<p>My Jr. son and I are hoping to be able to visit UChicago, Grinnell, Carleton and possibly UWASL in one trip at the end of March. We have basically 5 days beginning on Sunday to get from San Francisco to the midwest and then arrive in Los Angeles for a Latin Convention on Thur. Is this do-able or are we biting off too much for trip? Should we fly between each stop or is driving feasable or recommended. Any advice from all the savvy parents out there would be appreciated!</p>
<p>Landing in Minneapolis, and driving in turn to Carleton, U Chicago, Grinnell, and Wash U would allow flying back from St. Louis, I guess, but are you sure none of the campuses will be on spring break that week? Adding flying to Chicago into the mix might turn into fly into Chicago from S.F., fly into Minneapolis for Carleton visit (and Grinnell visit, maybe), fly back to Chicago, fly to St. Louis for Wash. U. visit, and fly back to Chicago for "open jaw" return to Los Angeles. That might work, but that sounds awfully busy too.</p>
<p>I think you will be surprised at how BIG the Midwest is. That is a heck of a lot to bite off in 5 days.</p>
<p>Having never been to the midwest, that is what I was afraid of. And this will be our first go at college visits. So here is question #2: How much time should we plan on spending at each college? 1 day each? Would we be better off flying into Chi sun, visiting UC Mon, flying to St Louis Tues, visiting WUSTL wed and flying to Los Angeles Thur? And try to get to Grinnell/ Carlton another time?</p>
<p>It really depends on your pain threshold. As D's schedule is so absolutely hosed with upcoming surgery, D and I will leave West Central Texas this Friday and in 9 days we will drive by Drake, visit Cornell College and Grinnell, hit Knox in Galesburg, then onto Lake Forest outside Chicago, before we turn south to visit Hanover in Indiana, drive by Centre in Kentucky, drive by Vandy, and one more driveby of Rhodes in Memphis. Approximately 50 hours of driving in 9 days. 5 visits (3-5 hours each) and 5 drivebys (a coke or a meal at an interesting school on the way). My little slice of Hell, but there are really no other options for us. It's either this or summer when school is not in session.</p>
<p>I'm taking a 100 count bottle of Aleve and unbounded optimism. I'm fairly sure both will run out before Chicago. ( Last Spring Break we did 3400 miles across the south. 8 schools in 8 days. I can't have deteriorated THAT much in a year.) Now I'm depending on decent weather, I might start punting in a hurry. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Menloparkmom, is your S attending the California Junior Classical League convention in Irvine? S's schools has about 5-6 vans making the trip.</p>
<p>For reference, by road:</p>
<p>Minneapolis - Chicago, 410 miles. Good road, though.
Chicago - St. Louis, 300 miles. Good road, but bring your no-doze.</p>
<p>BTW, U Chicago break is march 19 - 28.</p>
<p>What you could do is fly to Chicago. Drive to Grinnel. Drive to Carleton. Mileage: about 550. Then drive up to Mpls, fly down to St. Lous then home.</p>
<p>FYI, usually the cheapest way to get from Chicago to St. Louis is to fly Southwest out of Midway.</p>
<p>Allot half day for each campus for an initial visit, and time to wander the surrounding area if possible, and include a meal on campus if possible.</p>
<p>Combining what newmassdad and hopingtohelp said, fly S.F. to Minneapolis, drive to Carleton, drive to Grinnell, drive to Chicago. Fly to St. Louis, fly from there to L.A. Doable, but busy. </p>
<p>I've driven from Minneapolis to Milwaukee (where relatives and classmates live) so many times that I've memorized all the exit numbers and where the decent restaurants are. Through Madison, that is the same interstate highway that leads to Chicago. That is a good road, but speed limits are strictly enforced (at least on out-of-state cars ;) ) throughout the state of Wisconsin. It's based on the airline information that hopingtohelp added to the thread that I suggest the routing above.</p>
<p>By the time you do the whole airport check-in thing, etc., you can drive from Chi to St. Lous in about the same time as flying.</p>
<p>I can't see why you would possibly try to do this in so little time. If you have to be in LA on Thursday, you have about three and a half days for visiting. That would be rushed even if the colleges were close together, which they are not. There is also the "first visit" factor - you need some experience to get the most out of your college visits, and with a schedule like this you will not be able to take advantage of much.</p>
<p>Spend some quality time on Mapquest, and get rough driving estimates. All of the midwest flights would be an hour, give or take, plus airport travel and checkin - figure roughly 4 hours in travel time commitment for the plane segments. Amtrak from Chicago to St. Louis is another option - it leaves from and drops you in the downtowns, so the travel time of 5 hours is similar to driving, and only slightly more than flying.</p>
<p>My suggestion would be to cut out at least one of the colleges in big cities, and plan on revisiting when you can. Grinnell, with its out of the way location, should probably be included in this trip because it will take the most planning and have the fewest transportation options. Good luck, and keep posting!</p>
<p>There are any number of ways to do it and Massdad had good advice, but if you really don't mind driving, here is my suggestion. (I grew up mostly in St.Louis, went to college in Iowa and live in Minnesota so I've driven these roads extensively)</p>
<p>Sun.:fly to Minneapolis
Mon.: tour Carleton and around 4PM leave for Grinnell (should be about a 4 1/2 hour drive)
Tue: tour Grinnell and around 4PM leave for St. Louis (about 5 hours)
Wed. tour Wash U and around 4PM leave for Chicago (about 5 hours)
Th: tour UChicago and fly home.</p>
<p>It's hectic but possible. If you're going to make a separate trip, I would keep Chicago separate. I can give you detailed driving instructions in and out of St.Louis if you decide to drive. And if you really want to fly from city to city, Grinnell is close to Des Moines.</p>
<p>It occurs to me that the Carleton visit could easily be done over a three day weekend. It's about a two and a half hour flight from California to Minneapolis and then a 40 minute drive down to Carleton. The U of Chicago could also be done on a long weekend. I'd suggest doing one or the other separately and concentrating on the schools that might take a bit longer to get to during the week long trip.</p>
<p>If your son is participating in the Calif. Junior Classical League, could you please private message me? My son is trying to start a chapter at his high school and would love to connect with other schools (Kinshasha, you too!)</p>
<p>The Carriage House B&B is a great place to stay when you're visiting Grinnell. It's a block or two away from the admissions office. I was able to get the scoop on Grinnell College over breakfast.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for their input! I hadn't checked the college schedules[ duh!] before I startred this thread, but since UChigago is of major interest to my son, and is closed when he is on break, we will have to see it another time.
Yes he will be attending the JCL convention. His school is sending kids down and back by plane. [ we live in N Cal]</p>
<p>S attended the ludi (?) in Atherton a couple of years ago--- the first couple of years he was playing football and couldn't go. Must be nice to have the kids fly down to OC! At least S and his classmates won't miss school, as it's the end of spring break. Carolyn, I will check my private messages.</p>
<p>HI. Carolyn, how do you "private message"'?</p>
<p>menloparkmom, just click on the name of the poster. A menu pops up, select private message -voila! You are PM'ing.Below the welcome sign at the top right, there is a Private messages link which gets you to your inbound and outbounds and alerts you to unread messages.</p>
<p>One other note on Chicago. O'hare is a pretty good haul from the University of Chicago and there are definitely some parts of Chicago I wouldn't drive in at night. In fact there are some parts I didn't care to drive in at high noon. I have lived and worked in washington, DC and the immediate area for decades and not always in the best neighborhoods but except for a few blocks that are active drug markets I've never felt uncomfortable. I can't say the same thing about big swatches of Chicago.</p>
<p>Grinnell will also be on break last week of March 18 - April 4. The students at Grinnell are half the fun - so friendly. Without them, Grinnell could look to your son like a deserted island. (Lovely campus, but it is in the middle of nowhere.) With them, it's a very lively place. We're from the midwest - and we considered both Carleton and Grinnell too far to drive for just a look-see. Decided it was cheaper to apply and visit later if accepted.<br>
It's fairly easy to get from U Chicago to an expressway - then to the airport. I've driven in the Hyde Park area at night many times - it's OK. Oh...except the traffic in Chicago can be a nightmare. We've been stuck for hours in rush hour traffic.</p>