I really hate the Mass Pike. It reminds me of the highway scene in The Matrix Reloaded lol. We will be driving to accepted students’ day in early April. From Manchester NH area, is it worth taking the shorter (but slower) VT 9 into New York state, then getting on I-90? Or will there still be snow in the mountains that will really slow us down?
Second question, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to handle a 7-hour drive after a full day at RIT. What’s a good stopping place about 4 hours out, which I guess would be Schenectady or Albany area?
Hi Snowdog, we will be driving out for that same weekend from Massachusetts. Honestly, this year I vote for MassPike. I’m not a big fan of it either, but after this winter, I’d stick to the big roads at least going out. If we haven’t had a storm in a while, it might be a good choice until you need to get on MassPike. Somebody else should chime in about the snow. We live south of Boston, and we have piles of it everywhere (Yesterday we were in Chicago at an “accepted students day” and we had our coats off at times - can’t wait for Spring!)
We have done the Boston to Ithaca drive a lot for my son, out MassPike, down Rt. 88, then up to Ithaca, and when I am driving by myself, drive 90 instead. There are these vast expanses of farmland along Rt. 88, and there have been times when I’ve been driving for a long time and haven’t seen anyone driving. It also takes a long time getting off the road if you need a break/coffee/bathroom quick stop. Once it took a half an our of our trip just finding a place - we don’t stop much, but I’ve really come to appreciate those rest areas for a quick on and off. Rochester will be a lot easier to get to and the hotels can get REALLY expensive in Ithaca during school events as well. I don’t know if this will happen around Rochester.
We are looking at motels/hotels now, and are also considering where to spend the night after the day at RIT. Our D has said that she would like to see a bit of Rochester, so we may stay nearby. After the “accepted students’ day” this weekend, I am leaning strongly in that direction. You are bombarded with so much information/walking all over the place that it can be really tiring. She and I were both ready to lie down for a while.
Albany, according to Google Maps, is about 3 hours, 15 minutes away from Rochester. With a stop, you are getting close to the 4 hour mark. If you decide to stay in Albany, the Airport area is close to the main roads. See you at Accepted Students Day!
Thanks very much @MazeArtCrew. Mass Pike makes more sense, I don’t want to drive for long stretches with no stopping place. The mountain passes can be slippery as well (learned that the hard way), although if snow is anywhere in the forecast, we will switch to the next weekend regardless.
We are driving up the day before and staying at the Hampton Inn near RIT. Looking at the schedule for the day, it seems like we should be on the road home around 2 pm. With the extended daylight I should be good to drive until around 6.
@Snowdog, I was wondering if the 4th would be a less attended Accepted Students day, as it is Good Friday/Easter and the first days of Passover. I am somewhat surprised that they scheduled for that weekend. I just hope that their tours have fewer students in them than our tour on Saturday. 40 people is just too many in small spaces! We were in one of the last tours - this time we will aim to be in one of the earlier tours.
I just went onto Hotwire and we now have a reservation at the Radisson. I am glad that we are so close.
Hi @MazeArtCrew and @Snowdog. My daughter is a current freshman at RIT. We are from Saratoga - about 40 miles north of Albany. If anyone is thinking of travelling that way, I’ll be glad to help.
Regarding where to stay near RIT, there are a multitude of places not far from campus. We’ve had good luck at the Hampton Inn, but I’ve also heard good things about the Radisson and a Microtel. The only one parents have really complained about is the Days Inn.
If your son or daughter does decide on RIT, I highly encourage you to join the parents facebook group. While the kids are busy making new friends and maybe finding a roommate on the accepted students page, the parents (on their own separate and distinct group page) discuss everything from the hotels for move-in, to packing strategy, to where’s a good orthodontist near campus and how to find a tutor for calculus. It’s a source of information, support and humor.
I have some suggestions for things to do in Rochester too, but have to step out for a bit. Good luck everyone!
Hi @MazeArtCrew and @12dandelion. The Radisson on campus? I tried for that but it was a minimum 3-night stay. Were you able to get an exception or are you staying 3 nights?
I hadn’t thought at all about the fact it is Easter weekend. No biggie for us and the following weekend is problematic, as our local university has its accepted students day on the 10th, and if my son is admitted to CCIS at Northeastern, that would be on the 12th. After looking at it every which way, I decided to drive up on Friday with a one-way rental (found a good rate much cheaper than the flights for that day) and fly back on Saturday at 5 pm (found a good fare). That takes the pressure off me to get back behind the wheel for two 7-hour+ drives in 2 days.
Looking forward to seeing RIT. I was there years ago for a work conference but will be looking at it with totally different eyes this time.
@Snowdog as you probably know the Rochester airport is not far at all from the RIT campus. Glad you found a travel plan that will keep you from being exhausted.
As I recall, we were done with accepted students day by 2 or 3 p.m., as we easily drove back home, and it’s about 4 hours for us. There was a general info session with everyone in the field house, then we broke out by colleges, then by the individual majors. Since my daughter is in the tiny museum studies program in the small college of liberal arts, we never felt crowded or rushed, but I assume it was different for the big engineering and computer science programs.
After a lunch break we could go on dorm tours (which D and I did) or a financial aid session (which my husband did). And I think that was it … there may have been another reception in the afternoon, but we wanted to get back since we had an even to attend at another school - in New England! - the next day.
You may have heard the campus is referred to as Brick City, and there certainly are a lot of angular brick buildings. Some folks are put off by that, but D seems to have adapted well and definitely wants to stay there. You’ll hear horror stories about ‘upstate NY winters’ but D hasn’t found it that different from our part of Northeastern NY, and you’ve certainly been through the ringer in New England this year.
They had us select whether to have informal lunch with the department or go to Gracie’s. I was figuring Gracie’s would be a mob scene and chose the department lunch although the sheet says you can change your mind on the day. We’ll do a campus tour and also the separate dorm tour afterward. My son does not care too much about weather but like most kids around here, he rarely wears a coat to school!
We really enjoyed the department lunch. After 6 months of eating there D has told us Gracie’s is ‘just ok’ and she was thrilled when she could change her meal plan to all debit and more freely choose from the other on campus options.
The dorm tour was fun, you get to explore the tunnels underneath the residence halls. Last year they set it up as a bit of a scavenger hunt. We also used it as a chance to talk to kids who weren’t official tour guides.
My HS son is not big on coats either, but it’s funny how this winter has had him bundled up! He even learned the joys of using a scarf for extra warmth when it’s 20 below.
@snowdog, yes, the Radisson on campus, for one night, through Hotwire (I didn’t know that it was the Radisson until I purchased it.) I believe that it is a room which has not been upgraded though, as we found out that it is for a double and a pull out couch, which the Radisson does not have on its site as a choice (would have preferred the two beds.) I just checked on Travelocity, and the Radisson still has rooms available for one night. You might want to check. I tried to link it, but cannot figure out how on this site.
I’m jealous of your flight - I’ve been searching for flights that are more affordable, even went out as far as Buffalo, but I’m not seeing anything.
@12dandelion thank you for your information! Did you happen to attend the local “Accepted Students Reception”? There is one in Natick, not TOO far away. Even though we are attending the Accepted Students Day I felt a bit frustrated at the “accepted students day” I just attended in Chicago - it only went from 11:00 - 2:30, and there were too many overlapping panels - I am glad that the RIT day begins earlier.
Also, the museum program there looks amazing. My daughter is currently admitted to New Media Design, but would be happy in Graphics as well. She wants to go into Motion Design.
Snowdog, we chose the department luncheon as well. 12dandelion, thank you for mentioning the tunnels on the dorm tour. My daughter has painted a few murals at her high school, and was excited to hear about them at RIT.
12dandelion, is there anywhere either on campus or nearby that you would recommend where we could eat a late dinner, or a dinner prior to our leaving Rochester? Fun and good tasting. I want our D to love the idea of Rochester! (She LOVED Chicago, but the fit of the school was not as good.)
Thank you!
@MazeArtCrew the campus is in a pretty typical suburban sprawl area and you’ll see many familiar chains. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings once, and also a steak chain - maybe a Longhorn. They were all fine. A unique to Rochester dish is something called a garbage plate. I haven’t had one, D did in October, and said she doesn’t need to again. It might be fun for your D to look that one up herself.
The campus has many varied food options, and you certainly could grab a quick dinner there. There is a housing and retail area called Global Village. It has some fun sounding dining options. I know my D has burned a lot of food debit credits over there. https://www.rit.edu/fa/globalvillage/
If the weather is really nice, we liked exploring the ‘beach’ area (this was on an August trip). I think it’s officially called Ontario Beach Park, but it’s locally known as Charlotte Beach. There’s a few places to eat down there, burger and ice cream spots. I’m not sure it will be warm enough though in early April for that to be enjoyable.
I’ll be honest now; for most of the crazy few weeks of senior year when she was waiting for acceptance letters and trying to make her decision, RIT was not D’s first choice. She was in love with some of the beautiful campuses and ‘feel’ of some New England liberal arts colleges. Even after attending accepted students day, she was not ready to commit to RIT. But then she went to one last overnight at a women’s college, and figured out that was not the right choice at all. So RIT it is. And now she loves it. But I don’t think she loves the idea of Rochester. So that one may be a tough sell. 
Current RIT student here, thought I’d give you some advice on food! As was said, Global Village is probably the best option on campus but if you want some amazing food and to experience Rochester at the same time I would recommend Dinosaur BBQ downtown. It’s located right in the heart of the city in a former railroad station that overhangs the river with some amazing views. They also have some of the best BBQ in the northeast. I definitely recommend it!
Great suggestions. This should be fun.
@b1c497a actually, that was the one place that my D and I ate in when we visited last year! It is amazing, I love good BBQ, (but my husband doesn’t!) A really fun atmosphere as well. I wish that I had had the chance to enjoy the views more - that was a truly crazy day - I over planned. We stayed overnight in Syracuse, visited Syracuse, drove to Rochester/RIT, went on a quick tour, ate dinner at Dinosaur BBQ, then drove through a crazy snowstorm to get to Pittsburgh. Sheesh. I’m tired just typing that. If I hadn’t pre-purchased a hotel on Hotwire, and had a tour in Pittsburgh the next morning,we would have stayed in Rochester for the night.
Thanks for the confirmation about Global Village. I liked the feeling of that part of campus during our previous visit, and it would be fun to have a little time there.
Did that drive many times and VT-9 to I-90 is fine as long as the weather isn’t too bad.
Dinosaur BBQ is great. There are nice places along the Erie Canal in Pittsford, as well. If you go to Pittsford, stop in at the large Wegmans (grocery), if you’ve never been in one.
Thanks @MidwestDad3. We had a wonderful melt today…still a long way to go. If the weather is great we may go VT-9.
Global Village looks really cool! Who gets to live there?
Here is a “second” for Wegmans. We discovered them in Ithaca, but now they have some in Massachusetts, so go maybe twice a year. It is a little overwhelming. I’ve written them twice asking them to build a store south of Boston - when Trader Joe’s finally built a store here, they were really surprised how busy they were. Lots of people stop there on their way to Cape Cod/the Islands to stock up in the summer, and they are ALWAYS so busy. (Though Wegmans is the polar opposite of Trader Joe’s in terms of size - largest supermarket, but friendly, that I’ve ever been to.)
As I understand it, Global Village is suite-style dorms, and ‘reserved’ for sophomores as a sort of bridge between traditional dorms and on-campus apartments. The suites are 5 or 6-person, and some have limited kitchen facilities, some do not. @b1c497a may have additional information, but my freshman daughter and her group of friends decided it was so popular they would have better luck trying for something else in the housing lottery. I have heard transfer students are sometimes added there as a 5th or 6th person, and also that if you do get in, you are only allowed to stay there one year. In the other on-campus apartments, once you’re in you can stay for multiple years.
I agree that the Pittsford area is very nice, and the Wegmans there is incredible. There is a decent Wegmans closer to campus, that can deliver medications to campus (sign up at orientation) and that the students can get to via a fairly easy bus trip. Target is fairly close by too.
I see there is a Wegman’s near our hotel…did not realize it is 24 hours, that is perfect and I’ll be picking up dinner there. After a long drive my son is not going to want to go back out, he will be looking to reattach the umbilical cord, I mean Ethernet cable. Thanks for the information about Global Village @12dandelion.
Wegmans has an amazing food bar, great fresh fruit, and their chocolate chip cookies are crispy and delicious. Be forwarned that it is quite large. I’d recommend heading over to the prepared food area. Also, @snowdog in case you aren’t aware, if you would like a beer after your long drive, gas stations will sell single bottles. I still find this quite odd, as in Massachusetts, most alcohol selling establishments are either stand alone, or in the occasional grocery store.