<p>Perhaps you could consider leaving the car in Philly and take the Amtrak to NY and then a shuttle to LGA.</p>
<p>Or possibly even leave the car before going to NY and get on the train.</p>
<p>JHS: My sense of geography is obviously affected by the routes I take. Thanks for the correction. I think of Providence as further east than one needs to go, but I am obviously not quite as well traveled.</p>
<p>Yes, the idea of ditching the car before the nightmare of driving to Laguardia in traffic sounds good.</p>
<p>It’s an ambitious trip to be sure, but I agree with Hunt. Presumably the OP isn’t going to apply to all those schools. Presumably the epic trips (from a parent perspective) are to whittle the list down to a reasonable and well thought out list. And while there is much more to Boston than MIT and Harvard perhaps it’s in some small way to get a taste of Cambridge and alittle bit of Boston. Look at it this way, the OP is flying over some of the best engineering schools in the country :-)</p>
<p>Hopefully he will have a window seat. :)</p>
<p>Seriously, though–what CAN one learn on summer college visits? We only had a couple (“by accident” when we happened upon the campuses on other trips) and they were pretty worthless. The most important thing my kids have gotten out of their college tours has been seeing what the students are like. Are they friendly or do they keep to themselves? Do they seem happy or stressed? Do they get dressed up for class or just throw on whatever? What’s the environment in the dining hall, and how’s the food? Are there enough “third places” for them to gather and hang out? Obviously some of this can be learned during an admitted students’ weekend, but not for every school a kid might be accepted at.</p>
<p>We visited 5 colleges so far, and I thought it was pretty useful. My kid definitely had a feel for the campuses by walking through, and the tours were much, much better than the presentations in the auditorium, which run into each other in memory. The experiences gave us some schools to add and some to subtract from our list.</p>
<p>One of the advantages of visiting at any time is to get a feel for the surrounding area. Obviously you can figure out if you like the suburban, urban or rural from the trips but gauging how easy it would to get to the airport, shopping or just to get off campus for some entertainment will be helpful in narrowing down a list. When there is a tie for two different types of schools come decision time then it will be nice to add to your pros and cons. While visiting when school is in session is the best I still believe summer visits are beneficial especially when you are far away and couldn’t do such a visit later or from a different area that might mean a culture shock. After some visits in the NE my oldest said he definitely did not want to apply to certain colleges. On the other hand my next two loved the area.</p>
<p>I’m the veteran of far too many college visits, some of which occurred during the summer. My kids and I didn’t notice any significant difference between summer and school-year visits, actually (particularly since my kids were far more interested in academics than facilities, athletics or social life). One can deduce a great deal about a school from how it presents itself in an info session and from the students it picks to lead tours. And the student tour guides can be a font of information about a school.</p>
<p>I would encourage your son not to discount Tufts just outside Boston, since he is interested in schools that are not strictly engineering-focused and Tufts is a wonderfully anomalous combo of research university and LAC. Certainly a better option for STEM than BU or Northeastern, IMO.</p>
<p>It also seems your swath of schools is too far-flung. Should visit Colgate while you’re at Cornell, for instance, or Bucknell, which is strong in engineering versus Carnegie Mellon which, being in Pittsburgh, does not really qualify as the Northeast. Agree with earlier poster that you need to fill out your visit list with fewer reach-y schools. The Northeast is frankly chock full of options. Please don’t go simply by name recognition/ prestige/ rankings.</p>
<p>As I said previously, I’m hoping that this is an exploratory trip for the OP, and he/she will return after the list has been winnowed. especially coming from CA, it would be tough to get time for in-depth trips to several East Coast schools while school is in session. Campus “feel” is very important–D and I discussed often if she could see herself on a particular campus. </p>
<p>My favorite part of the campus visits was always the tour. Not so much for the buildings and all, but I felt you got a much better idea of what college was really like when talked to students without “adult” supervision.</p>
<p>
Speak for yourself, ***sally. ***We had to take D’s trips in the summer, and of the 11 schools we saw on 2 separate trips, she was able to narrow an app list of 5 to which she added 4 others, only 1 of which she had NEVER seen. I thought it was VERY helpful.</p>
<p>I’m about to do some summer visits with my daughter. I am hoping that summer visits are good for:
- Showing interest
- Having interviews
- Being on a smaller tour and getting a more personalized tour
- Getting an idea of the area and logistics
- What Sop14’s Mom said
The way the OP is doing it, without interviews it sounds like (?) and sometimes just self tours, it doesn’t sound like the summer visits are going to have much depth. But the OP might have left out details.</p>
<p>Geez, sylvan. I was asking a question. (And speaking for myself.) Others have kindly answered it and given me more to think about. Why the vitriol?</p>
<p>Seeing how many visits everyone is doing, I must admit I am getting a little stressed. I had planned on having my child do a lot of research and then pick 2 reaches, 2 matches and 2 safeties. So 6 in all that we would visit. We have seen a lot of campuses just from summer sports programs, and my child has already concluded that very rural colleges are off the list. So is 6 too few?</p>
<p>^No vitriol, Sal. Just challenging the contention that summer visits are likely “pretty worthless”. Some of us didn’t really have a choice, and I resent the “you’re doing it wrong” attitude that posters on CC can exude.</p>
<p>God in heaven, my blood pressure’s rising just imagining the various legs of your journey along the treacherous NJ Turnpike, the much-loathed I-95 corridor through New Haven to Providence, the fresh hell that is I-84 through Hartford Danbury, the dread Mass Pike… </p>
<p>Put it this way: have alternative colleges in each of your zones to visit, if your find you can’t deal with the traffic anymore or the driving. Sometimes it’s those chance, “what the hell” visits that reveal gems.</p>
<p>View the trip as a chance to discover the subtleties of each city/ rural spot. Otherwise, use something that has not been mentioned so far: THE INTERNET! College websites feature 360 degree tours, plus YouTube lists lots of video “tours” given by students. Less need than ever to have to set foot on campus, if it’s not in your power to do so. Coming from CA, you will not be held to the same requirements for showing demonstrated interest via a campus visit, anyway. East Coast schools are clamoring for west coast kids and visa-versa. </p>
<p>Have a blast (and be sure to have some Jersey pizza and bagels at some point!).</p>
<p>
Since you have already seen a number of campuses, and eliminated the rural types, you are ahead of the curve. If you have ongoing casual discussions about what YoungMoon liked about the campuses you have seen you can probably narrow down a nice list of suitable options. At that point, you can plan trip(s) involving those schools and possibly adding a few that are on or near the trip path for at least drive-thru visits. One thing to remember - you probably want to apply to at least 6 schools and the visits will almost certainly eliminate some. You will then be adding more which meet the desired criteria, but which you have not seen.</p>
<p>Is it possible that the OP is interested in working/ living in Northeast after graduation? This would be a compelling reason to choose a Northeast college, if cost is not a factor, even if a CA would cost family less.</p>
<p>HarvestMoon: Maybe it’s just me but I’m starting to call into question the idea of including reach schools. Seems such a shot in the dark these days, and there’s less chance of preferential packaging to make it doable. Matches make more sense IMHO. I’d say that’s a different thing to debate than the topic of this thread . . . but then again, maybe it isn’t. Is the OP a safe candidate for the ivies anyway? </p>
<p>I so agree with the recent poster: Are you ready for traffic hell. You don’t want to have a car in NYC. Boston traffic is also a nightmare. Ditch the car and take Amtrak. You can stop in New Haven on the way, and if you want to go to Philly, you could do that as well.</p>
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<p>sylvan, I said that OUR experience with summer visits was that they were pretty worthless. And they were, for the reasons I stated. No one is saying you are doing things wrong. And believe me, I understand how for some families it is hard to find a time during the school year to travel. If the OP wants to experience the east coast (for better and for worse) and his family is game to do such an epic trip, they will certainly become familiar with a large swath of the eastern seaboard in a short time.</p>
<p>We did well with summer visits and better with reach school than matches in terms of acceptances. I don’t think the schools my kids chose had preferential packaging.</p>
<p>Still mystified by the results.</p>