I am amazed by how many Williams students are from the West Coast, not to mention the large number of international students. The closest airport is Albany, NY, (45 minutes away) and you can’t fly there nonstop from most places west of Chicago. We live in NYC and, aside from a Peter Pan bus that only runs on the weekend and the college-provided shuttles for breaks, there are no direct ways to get here except by car. It’s actually easier to get to Bowdoin and Bates from here b/c they’re not too far from the Portland airport.
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Adding UCLA and Berkeley for some of the tippy top kids here. In a different vein altogether, we know several kids at UBC and U Vic as well (but I think some of those parents are Canadian). And yes the WUE schools seem to be attractive to those who want to go out of state and not cross paths with former HS classmates.
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Yes, Texas has been very popular the last few years. Many Baylor and TCU kids in particular, although I know at least one of my daughter’s friends is going to SMU next year. Trinity is actually at the top of her list.
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Williams is tough from the west coast. I went to W&L in the 90s and had some good friends from southern California. Getting home for them was always an adventure!
We have a friend here with a daughter at Cornell and he says they all regret it because it’s so hard to get back and forth. Throw in some winter weather and you’re camping out in Chicago or Minneapolis.
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My son has friends at Hope and Butler. But we live in WI.
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Yeah…the NESCAC schools are rough for distant air travelers.
The easiest eastern LAC for West Coast kids is Swarthmore (with Haverford/Bryn Mawr a close second). PHL has non-stop flights from all of the major airports and is a 15-minute ride on the highway. California is always a top-5 most represented state following PA, NJ, and NY (and maybe MA).
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Why are Haverford and BMC second to Swat for eastern LAC travel from the west coast?
I’d also throw out Tufts for those who consider it a LAC (they seem to). And Barnard counts, too, so that’s not too tough.
And Wesleyan is 20 minutes on 91 from Hartford-Brainard. While not a major hub, you can catch direct flights from the west coast to HB, though they are often a little more expensive.
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A friend has a kid at UMaine who flies in/out of Logan. It’s a 4hr bus ride to Logan which makes for a very long travel day.
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My sibling who went to Colby also used to take the bus to Logan
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Haverford and BMC are about twice as far and involve a possible trip out the Schuykil…which is almost never fun.
If you want to consider Tufts…it’s similar to Swat but more traffic issues. Barnard is NOT easy to get to from an airport. If you’re flying to Wesleyan from the west coast…I’d hope you’re going to Bradley and not Brainard (unless you have your own plane, in which case any school is pretty accessible by air).
Edit - and FWIW, it looks like there is 1 non-stop per day to Bradley from LAX. There are 7 to PHL.
Seattle to Hartford - minimum 10 hours and one stop. No non-stop flights.
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Davidson is relatively easy. Straight shot from the west coast to Charlotte. Better weather than the NESCAC schools, too!
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If you’re gonna spend 4 years at a school…10 or 15 mins a few times a semester isn’t really a big deal…but I’m gonna stick with Swat as the easiest now that the challengers have arrived. Under 10 miles…almost all highway.
As for weather…I’d say it’s no contest, but I’d bet Davidson has had more snow this year than Swat (which has had none). 
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Noooo, no snow at Davidson. Why would you think that? It was 80º in NC today.
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Not sure why you say that Barnard is not easy to get to an airport - lots of options for public transport with ride share, uber or cab to all 3 NY/NJ airports - max time from the UWS is an hour to Kennedy or Newark with 25 minutes to LaGuardia. Guess we all define “easy” differently - when there is public transport - I think of that as easy.
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Worth noting: There are a lot of places in this country where the choice between a nonstop and a two (or even three!) hop flight expands the map in worthwhile ways.
My home city (Anchorage, Alaska) is an extreme case, but it is both home to by far the best-connected airport in the state and a place from which you can easily recite the list of out-of-state nonstop destinations during the academic year: Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis-St Paul, Denver, Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Phoenix.
Even away from Alaska and Hawai’i, though, there are plenty of other places (hi, Marquette MI and even Tallahassee FL!) that take either a hundred or two miles of driving, or two+ flight hops to get to most anywhere distant (and either way, that will take your whole day doing it).
Anyway, not saying that you should filter your college lists to include inconvenient travel, but I do think it’s worth remembering that having such a filter available is a non-universal luxury.
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I’ll concede the point…even though it’ll 70 tomorrow in Philly.
Sorry, I meant Bradley.
And from here, Sea, there are several flights to Bradley, though they invariably involve at least a stop, whereas there are direct flights to Philadelphia.
Hadn’t really factored in traffic. The main issue from the west coast is just managing the flight, so we tend to not focus on the drive as much.
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LGA isn’t bad, but you can’t fly to LAX non-stop. Kennedy and EWR are fine if you want to take a 3 trains each…but they aren’t as easy as a 9 mile uber for $15.
It’s just a data point…it’s not a reason to pick a school.
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Yes, there aren’t any non-stop flights, but there are quite a few with short stops in Chicago and Minneapolis. I assume you’re factoring in time on the ground for the 10 hours. The typical duration times I see when looking it up range from less than 7 to 8+. This is from Seattle.
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