily from both SFO and San Jose to the LA area. I’d look into them.</p>
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<p>Hmm… After looking at the website, this was the exact same school that one of my friends had shown me but described it as his “perfect school, except… it’s religious”.</p>
<p>The other thing to consider is the time/annoyance thing every time you get near an airport or change out a car rental. Can you give it another day to bring one rental car back to the original rental spot? It would save lots!</p>
<p>Please look at Pomona College. It’s a stone’s throw from Mudd, literally. If you think you would like a school with a well-rounded curriculum like Stanford, you would also like Pomona. And they love you math/science types, and they have plenty of them.</p>
<p>We live in Northern California and forget public transportation of any kind- just rent a car. At both Berkeley and Stanford, parking can be problematic so be sure to allow plenty of time to park (more so at Berkeley). Stanford tours tend to fill up quickly. I can’t remember about Berkeley. D is a freshman at Stanford and they are currently on Spring break. Classes resume on 3-29.</p>
<p>Santa Clara is a Jesuit school but it is not religious like BYU or Oral Roberts University.
More on the lines of Gonzaga, Georgetown, Boston College.</p>
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<p>Well, it’s only liberaly religious. If you are looking for a totally non-religious school, it won’t do. If you are just avoiding the overtly conservative vibe, give it a look. It’s a Jesuit college. Yes, they are Catholic and no, I am not. The breadth of education seems to be much wider than many “Christian” schools.</p>
<p>Consider Enterprise Rent A Car, I have rented a car from one location and returned it to another without penalty. I have to say though the miles between the pick up and drop off locations were way less than what you are talking about. Still it would be easy enough to check it out. I also didn’t pick my car up at the airport, the shuttle from my hotel took me to the car rental office but Enterprise would have picked me up if that was not available. For the travel arrangements that I was making this was easier and turned out to be less expensive as well</p>
<p>I looked up the difference between returning to the same airport (SFO) versus renting at SFO and returning to LAX and the diff was around $300. This was National car rental since both the Avis and Budget websites were down for maintenance (which isn’t very bright on their part). </p>
<p>I agree that renting a car is the best and most convenient way to get around, especially when carting suitcases around. The trip between the bay area and LA isn’t too bad - around 5-6 hours if going down I-5 but longer if going down 101 but 101 is more scenic. If you go down 101 you might want to make a slight detour around San Luis Obispo and head to Morro Bay just to look around and for a break from the drive. It’s scenic. </p>
<p>I agree that if you have a chance try to swing through San Francisco for a couple of hours or so to see it - it’s a city with unique architecture and actually not that big so you can see quite a bit of it in a short time.</p>
<p>Usually you don’t have to pay and special dropoff fees if you’re renting a car at one area location and returing it to another location in the same general area such as between different airports within the bay area or within the LA basin. A long time ago I’d often fly out of San Jose airport but fly back into SFO so I’d rent a car at SFO and drive it straight to SJC and turn it in about 45 minutes after renting it (with some strange looks from the rental people when they saw I had it such a short time). So usually renting in SFO, dropping off in Oakland or renting in Ontario and returning to LAX wouldn’t result in a higher fee whereas renting in SFO and dropping off in LAX would (but nowhere close to an extra $1000). If you plan to do the multiple airports in a region though check with the rental company to be sure there’s no dropoff fee. You can easily see this on their websites by just see the cost for returning to the same versus a different one.</p>
<p>Knowledge- The rule of thumb is to sleep in the city of the campus tour you have scheduled for that morning. This eliminates fighting commuter traffic. All the schools you posted have morning commuter drives that you will not want to encounter. As posted above parking on campus is a problem. Contact Admissions and inquire if they have special visitor lots and day parking passes for prospective students visiting campus.
Noted that your flight home departs at 6am. You will need to turn your car in no later than 4am to give you enough time to shuttle from the rental place to your terminal, check in, go through security and make it to the gate. Might want to consider staying at a hotel near LAX with 24 hour shuttle service to the terminals and turning your car into the rental place the evening before.
Your trip is not complicated but it does require planning and careful consideration of realistic driving times and gridlock traffic in the Bay area and LA.</p>
<p>Agree with Moonchild about Pomona, visit it. When I visited Mudd, I also did a Pomona tour in the afternoon. You probably know the schools are right next to each other, there is plenty of time to do both. And you can take plenty of classes at Harvey Mudd if you get into Pomona, if you choose. I actually think the odds are better getting into Pomona, just because it is a larger, albeit very selective school.</p>
<p>Santa Clara would be good if you are desiring alot of money, they give out quite a bit. Jesuits are not ultra-religious, at all. Even if you don’t bother to visit, the supplement is minor to fill out. Great backup, and if you get offered a bunch of $$, go visit.</p>
<p>Look for hotels online- Expedia is a good site. Organize the list by prices and go with the least expensive one that you feel works well- ie not Motel 6, but also not the high priced ones. Sometimes the AAA rate (if you have it) is cheaper than online pricing. You can also get hotel deals if you book the flight at the same time as the hotel via Expedia. We have also used Orbitz recently. Things to consider- free parking if you have a rental car, free internet and free continental breakfast are all helpful and available at decent places. Kayak is a good site to scout out the best deals. Also remember you can cross reference sites to get the most information about a hotel. It is possible to book round trip flights that include more than one city- start with city A (home), go to B then C then return to A (home).</p>
<p>Don’t bus or train from San Francisco to LA. It’ll take forever. Fly or rent/drive.</p>
<p>It’s about 6.5-7 hours to drive (give or take). That’s down the Interstate 5. It’s the fastest route. Not very scenic unless you like dirt and farmland.</p>
<p>If you have some time, you can drive down the 101 (somewhat more scenic) and stop at Monterey, Big Sur, etc. That would suck up time though.</p>
<p>Consider flying into Burbank and not LAX. It is much closer to Pasadena (Caltech) than any of the others. Similarly, Ontario is close to Harvey Mudd. Neither is close to LAX, at all.</p>
<p>When you get to LA, **rent a car<a href=“or%20drive%20one%20down%20from%20SF”>/b</a>. You’ll thank yourself for that decision. Investigate traffic a bit so you don’t get stuck during rush hour.</p>
<p>At this point, I’d just like to pitch visiting my school, USC 
It’s on the way to LAX from the others and offers good merit scholarships. Seeing as how you’ve booked flights already, that could make it difficult though.</p>
<p>In Pasadena, I’ve stayed at the Saga Motor Inn. Almost least expensive in area, and walking distance. They give discount if mention visiting Caltech.</p>
<p>I would fly to SFO and use public transportation to get to my hotels right near both campuses. I’d walk and travel with few things. You are much better off using Bart in Berkeley and walking to campus. The weather is good. I use Bart when I fly in from overseas to travel to my family’s place in Berkeley from SFO. Last summer I waved goodbye in Berkeley to my son pulling his little rolling bag on his way to the Bart station on his way to Athens, Greece. I don’t know anything about the L.A. area except I went to school there many years ago. I would call Stanford and Cal and get the proper schedules if nothing else and figure it all out in your head. It works. Its fun and different. Public transport and feet.</p>
<p>In the bay area you could get away with public transportation if you are just going to Stanford and Berkeley. There is a Caltrain station that stops at the edge of Stanford campus, and a Bart station that is a very short walk to the Berkeley campus. It would also get you out of the parking problems at both universities. (And if you are really adverse to walking, the Humphrey Go Bart shuttle takes you from the station to Cal, the Margarette shuttle take you from the train station to Stanford…) However, if you toss in Santa Clara, or other schools, a car is necessary.</p>