<p>Over spring break we will be in NY and wanted to visit some schools with our 10th grader. We will be starting in Rockland county (in-laws) and have two possible pathes.
1. Eastern Upstate Union and RPI
or
2. Western Upstate RIT and U of Roch. (with a possible detour to Binghampton and/or Cornell)
I know this is a lot of driving so only one option is possible. Since we will have two kindergartens with us, I am hoping to find activities other then indoor pools for them, which path would you choose and why. One parent will stay with twins and one will tour schools with 10th and 8th graders.</p>
<p>This will be DS-13 first college visits so we want to give him some variety.</p>
<p>FWIW, there’s supposedly a couple interesting museums in Ithaca, Museum of the Earth and Sciencenter. Never been myself, don’t know if they’d interest kids that young or not.
They also have good ice cream, Purity ice cream in Ithaca, and Abbott’s frozen custard in Rochester.</p>
<p>If you’re doing RPI etc, Albany has some museums IIRC. Also, SUNY Albany now has a “College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering”. On the return trip, instead of heading southwest back to Rockland, you could head southeast instead and hit Trinity College in Hartford, like Union they also have an engineering program. Though from what I hear the part of the city outside the college may not be the nicest area.</p>
<p>LOL – reading the title of this thread next to the one about the Manhattan mom suing the preschool for wrecking the kid’s chances at Ivy League… I thought you were going college hunting for the 6 year olds! ;)</p>
<p>Glad to know you are just looking for appropriate activities to keep the twins occupied while the older kids tour the campuses.</p>
<p>I got the idea that he was interested in engineering somehow, because of RPI I guess, but I notice now your post doesn’t say that.</p>
<p>If other things may also be of interest, it would be easy to stop and see Vassar in Poughkeepsie on the way to Albany area; and in Albany area there is also Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs.</p>
<p>Right now he is interested in engineering, he is doing PLTW and is very involved in First Robotics. If he doesn’t end up in engineering he will probably want to major in math. </p>
<p>CalMom - Just trying to help the twins learn to read at this point. But when I was 5 my family went to Williamsburg and I fell in love with William and Mary and did attend 12 years lates. At this point at least one twin wants to go to “home college” becuase he can’t imagine leaving Mom and Dad, he told me over the weekend it would save me money. I said great we’ll talk about it again when your in HS.</p>
<p>Monyday Trinity is on the long list. How out of the way would that me on the way back to Maryland? Thanks for the ice cream recommendations, that’s always of interest to the whole family.</p>
<p>If you have time, I would vote for the Bing/Cornell/RIT/Rochester visits. Although none are really small, like an LAC, they range in admissions criteria…so…likely a good group to visit. Where we live, RIT is very popular with Robotics participants.</p>
<p>If in-laws are in Rockland, and you think you’ll be going again, Union and RPI are an easier trip from Rockland. </p>
<p>Also…if you are based in Maryland…there are many types of schools you’ll be able to visit on day trips.</p>
<p>Day 1 (arrived night before)
RPI in AM
Syracuse in PM (then drove to Rochester)</p>
<p>Day 2
RIT in AM
Cornell in PM (just engineering tour)</p>
<p>Day 3
Cornell in AM (overall tour)</p>
<p>It was under 2 hours of driving between each school, which was doable, although we took a wrong turn in Syracuse and it was pouring, so we missed the first 15 minutes of the info session. D1 & I did not care for RIT (spawling, suburban campus with low-slung brown brick buildings) and wished we had gone to U of Rochester instead. </p>
<p>Her guidance counselor had also suggested Binghampton but we couldn’t fit it in. If you plan it well, you can squeeze 2 schools in a day. Since your son is a 10th grader, I would try to give him a flavor of large v small and public v private.</p>
<p>Mom24: Our twins were in 6th grade, not 6 years old, when we did college tours for the eldest. We took their bikes on the trip and they and one parent toured the campus and surrounding areas by bike while the college applicant and other parent visited the college. It was very successful. They have great memories of their bicycling trip. Maybe that will be in your future by the time the 8th grader is looking at colleges.<br>
Some of the colleges were awfully nice to the young kids too. I remember all 5 of us ending up in the office of a physics professor at Case Western who gave the younger kids Calvin & Hobbes books to read while he talked to the older one and showed her his lab.</p>
<p>If you go to Cornell, there is a lovely, hillside garden where they grow rhododendrons that would be great for the little ones to run off steam. The Dairy Bar for ice cream is not far away. You can also park at the Cornell plantations, which is helpful because parking is very limited on the rest of campus.
[Bowers</a> Rhododendron Collection | Cornell Plantations](<a href=“http://www.cornellplantations.org/our-gardens/botanical/bowers-rhododendron]Bowers”>http://www.cornellplantations.org/our-gardens/botanical/bowers-rhododendron)
The Finger lakes region is great for kids. You may want to find a hotel with lake access and just let the 6 year olds enjoy it all day.</p>
<p>The Dairy Bar is closed for the next several years, due to construction. Though I think they are selling the ice cream elsewhere on campus. I was hesitant to recommend outdoors activities since if they are going soon the weather may not yet be conducive to it.</p>
<p>Spring Break is April 18-26, I hope that is late enough to do some outdoor activities, the 6 story tree house sounds perfect. I am starting to believe we can do this with all 4 boys.</p>
<p>Since you are not a New Yorker, I would not recommend Binghamton (there’s no P) for engineering. Paying OOS tuition for a school not renowned for engineering doesn’t make much sense.</p>
<p>Your east and west NY tours both make sense. Might want to give a slight edge to the western swing. RIT is a Project Lead the Way sponsor (they run my son’s program), so there are some perks there (PLTW scholarship). RIT is also probably the lowest net price of those schools, and includes a year of co-op work for the resume.</p>
<p>On your way back to Maryland, might want to check out Lehigh.</p>
<p>I agree with nj2011mom: If you are willing to drive to Rochester (6 hours or so from Rockland County), then “a lot of driving” doesn’t keep you from seeing anything you want to see. You can go there via Binghamton/Ithaca in one direction, and Syracuse/Schenectady/Troy in the other, and it’s not going to be much difference in driving time either route.</p>
<p>Rutgers we can do as a day trip or add to a trip to Philly, I don’t want to overwhelm him with so many schools at once. Also the first part of the wk is Passover sedars, so we can not see schools then. He is starting to get excited for this trip and so am I.</p>
<p>Mom24, when you do Rutgers, make sure that you visit another University with a well known engineering school, Lehigh, in Bethlehem - RPI’s comparable…</p>
<p>Just finished playing with Mapquest and if we head home after Rochester we will drive directly past Bucknell. I guess we are adding a PA school.</p>
<p>Mom24, we took S2’s collapsible scooter along when he was the kindergartner tagging along on college tours. It was great - one of us could just scoop it up and fold it when we went inside buildings. He had a great time and still remembers a lot of campuses (including Tufts, where he had a dramatic though ultimately unscathing wipeout).</p>