<p>Please rate these itineraries for ease to trip and, if you took a similar trip, anything you would modify. Will try to visit all these campuses in the next 10 month's as they are all in consideration or represent a type of school and setting available and worth checking out for fit. RI is the only unchangeable item as tickets are already in hand.</p>
<p>Itinerary #1
arrive in early evening at Prov., RI airport drive to relative's house north of boston.
Day 1 Get up early on day 1 and drive to Dartmouth. Tour and info session in am, drive to Amherst in pm tour and info session. Return to Boston at night.
Day 2 Tour and Info sessions at Harvard and MIT
Day 3 Tour and Info Session at BC drive around Boston past all the other area schools return to RI. Possibly visit and tour Brown (though Prov. is full of relatives not difficult to do another trip).
Itinerary #2
arrive in early evening at Prov., RI airport drive to train station. Take train to NYC stay night there.
Day 1 Tour and info session at Columbia, train in pm to New Haven. Spend night in New Haven
Day 2 Tour and Info session at Yale train in pm to Providence. Drive to Boston and spend night there (there's also the possibility of eliminating rental car completely in favor of taxis and trains).
Day 3 Tour and info session at Harvard and MIT return to RI in evening.</p>
<p>I don't think that Day 1 on Itinerary #1 is possible. Boston to Dartmouth is better than 2 hours. Even if you manage to get up and out by 7:30 am to get to Dartmouth for a 10am tour/info session you still won't get to Amherst much before 3 even if you rush. Do they run info session/tours that late in the day? This also won't get you back to Boston until about 8pm. All this is assuming you rush to campus, take the tour, do the info session, and hop right back in the car - I don't even know when you would have time to eat! And, coming from AZ you are bound to experience atleast a small amount to jet lag. If you tour BC on Day 3, you won't have any time to drive past the other Boston schools and still get to Providence in time to tour Brown.<br>
Regarding Itinerary #2, it seems foolish to fly into Providence, only to hop on a train to NYC - this is probably a 3-3 1/2 hour train ride. Also, why are you doing the tour and info session again at Harvard and MIT if you did it in trip #1?</p>
<p>Check out the Manchester NH airport if you have to see Dartmouth. Southwest flies there instead of Boston, and also to Providence.</p>
<p>Itinerary #2 makes more sense to me. Except that, frankly, this tour doesn't sound like you've given much thought to what kind of place you're looking for-- it's the Ivies + MIT. It's a jumble!!</p>
<p>Path, if your time is limited sticking to the city related schools this trip makes more sense to me. For example I wount recommend Get up early on day 1 and drive to Dartmouth. Tour and info session in am, drive to Amherst in pm tour and info session. Return to Boston at night. Round trip Boston-Hanover-Amherst-Boston is way too much driving and not enough quality time on campus. Maybe you could do Dartmouth, Amherst (and throw in Middlebury and Williams) another trip. Or, try to add another day and spend the night in Amherst or Williamstown, both of which are lovely in the summer.</p>
<p>I also would advise against spending the night in New Haven if you could avoid it. Id just stay in New York and make the roundtrip to New Haven by train a day trip. Your kid can interview on campus at Yale. When my son did this he was able to make a personal connection with a member of the adcom whom he kept in touch with throughout the application process. The admissions director also went out of his way to speak to us when we were in the waiting area.</p>
<p>No need for East Coast safeties or matches? Im sure you know these are all highly selective schools. If your child wants to stay in the area it may be good to see some less-selectives while youre there. I find its easy to fall in love with these superselectives, but the safeties and matches take a little more coaxing, so a visit and on campus interview sometime helps up the enthusiasm.</p>
<p>In Providence: Brown-- plus URI, Providence College</p>
<p>In Boston: Harvard, MIT-- plus Tufts, BC, BU, Brandeis (Wellesley if female)</p>
<p>Schools within an easy drive of Providence: Yale-- plus Conn College, Wesleyan, Amherst, UMass Trinity, Wheaton, Clark, Salve Regina (Smith, & Mt Holyoke)</p>
<p>Depending on what year your child is in HS, you could do a general tour of "Lg, Med & Small" or "Rural, Suburban, Urban" OR if a rising senior, you could do a more selected Reach, Match, Safety tour. </p>
<p>With all reach schools, you are missing a good opportunity to widen the list. Even if your child is really academically stellar, it is still good to have those safeties.</p>
<p>Might want to look at Tufts and Holy Cross-both stronger schools than Boston College. Holy Cross is between Amherst and Boston-only 1 hour from Boston. Dartmouth is a good ride.</p>
<p>I agree with what others are saying. Unfortunately, your itineraries are just too ambitious. If you are limited to 3 days, I would suggest that you make Boston your hub. That way you could visit H, MIT but also take the time to visit the next tier of schools. If you are considering BC then I would strongly recommend also visiting Brandeis, Tufts and BU. It is certainly possible to see 2 schools in a day if you are staying in Boston, but you do need to take your time in getting a feel for a place. I think it takes a little more than just going on a tour to get a feel for the "vibe" of a campus. It's really valuable to find some "real", non-tour guide students to chat with and get some more honest answers to questions you may have. The tour guides, while helpful, will put a positive spin on everything. If you are talking about a summer tour, then it will take a little more time to find students to talk to.</p>
<p>Par72 - I was thinking about both Tufts and Holy Cross but felt the list was already too full. Perhaps if decide to just stay in the Boston area and leave the rural schools for another trip we'll get there.</p>
<p>I agree with those who say your original itineraries are too ambitious. You know best what your child's target schools should be, so I won't add to the list of schools that have been suggested. From Providence, you can get to a lot more than you could cope with just by driving for a couple of hours or less. What I would suggest, however, is to do more than just take the tour and go to the info session. Even if the college is not in session, you may want to poke into more than the buildings included on the tour. You should also consider doing a quick tour of the town where the college is located. A realistic goal would be two colleges, not too far apart, in one day.</p>
<p>I did tours of the Boston schools two years ago. Though Harvard and MIT are very close, we did the first MIT info/tour, a quick lunch, the subway to Harvard, and barely made the last presentation of the day. On the next day, we took a subway to Tufts and walked from the square, ate in the square after the tour, and took the subway to BC. We "saw" BU as the trolley went through campus but after NYU and GWU my daughter knew that was not for her. Four schools in two days was really a lot to take in. I agree that Boston to Dartmouth to Amherst is too much in one day even if you spend the night in Amherst.</p>
<p>The first plan just sounds painful.<br>
Why not do day 1 at Harvard & MIT, which are practically next to each other?<br>
Day 2 - the rest of the Boston schools.<br>
I would choose either one of Amherst or Dartmouth for Day 3. You'll wear yourself out trying to do both in a day. </p>
<p>Sorry, I had missed the part about being locked in to Providence. OK, I agree with Aries, to a point. First, you might as well see Brown, if your arrival or departure schedule permit. Then go straight to Boston, stay there, and see the Boston schools. You don't really have time for anything else, and nothing else makes geographic sense. Since you say this will not be your only trip (you said you're going to try visiting over the next ten months), plan some other trips to see the schools that interest you. Some schools, such as Dartmouth, are just hard to get to, but you can combine them with other schools in the general area to come up with a feasible set of college visits. Dartmouth-Middlebury-Williams is one such (or Dartmouth-Williams-Amherst), if those schools hold any interest for you. Columbia-Amherst-Yale is another set that can work well, and you might be able to squeeze Wesleyan in that group.</p>
<p>path I looked up some previous posts to find you have a D, a rising junior, who is also an athlete. Now I understand the ivy focus, to help her identify which ivy might interest her as she'd likely be Ivy level in athletics.</p>
<p>Anyway, you have time to see more schools on future family visits it seems. Your may break down into Ivy vs top D-3. If your D is Ivy caliber, she should consider Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Tufts and other schools strong in your D's sport... these top D3 schools nip at the heels of the Ivy League.</p>
<p>I started a thread on athletic recruiting that you might want to see "Is Enthusiastic Coach Call = likely letter?"</p>
<p>Too much is being crammed in on both itineraries, giving it the flavor of a European tour of 15 countries in 7 days...yes, you can say you've been there but how effective is the experience? </p>
<p>Having done the seven-day Boston-NYC marathon, the only time I would recommend doubling up two in a day is if two schools are virtually next door to each other: Harvard/MIT is okay...Harvard/Tufts would be stretching it, imo. N.B., if going to Amherst and offspring is female, take a look at Smith, 20 minutes away and back towards the Interstate anyway.</p>
<p>While driving is a pain, as is the rental car costs, you will be losing more time to "overhead" by having to fit into train schedules. I think you need to allow time on campuses for more than info sessions & tours. Taking a meal, letting S/D talk to students about what they like/dislike etc. The packaged point of the visits (tour/info session) are points of departure, not the goal, imo.</p>
<p>sbmom - that's true. Also, I want her to see some of the famous schools she's heard of and allow her to see a selection of LAC or near LAC schools that have great undergrad reps before she discounts them out of hand. In her case, this is the big recruiting year and I'd like her to have some campus visits completed so she knows what types of campuses appeal or don't appeal to her. Due to a demanding school schedule and out of town tournaments there really aren't a lot of free long weekends to make trips so I'd like to get started.</p>