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Taking I-95 through NYC across the George Washington Bridge can be crummy, but it isn't life-threatening or anything like that.
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<p>It can be when you're stuck in traffic for an hour and my H is driving, with smoke coming out of his ears. ;)</p>
<p>When you go to Princeton eat at the A&B (Alchemist and Barrister) or the Nassau INN.<br>
There is a Sheraton it is connected to the UP Hospital that is in walking distance.</p>
<p>Septa has trains that will take you from Amtrack 30th st station.</p>
<p>If you drive, you need to go down Schuyllkill (sp?) Hgwy at night to see the crew houses lit up, it's one of the prettiest sites in Philly.</p>
<p>I am not sure if the Moshulu (sp?) is still there, but try that restaurant for a nice dinner. </p>
<p>I haven't been in Philly for a couple of years, so it could have changed, but I lived there for many years.</p>
<p>I agree that Haverford is small and compact. The problem is the time it takes to have the conversations about the honor code, and do the interview. Hence, the admonition not to do that and Penn IF Haverford is a serious prospect.</p>
<p>I think you are right in just renting a car and doing it that way. Just pay for parking at each school. You are pressed for time and don't need to waste any time on AMTRAK. It's not THAT reliable. I use it periodically, and it's always been late. What are the chances that it's late only when I use it. </p>
<p>New Haven to Philly is the trickiest part. The advice about 880 and 1010 on the radio is great. 880 gives the traffic every 10 minutes on the "eights" and 1010 gives the traffic every 10 minutes on the "ones". Just set them up on the car radio and flip back and forth. </p>
<p>I know a little trick I've used many times to avoid traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway in NYC. Get off 95 just north of the Bronx in Pelham on Rt 1. Go about a mile, then take the Hutchinson River Parkway North 2 exits to the Cross County Parkway to the Saw Mill River Parkway South to the Henry Hudson Parkway South to the George Washington Bridge. Look on Mapquest, it's really not that bad even in the worst of rush hour. Go to AAA and get a good map of New York City and surrounds.</p>
<p>We go across the GW bridge all the time. Since we live in Westchester we do get on the Cross County and the Saw Mill/Henry Hudson. Don't know how much of a detour this would end up being, but you can take I-95S to 287W and then either go across the Tappan Zee bridge and down the Palisade Parkway (or Garden State) or pick up the Saw Mill and Henry Hudson South just before the bridge. I do hate the Cross Bronx.</p>
<p>Do what mathmom says. It's usually a better route. I do that, and take the Garden State down to the NJ Turnpike.</p>
<p>It does depend how much you believe in Pythagoras and traffic reports :-)</p>
<p>The Moshulu is still there.</p>
<p>If it were me I would: Fly to Boston, take a cab or public transportation ("the T") to Harvard. (Tufts is not far away.) Then rent a car and drive the rest. Providence has good parking; even street parking depending on the day. The drive to New Haven is easy, and Wesleyan is about 30 minutes off I95, and really easy to get to if you want to add another very good school. (I'm a little concerned about your list being all HBYP.) From Yale you could go either train or car. Personally, I would drive. I would leave either very early or very late. It should take you about 4 hours. </p>
<p>Another thought: call AAA and have them make you a TripTik.</p>
<p>As to your question of any other school suggestions my alma mater NYU has traditionally been a national division I fencing power.</p>
<p>My D is a freshman at Wesleyan University in Middletown CT. which is less than thirty minutes from New Haven. It is a fantastic lac with strong biology,pre-med program. It gets great funding annually for research and as this is an lac the students get to actively participate on a substantive basis with their professor's research. Wesleyan is one of the top ranked lacs nationally. My D loves everything about the school.</p>
<p>Logistically if you are stopping in Providence RI to visit Brown Univ. you get onto Route 91 and Wesleyan is on the way to New Haven. If you are coming from Boston and not stopping at Brown, Wesleyan is easy access off of Route 95 South.</p>
<p>From New Haven without a doubt I would(and do) drive from Route 95 south to the Merrit Parkway to the Cross County Parkway to Route 87 the Major Deegan and then across the GW Bridge to the NJ Turnpike. We live in the Philly suburbs and when we visit our daughter at Wes this is how we go. We have tried all other routes at all times of the day and it is THE best way to go.Going 287 and the Tappan Zee bridge adds an hour to your trip and can be horrendous during rush hour.</p>
<p>While in Philly if your child is Ivy,top lac material you should visit Swarthmore which is minutes from Haverford. Princeton is a stop that should be made if that school is on your radar screen as u drive from NYC to Philly. </p>
<p>I cannot conceive that this journey if you want to do justice to the schools and get a feel for them could take any less than a week. When I go to vacation on Cape Cod Massachusetts it takes me seven to eight hours from Philly. So just on the road time is going to eat up alot of time. When we were visiting schools a few years ago we never did more than one school a day so we could take our time, talk to students etc. There is also exhaustion factor of seeing more than one school per day. Just carefully map out your journey in advance.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend your kid go on CC to each school's page and reach out to current student at schools he/she is interested in visiting. My D made contacts at more than 75% of the schools we visited and those students invited us to lunch and gave us individual tour of schools beyond the formal tour. We met their friends and my D got a real insight into mood of campus. It was a tremendous help for her in narrowing her final list of places to aply to.</p>
<p>I do think that you could visit Haverford and Swarthmore in one day as they are with minutes of one another and then do Penn the next day.</p>
<p>Dana's Dad</p>
<p>According to the USFA website not fencing at Swarthmore. Haverford has DIV III fencing and a new coach this year. If your student is math/science, you could look at MIT since you are in Boston, which is DIV III. But can go to NCAA's.</p>
<p>Have you ruled out Columbia?</p>
<p>And have you ruled out Vassar as a less selective back-up? S got contacted by the coach at Vassar but chose to go to Williams. However, it was a nice back-up plan.</p>
<p>I like to be in the car, but I am familiar with the territory. Examine your comfort level. Driving around NYC is annoying but not particularly hairy.</p>
<p>Of course, the city, if you look at Columbia, requires a new set of tunnel/bridge solutions.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all the input. We've decided to take the train all the way and only visit one school per day, which means that either Haverford or UPenn will have to be on Saturday, and neither school offers info sessions Saturday, but oh well, we'll still have a good visit.</p>
<p>The primary purpose of this trip is to narrow down the D1 fencing choices before recruiting season begins in July. Haverford is the outlier on this trip, but I want my son to get a feel for the LAC alternative. We'll take at least one more trip back east to visit more LACs and perhaps a top choice university or two in greater depth.</p>
<p>Mythmom - We had a great visit to Columbia and it is on the short list.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all of the input. I've really come to rely on this site.</p>