“I don’t know what they look like in winter!”
To my eye, like fairy dreamland Nutcracker waltz of the snowflakes.
Thank you @Hanna ! This made me laugh out loud!
Me too, as my first role in the Nutcracker was that of. Snowflake.
Food:
At MHC, Iya Sushi and Noodles on College Street. Yum.
Northampton–lots of choices. Sylvester’s for breakfast if at all possible.
Hotels with Food:
Wiggins Tavern at the Hotel Northampton – superb atmosphere.
The Mick and Delaney’s Grill, both at D. Hotel in Hadley, are really good.
D. Hotel is situated reasonably well for touring both MHC and Smith. Breakfast is disappointing, but the room rates are often attractive. The dinner options make up for the breakfast.
MHC is just about the most drop dead gorgeous school. And they back right up to a mountain. And the horses. And the delightful attitude. And the merit aid.
Parking strategy for Smith. First, try the meters on Elm Street. Seems improbable, but I have rolled up there and parked in front of Lawrence and Tyler at a meter on more than one occasion. Failing that, try the Smith garage on West street. There are spots in there for visitors.
Don’t rush through either Smith or MHC. Sit in on a class at both; take the places in.
So you’re that snowflake I keep hearing about! 
I’m a current Bryn Mawr biology student and I’d reiterate putting Bryn Mawr on your list.
Bradley is a great Southwest Airlines destination and remember bags fly free 
Most Smith/MoHo students use it as their primary.
I love Mt. Holyoke and I think it is often overlooked. Also, it is in the Five College Consortium, so she can also take classes at Amherst, Hampshire, and Smith Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/five_colleges
Update: The trip went well! We lucked out with mostly good weather, even a couple days with bright blue skies and warm temps. Here’s the itinerary we followed, in case it’s useful for future trip planners:
Day 1: Took the first flight out and arrived in Boston mid-afternoon. Walked around the Harvard campus in the evening.
Day 2: Tour and info session of Harvard in the morning. @Veryapparent was right, they do a great job with the info session. Arrive 20 minutes early or so if you want to catch the video that has clips of current students and famous alumni (manipulative but effective). Luckily for us, our tour guide was a member of the Harvard Ballet Company, so D got all her dance-related questions answered. She was able to confirm that Wellesley women can join the HBC.
In the afternoon, we went to Wellesley. Their admissions office was closed (as expected), but they had left maps for self-guided tours outside the door. Holy moly, that’s a gorgeous campus. It was verrrry quiet, though. Hardly anyone walking around. I suppose the ones who hadn’t left town for the weekend were tucked away somewhere studying.
In the evening, we drove to S. Hadley and caught a movie in the little theater across the street from Mt. Holyoke.
Day 3: MHC’s admissions office had arranged for D to observe a modern dance class in the morning. The students were friendly and welcoming, and D liked the pretty view of campus out the ballet studio’s windows. She did a tour of campus, then had lunch with another MHC student (a dancer) in their new dining hall, then did an interview with yet another student. (In retrospect, I probably didn’t need to sign her up for every activity available, but she certainly had a good feel for what MHC has to offer by the end of the day.)
In the evening, we drove to Northampton.
Day 4: D observed a couple of classes at Smith. We had lunch in the campus center, then did an afternoon tour and info session. Once again our tour guide was a dancer. She told us where to find the theater and dance studios so we came back and explored those on our own. One was in a boat house overlooking the water - pretty cool! We liked that the science building and the performing arts center were adjacent.
In the evening, we drove to Poughkeepsie.
Day 5: This was our most hectic day - I wouldn’t necessarily recommend packing in as much as we did, but fortunately it all worked out. We did the Vassar tour and info session in the morning, then hurried down into NYC to catch the afternoon tour and info session at Barnard, then made it downtown in time to grab a sandwich and see a show.
Timewise, it would have been easier to skip the Vassar info session; most of what they have to say you’ve already heard on the tour. We were glad we went, tho, because one of the speakers was a dancer and the other had taken sign language classes, and D had questions for them both. Barnard’s info session was particularly well done, we thought; the AO gave specific advice about what they do and don’t want to see in application essays.
Day 6: D observed a Barnard ballet class and then went on the science tour at Columbia, which she described as “dead boring.” With the exception of about 2 minutes in an actual lab (that part was great), the tour guide mainly just walked them around in the rain, pointing out various buildings. “This is the Math Building. People inside this building are doing math.” Meh.
D took the rest of the day off to be a tourist, visiting the Met and watching a movie screening in Columbia’s theater.
Day 7: We drove out to Princeton for a campus tour. Our guide was only a freshman, but she was enthusiastic and informed and did a great job, we thought. Afterward, we had lunch on Nassau St. and drove back to Newark in plenty of time to make the flight home.
Thanks so much to everyone who helped us figure out a workable schedule. This was a great experience for D. She has a lot to think about now in terms of what appealed to her most/least about all the schools she saw. Meanwhile, I’m already thinking about where we should go next!
Thank you so much for your trip report! I want to take kiddo to several of those schools during the summer, and this is some solid feedback.
Any schools stand out to her as favorites? Any written off the list already?
I hope you make it to Bryn Mawr at some point.
Scripps is a wonderful little gem which is part of the 5C’s, so you have a small college within a larger university system.
Great report thanks!! You must be tired!
One more last-ditch shameless plug for Bryn Mawr. the dance studio is over the arched gate . . . . inside the castle-like gate. Very lovely … .
Oh I second recommendation on Scripps. The 5Cs are an amazing opportunity and Scripps is drop dead gorgeous…they had me at each dorm has a courtyard and fountain.
@doschicos, nothing came off the list, as far as I know. She does have an awareness that things that are enjoyable for a day or two might not wear as well over 4 years, so she’s thinking about that. The visit to Barnard was very exciting, for example - the tour guide was a biochem major and D was enthralled listening to her describe her research assignment, and then the same night we were at a Broadway musical. So fun! But two days later at Princeton, she mentioned that she liked “the space between the buildings.” The contrast with the crowds and noise of NYC was pretty stark. Depending on where she gets accepted, she’ll have to consider which type of environment suits her better, long-term.
After all the visits, I asked if she knew she could get in anywhere, and money were no object, which one appealed to her the most? I told her not to think about it, just tell me her first instinct. She said Vassar… or Smith. So that gives me something to go on as I look for other schools to add to the list. Strong science & performing arts, a sense of community, lots of things to do, and an interesting, engaged, diverse student body. Merit aid is a plus (and yes, I know Vassar doesn’t offer it). The size of the school is less of a factor for her - she tends to form a few, close friendships, and she says she can do that at a big school or a small one. From what I’ve read, I think Oberlin could be a good fit, but I’m having a little trouble getting her jazzed up about Ohio. Maybe a visit to the Midwest is in order.
I understand the reasons behind your scheduling, but I wanted to mention that whenever touring multiple schools in the same day, each school often doesn’t look as good as it otherwise might had you seen it on its own day. For many people, the second school visited inevitably suffers from information fatigue.
@Curiosa My D (current sophomore) and I are planning to visit a few of the schools from your January visit this weekend (specifically Vassar, Smith, and Mount Holyoke and maybe Barnard). I’m so glad that I found your post and the many terrific comments; it’s been so helpful!
I was curious about whether you or your daughter contacted Vassar’s dance department in advance of the visit and met with any faculty while there. I noticed on the website that it encouraged students to do so but my daughter is only a sophomore and I’m not sure how comfortable she’d feel about participating in a college class or meeting individually with faculty members. This is our first college visit trip and Vassar is the first school on the trip, so I think she might feel overwhelmed. It may be better just to take the tour and gather information then save specific questions for a future visit or by email, though I hate for her to miss an opportunity while we’re there.
Any info about this or other logistics about observing or participating in classes is appreciated!
We didn’t observe any dance at Vassar. No time that day! The AO suggested we go take a peek at the studio, but when we got there the building was locked. (They have a nice photo of it on the web site, tho.)
Mt. Holyoke’s admissions office was especially helpful in regard to dance class visits. I e-mailed and mentioned that my daughter would be interested… they researched for us which classes would fit in our schedule and checked with the instructors to get their okay. All she had to do was show up.
Smith’s web site gives you a link to the course catalog and it’s up to you to get in touch with the instructors and request permission to attend. My D chose to view academic classes there; both professors got back to her right away with positive responses.
Barnard has a request form you fill out on their web site… we didn’t get a response, but they were very helpful and accommodating when we followed up with them via e-mail.
Would love it if you’d come back and post about your impressions from your visits.
Thank you! She doesn’t have school this Friday so it’s going to a quick trip. Smith is hosting a spring preview day on Saturday so we decided to take advantage of the free day and attend the event. Vassar is likely the only school we’ll be able to visit on Friday so it’s really the only chance to talk to a faculty member or see a class. I’m just not sure how she’ll feel about it this first time around.
The timing of the trip works out for us to be able to see a Vassar Repertory Dance Thestre performance Friday night and Mount Holyoke Student Dance Concert on Saturday night, so those will hopefully give us some insight about the performance opportunities. I’ll post about our impressions when we return. Thanks again!