When we were looking for schools a few years ago, we had almost exactly the same criteria. That was before Covid.
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S22’s two final schools, Rose-Hulman and WPI, are both distant from San Francisco. Both entail longish drives from the main airports (IND, BOS). But both were better fits for him than a lot of other possibilities. So we will have some flyin’ and drivin’ the next four years. C’est la vie.
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Tokyo is great! Japan is my favorite country to visit. The food is so good but they have such a great public transit system. Suica card is going to be his friend and I recommend a smart watch that has a digital wallet capability. 7-11 is the best place for breakfast and lunch. Where else can you get Michelin-rated instant ramen?!?!
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We’re in the same boat… or plane & car, I should say. We’re in the SF Bay Area and S22’s closest option is a couple of hours flight but over the Rockies and farthest is MA. D19 is a flight w connection and an hour drive to school in the middle of OH. Which is a lot. But she drives with a little caravan to school in the fall and home in the summer - they camp along the way and have a grand time. And for breaks she flies. There are shuttles to airports, but she usually can catch a ride with a friend and this time flying back from Christmas, she flew direct to Chicago and then drove from there to OH. So there are lots of options if you land at a more remote school!
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My D22 (who HATES the cold and snow) was accepted at ASU, Ohio University, and Syracuse. So of course she chose…Syracuse! It’s about a six hour drive so easily manageable compared to my D21s 12 hour drive. I was really hoping to have an excuse to spend more time in the desert!
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All of the schools to which our son applied were within a reasonable drive (under six hours). Had he felt comfortable being farther from home he would have applied to other schools that focused on undergraduate engineering like WPI and RPI.
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@raincat That’s so cool that you lived in Japan for that long! S22 was accepted at Temple University Japan, which is technically a US university but it’s campus is in Tokyo. He really wants to attend, but we are weighing the Covid travel restriction issue as well, as currently no foreign students have been allowed back for two years!!! I feel like a better option is for him to attend a school here and go to Japan for a year of study abroad later when the pandemic fades out. 
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My D18 would only put colleges on her list if they were in locations that never snowed! (We live at 7000’ in the mountains where it starts snowing in August and ends in June. Basically, July is the only month it doesn’t snow and we average 550 to 800" of snow a year.) So she is now blissfully happy at ASU!
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S20 flies from one hub to another for dirt cheap. It was the farthest college on his list. S22 applied to 2 colleges within a 1.5 hour drive, another one is under 5. Two other colleges are drivable for the move in (10-12 hours), but he would fly home for holidays. And the remaining two are way too far.
Right now the 10-12 hour ones are on the top of his list. He is revisiting one of them next weekend.
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As a traveling working momma, hub locations are miracles!! Especially if they line up with an existing airline loyalty program! I opened up frequent flyer mile accounts for my kids at the age of 2 when we had to pay for them. This way they can choose 
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Same here. UCB/Stanford is 30-40 mins away from home. SoCal schools are 5-6 hrs drive. Other than that her interest is mostly in east coast side. Lets see where she lands up.
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In some cases, an East Coast school is actually faster and cheaper to get to than a more remote Mid-western school for us. We’re 15 min from SFO where there are loads of direct flights for cheap if you go all the way across the country. But going to the middle of the country which requires a layover adds up in both time and money. My secret hope is that S22 picks a school near a hub, but ultimately he’ll pick the school where he’s most comfortable once he’s there.
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Shout-out to United for having a direct flight to Indianapolis from SFO. Which as I understand it, was in reaction to Salesforce opening a major office in Indy.
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Is your S22 set on Rose? Or is he waiting on the UCs like everyone else in our area?
30-45 min Drive:
Amazing UC
Good UC
Top CSU
2-3 Hour Drive:
Top UC
Good UC
Amazing CSU
Current admits:
7-hour drive to SoCal
Similar fly+drive time to Indiana
S22 applied to a handful of OOS schools - either in Northwest or in the Mid-West. None in the other coast.
He is open minded to go anywhere but I want him to get into one of the schools within the 45-minute radius.
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Yes, S22 has accepted his spot in the Rose-Hulman class this fall. He likes both Rose and WPI. Rose-Hulman won out based on its small class sizes across the board, the teaching orientation of the professors, the deep engineering culture, and his experience at the Operation Catapult camp last summer. He really enjoyed his fellow campers and the Rose students serving as counselors. He’s planning to major in computer science.
Now rocking this fresh decal on the back of my car.
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Congrats. Rose is awesome! You must be so relieved to be done with the process. We’re still waiting on the in-state schools but hopefully not for much longer.
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Congratulations! I wish your son luck at Rose.
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Congrats! Great school.
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@JackH2021 - Congrats on being done with the acceptance process and getting the school you guys wanted!
S22 applied to schools in a variety of Northern and Southern California locations (none out of state), but his #1 (CP SLO) and #2 (CPP) are 5 hours and 1.5 hours away respectively (and yes, as Californians, we speak in time, not distance.) Won’t hear from his main universities until late Feb/March.
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