Need advice on Spring Break College Tour

I see you’ve changed your mind about trying to get to Grinnell in the middle of the trip, but thought I’d chime in on a couple of things re: Iowa. Snowstorms occur occasionally in April, but they’re not common and if it’s too bad to drive, it’ll be a problem to fly too. If you think you will need to spend the night on the road between Grinnell and the Twin Cities, then Mason City and Clear Lake on 35 both have a selection of hotels about halfway. July in Iowa can be humid as well as hot, so the weather is iffy either way, but either should be tolerable.

Good advice from @Lindagaf to check the drop fees, but I would not be as negative about the possibilities. It’s often possible between nearby states in our experience, although it can vary from year to year – and, more important, company to company. We’ve had years when Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio and even West Virginia were not a problem at all. I would not be surprised if Boston up to Maine would be okay with some companies. But, yes. be sure to check.

@Lindagaf @AboutTheSame Thanks for reminding me about the drop fees. I just checked and it looks ok. A rental from Boston Logan and Burlington VT airport is about $215/week. Or $306/week from Burlington to Boston. So it’s a $80 more to drop the car in Burlington vs. Boston.

@IABooks Thanks for the driving tips! If we have extra time, what’s there to see in or around Des Moines?

Costco (if you are/become a member) often has the best rental car rates. I have done many 1-way drop off rentals but I never do it if the price is prohibitive. Check a site such as expedia to gauge prices, but you have to research Costco cars and Southwest Air directly on their own sites. Also, these things can change daily so if you don’t like what you see one day, try again a few days later. Of course it works both ways and you can lose a good price if you don’t nab it right away. Usually rental cars are free to cancel.

Search “airport shuttle” on each college’s website to find out what they offer. That was important to me after paying through the nose during 4 years of boarding school in a remote area.

I don’t want to turn you off to the looks of either Macalester or Skidmore.

Macalester is in a city, so they don’t have the luxury to sprawl, but it is surrounded by a quiet residential neighborhood. If your daughter runs, there are lots of good routes. Summit Avenue is beautiful, and it’s not far to the MIssissippi River Boulevard. The people of Minneapolis and St. Paul tend to be active types. The new construction on the campus is really nicely done, especially the bright and sunny science center and the Music Center (especially the concert hall – stunning!) And the older construction is not bad looking!

The Skidmore campus is not your stereotypical Northeast ivy-covered 19th century buildings. It is 20th - 21st century, but it is brick and the layout is logical. One odd but practical feature is they have some covered walkways – nice in rain or snow. My son raves about the dining hall food. The upperclass apartments look like ski condos – I’ve not been inside, but they look like a nice place to live.

My D toured over two dozen schools in several trips and really enjoyed it, many of the same schools on your list. There were three schools we didn’t even get out of the car. We drove late afternoons to each hotel, had a nice dinner and relaxed, got up early and hit the road, always seeing at least 2 schools and often seeing 3 each day. My best advice is to have your student bring along index cards for each school. My D had each filled out with particular info, ie, majors/honors colleges/dorm info, that sort of thing. We talked about each one at night in the hotel or during the drive. Take pictures! The schools will start to all look alike and you’ll have difficulty sorting through them. We hit the dining halls for snack or lunch, looked at the science labs, dorms if possible, and walked the surrounding areas.

D now attends Skidmore, the town is walking distance and a nice area. The dorms are nice, the food is good, the classes are small and everyone was friendly when we visited. But, transportation is an issue. We found the busses and trains to not be reliable (and its expensive to get to Albany, $60 ow). D is a sophomore this year and now has a vehicle there with her.

As for Clark, be sure to visit. The surrounding area was a turn-off and it was taken off the list despite the significant merit $$. If for any reason you are displeased with the area or anything within the school, cut your visit short and move on. Good luck, try to keep it light, have fun. How many times do we get to do a 1-1 trip with our kids?

We took each of our kids to officially visit 14 schools. In each case, we did one trip summer before junior year, and the other spring break of junior year. We combined our college visits with family vacations so it didn’t seem as overwhelming.

One trip was: University of Richmond, University of South Carolina, college of Charleston, Davidson, Elon, wake Forest, and a self guided tour of UNC-Greensboro. Only one college per day.

Another trip was: University of San Diego, Chapman, Claremont McKenna, Pepperdine, Santa Clara, and a just a visit to see the beautiful campus at Stanford. I think we saw Chapman and CM the same day.

Our D.C trip was UMD-CP, Catholic University, Peabody Conservatory…that was. Long weekend trip.

Boston: Boston University, New England Conservatory. Just an overnight.

Texas: UNT and SMU.

Then we did a single to Pittsburgh to see Duquesne.

The thing about your trip…in addition to having 14 colleges, you are also flying all over the eastern part of the country. In my opinion, you are trying to do too much in a that time period.

My son was VERY into his visits. He was a music major and he also had a music lesson when we visited. Still…he just wasn’t interested in a long week of college visits.

Our daughter really was much into the visits at all. She went along because it was a family vacation… it really, she paid little attention to most of the college presentations. She on,y wanted to apply to three schools…University of San Diego, Santa Clara, and University of South Carolina. DD had really researched her school choices…we wanted her to see some variety. Because we combined with family vacations, it was OK…but I never would have taken her on a big trip otherwise.

Who has chosen all of these schools to visit? Has your daughter whittled down anything about her college search…or is this long trip the way to do that?

I think after a week, you both will just want to be home. It’s a lot to do…in a short time.

In Des Moines, East Village is a kind of fun little shopping and dining area near downtown. There is a sculpture garden on the west side of downtown. I don’t know what else you’d like to do. There’s a science center, art center, botanical center and living history farm attraction. You can browse architectural salvage and antique shops. Broadway-type shows and concerts on the river walk area downtown. The Farmers Market is big if you’re there on a Saturday, but I don’t think it will be open yet in April. Valley Junction in West Des Moines has some interesting shopping. Lots of wineries and craft breweries nearby. Here’s the visitor center site for metro DSM: https://www.catchdesmoines.com

We don’t have a ton of public transportation, but parking is generally available and free or cheap.

@NEPatsGirl Thanks! Do you remember your itinerary? I’m imagining hanging in the hotel rehashing the day as well as reading up for the next day. Were your D’s index cards pre-filled out at home, or she filled out her impressions after the visit? Skidmore doesn’t have a shuttle to the airport? Hmmmm. And you’re saying everything I keep hearing about Clark. Maybe I’ll reserve the tour time but seriously ready to bail if she isn’t feeling it (as with all the schools).

@thumper1 Do you live on the east coast? It seems like you were able to do long weekends pretty easily.

Also, D picked all of these schools herself from the Princeton Review book, high prof marks, quality of life scores were important to her, plus other criteria. She poured over the book and came up with all of these, except Clark (which wasn’t in the addition of Princeton Review that she has (2015). Clark is an east coast mom-safety pick. She is into the college search and I think will take the project on seriously! I really hear you on cramming too much into 2 weeks, and being mentally done after one week. I am the WORST when it comes to vacation-creep. If I say I want to go somewhere for a long weekend, it ends up being Thursday - Tues. Or a week vacation usually turns into 10 days. But I looked at it as a giant puzzle and it was a challenge to see how I could put all of the pieces together.

I definitely want to keep Philly and either Boston-Vassar or Boston-Middlebury.

I’m resigned not to do So Cal in this trip anymore. So one leg has been cut. And am leaning on dropping Twin Cities OR Grinnell, and doing one over summer instead. Boo - I really want to see them all, but I can see the slogging through airports could be a real energy drain. D really wants to see Mac, so that may win out.

@iabooks - Broadway type show would be the best activity ever! Or something quintessential Iowa since I’ve never been! Too bad it’s not political primary season - that must have been fun! In one of my new scenarios, I have us spending two nights in Iowa, so if there is a show in town, that might seal the deal and bring us to Iowa. Also, I’m not sure if you caught that Junior Visit Day is at Grinnell at the tail end of the vacation, so that’s a big draw. I’m going to research shows, and in Minneapolis. If we can get to a show somewhere along this trip, D will be very happy!

We live on the east coast…but that didn’t help,us with the southeastern U.S. and CA trips for one kid…and we would never have done them all in one trip.

Or the Texas/D.C. Trip for the other. This kid would not have tolerated Pittsburgh, DC, Texas, Boston all in one swell swoop.

I understand that you want to see them all. But I just think…it’s way too many colleges in two weeks…and way too much traveling between places,…and way too many plane rides.

This is a fun thread! My D15 and I did a spring break NE tour her junior year. This was our itinerary and it worked out great:

Thursday evening: flew into Portland, ME
Friday: Bates; Colby
Saturday: Bowdoin; drove to NH to visit relatives
Monday: UVM; Middlebury
Tuesday: Williams
Wednesday: Amherst; Hampshire (obviously could do Smith/Holyoke instead)
Thursday: Wesleyan; Conn college
Friday: Brown; Wheaton (MA)
Saturday: Tufts
Sunday: Flew out of Boston

It was very doable, had a great time, though I will admit we were lucky with the weather. Some friends of ours were doing a similar trip in reverse and they ran into nasty weather when we were heading in a different direction. So you really don’t know how the weather can play out!

We also did a mid-atlantic tour her junior fall when visiting my mother n MD for Thanksgiving:
Monday: Georgetown; American University
Tuesday: Haverford; Swarthmore
**we were able to take Amtrak to all of these schools, starting in Baltimore both days, was awesome to be able to access them via trains and subway!

My D18 and D15( together) seem to have remarkably similar interests to your D18, although D18 is much less interested in the NE schools than the PNW and CO schools. She and I have already done some PNW visits (Whitman, L&C, Willamette, and Puget Sound), some So Cal visits (Chapman, Oxy, Pitzer, Redlands, Scripps) and even CO (Colorado College and University of Denver). For Spring break we are visiting my D15 at Middlebury (a very happy Middkid I might add!) and also looking at UVM and Bates. Like I said, D18 isn’t as oriented to NE as her sister is, but I know that UVM and Bates could be appealing to D18 so they are on our list. I would recommend checking out UVM as a safe/likely admit for your daughter if you are going so far as to visit Middlebury.

A school that has fallen off the list for D18 but shouldn’t have- she LOVED the Grinnell presentation when she went to “8 of the Best Colleges” tour. It could be a great fit for her. But the reality is that we just can’t fit in a time to visit and she already loves Colorado College, Scripps, Pitzer, Whitman, Puget Sound, and L&C so it doesn’t seem worth it to investigate further when she has such a diverse list so far. I mention Grinnell because it would be the one that got away if there is such a thing.

Please feel free to PM me if you want to discuss any schools we have seen, or if you want any info on my D15’s experience at Middlebury so far. Good luck with your visits, it truly is a puzzle fitting these schools together. It is such a special and fun time, I love these visits! I hope you give us a full report when you get back, would love to get your impressions of the schools you and D18 visit.

In post 90…they broke their college visits into two trips that were one week long trips…instead of one two week long marathon.

Two separate weeks is doable…in my opinion, two full weeks in a row is not.

Remember, in addition to all,the travel and college visits…you will be sleeping in different hotels almost every night…and eating out every meal.

Re Clark, even though my D didn’t choose to attend, I like to defend it:-). She wasn’t worried about the area and neither was I. I think people tend to exaggerate it. The area is nothing special, but it isn’t dangerous. It’s very modest. In fact, D was more put off by the swanky neighborhood that Boston College was in. Too manicured. We liked Clark a lot and if your child isn’t concenred about postcard-perfect towns, she might be fine with Clark’s location. Lewiston, Maine is also nothing special, and in fact D likes that it’s quite ordinary and not pristine.

^LOL, I was just waiting for your defense. I couldn’t remember who it was that each time I mention our dislike of the Clark neighborhood that would respond in opposite. I’d just like to say I personally have not exaggerated my “opinion” and if OP would like further details please PM me and I’ll fill you in on MY experience.

I can’t remember our itinerary but I know that one tour was the Colby/Bates/Bowdoin followed by Wellesley and other Boston schools. A second tour was flying into PA to see UScranton and we rented a car and worked our way down to Baltimore, seeing Vassar, Gettysburgh, Bucknell, and a couple others that I can’t remember. The third tour included all the Amherst schools (5), Williams, Trinity, University of VT, St. Michaels, Skidmore (2nd visit), Conn, Wesleyan, and more lol. Now that I think of it, there was a fourth long weekend for Union, Cornell and Ithaca, and the original Skidmore visit. She applied to two schools she never saw, Barnard and Vanderbilt.

It’s okay @NEPatsGirl , I still think you’re pretty cool:-)

OP, if your D does apply to colleges she is unable to visit, and they consider interest, she can request interviews either with alumni or when reps are in the area. If she signs up to meet with reps, those spots can fill quickly, so don’t delay on those. I think there are several colleges in your list that take interest into account, and requesting interviews definitely shows interest.

@lindagaf Absolutely we will sign up for local interviews as soon as we can. Thankfully we are in a metro area that is frequented by adcoms.

OK, so I have a new idea (after generating about 7 in the course of the comments above). I hear you on all of the flights. All those airports and flights will be exhausting.

It’s 12 schools in 13 days, but there is only one extra flight in the middle, and I also added a free day in the middle to see a Broadway show in NYC. When I tried to shorten the trip, it still seemed crazy and I lost schools that D & I really wanted to see. Since we have the time, I feel like we should see as many as we can with students on campus. Also, D and I travel well together and I have no problem eating out every meal. Packing up and changing hotels frequently is the one drag. The car rental drop fee in Poughkeepsie is do-able and worth not driving into or closer to NYC. I also added in drive times to the schedule and all but the 4 hr drive to Grinnell are within my daily drive comfort zone.

The one bummer is touring Vassar on Saturday. That’s a top choice, and I know Saturday visits are not ideal for top choices. But I thought we can maybe have dinner Friday on Vassar campus?

What do you think?

Sun Fly to Vermont
Mon Middlebury, drive to Skidmore 1:45
Tue Skidmore, drive to Smith 2:00
Wed Smith, Mt Holyoke, drive to Wellesley 1:30
Thur Wellesley, drive to Wesleyan 1:15
Fri Wesleyan, drive to Vassar 1:45
Sat Vassar, drop car here and train to NYC
Sun Broadway matinee, train to Philly
Mon Bryn Mawr, Haverford
Tues Fly to Minneapolis
Wed Macalester, Carleton
Thur Drive to Grinnell 4:00
Fri Grinnell Junior Visit Day, fly home (or fly home Sat)

Also, any ideas what to do for fun in Minneapolis?

Clark is a great school–unfortunately it is an area where (statistically) violent crime is higher than it is in other parts of Massachusetts.

The question is whether this is a deal breaker for some kids. I have one kid who would freak out over this and another who could care less, which is why folks need to go and visit Clark and the area around campus and decide for themselves if they are comfortable.

@craspedia That schedule looks manageable! I think it will work to generally have the “tour, then travel to next location” daily schedule, with some cushion built in.

As for hotels in areas I know – in Philly, think about whether you want to stay downtown, in Philly, and take the Main Line train out to Bryn Mawr, or if you want to stay on the Main Line and be closer to campus. We’ve stayed at the Radnor Inn, which is about 10 minutes from Bryn Mawr College, I would imagine the hotel shuttle would take you to campus, and you can “Blue Bus” it to Haverford later in the day. In Iowa, we have stayed at the Carriage House B&B, looks like there are now loft AirBnB places in town as well now, I’d recommend those over the chain hotels on the outskirts of town – you can walk the 1-2 blocks to campus, enjoy town (there is an excellent grocery store, with organic, food bar etc). Staying at a Comfort Inn near the highway and the John Deere dealer is not going to endear the town to you!

@craspedia Sounds like your itinerary is really shaping up!

One more thought to consider for those days when you don’t have a car – luggage. For your train trips, check the luggage restrictions since you’ll likely have more than just a carry-on. And most campuses don’t have a place to store luggage during a visit so you’ll need to drop-off at the hotel before going to campus.

I haven’t read the whole thread but we did a 5 day swing from Rochester, NY to New Hampshire with stops at schools along the way. H did the first part and they did two schools each day. I did the second part (we live in Albany so I did from there east.) By the afternoon of the forth day (my first) my son was completely sick of it and it only got worse the next day.

He did end up visiting one school (St. Lawrence) at the very beginning on Sept (which turned out to be his 2nd choice) and the last school in Oct (Bates) which became his first choice and where he attended. All his interviews were done by alums in our area - except one (a second visit in early fall to previously seen HWS - one I hadn’t been on tour of.)

IMO, your trip is way too long and too many schools. The schools will begin to blur together as will the spiels.

Re:Clark, that is one of the schools I toured with A. He thought it was way too much “save the world” for him. I loved it. He didn’t care about the town at all. He ended up at Bates and Lewiston is not anyone’s idea of paradise.