I am flying out from CA this weekend with my junior for a visit at Colgate on Saturday and a visit at Bucknell on Monday (we have already scheduled these). We have Sunday to drive from Colgate to Bucknell - but that still leaves a day or so unscheduled. We could squeeze in a self-guided tour at another college in the area (any recommendations?!) or try to do touristy things in the area. Any and all advice is welcome as I am pretty unfamiliar with the area! Thanks!
You could take a detour and see Lafayette and/or Lehigh before you head off to Bucknell.
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Not sure if smaller LACs are of interest but Hamilton College in Clinton, NY is pretty close to Colgate.
ETA: You’d also pass right through Binghamton on your way to Bucknell.
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You could drive to Ithaca and see Cornell and Ithaca College. It’s a beautiful area and Ithaca is a cool town.
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With respect to nearby schools, Hamilton College and its quaint village of Clinton is within 20 miles of Colgate.
For a general feel for this tier of New York State, you might find it appealing to visit a town representative of the Finger Lakes region, such as Skaneateles.
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Hamilton College is actually quite close to…Hamilton, NY, where Colgate is. It’s about 30 minutes north, so out of the way, but a quick trip.
Cornell and Ithaca College are about an hour and a half to the west, and sort of on the way to Bucknell, so perhaps a good place to spend Saturday night. There are good dining and lodging choices in Ithaca.
For a pure tourist attraction, Cooperstown is an hour east of Colgate. There is the hall of fame, of course, but it is also a classic, quintessential, Norman Rockwell type small Northeastern town that might be fun for Californians. There are two terrific family-friendly brewpubs as well.
Good luck and check your weather apps constantly!
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I’ve read about a number of people who visited Colgate and decided to visit Hamilton since it was so close and then ended up preferring Hamilton. If Hamilton has the programs your kid is interested in, it might be worth a stop.
If you’re trying to go the most direct way between Colgate and Bucknell, then Binghamton already mentioned would be a good option. Another possibility would be the U. of Scranton.
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It is worth seeing Hamilton if you’ll be at Colgate, and you can make your way to Bucknell several different ways, hitting Binghamton or Vassar.
Lafayette, Lehigh and Muhlenberg are all close to Allentown, which isn’t far from Bucknell.
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You could do a self guided tour at Binghamton as others noted but it’s a Sunday or a detour to Cornell/Ithaca. Or U of Scranton. Or it’s out of the way, but down to the Allentown area for numerous such as Lehigh, etc. Close to Bucknell, is the less known but fine school Susquehanna. If you are up for different kind of schools, Syracuse and even further out but not that bad to Bucknell you can go to U of R.
If it were me, though, rather than force in a school that maybe you don’t love - I’d take the pilgrimage to Cooperstown and enjoy a few hours at the Baseball Hall of Fame…and lunch. Or for a really long day, but possible - Niagara Falls - cold as it will be.
Have fun whatever you will do.
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Two underrated gems in Upstate New York are Union College in Schenectady/the Capital District and the University of Rochester, directly north of Bucknell. UR is the rare research university which has an open curriculum in its college of arts & sciences.
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My son is at Bucknell now, and we also visited Colgate during his college search. He wanted a good LAC, so it sounds like the schools my son looked at would be on your list. Others to consider — some have been mentioned, others not — Hobart and William Smith, Gettysburg, F & M, Lehigh, Lafayette, Hamilton.
If you are staying near Bucknell, The Inn at Turkey Hill could be a more appealing alternative to the Hamptons or Hilton Garden Inns, they have a great restaurant.
Within 90 minutes of Bucknell, two other LACs to consider, Franklin and Marshall and Dickinson.
We’ve been to Dickinson twice and loved the campus and people. Waiting on RD decision now.
Good luck it’s really a special school.
Based on the 2 schools you’re visited, I think Union would be a very good one to check out.
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We did that visit…also from CA. And my son liked and applied to both schools and did ED to Colgate. We toured Lehigh and also wanted to do Lafayette which I heard was great. We also toured Hamilton as some have suggested. It’s a pretty school and the students we met loved it…ultimately not a fit for DS. Another option is to squeeze in a visit to Syracuse University.
You may already know this but we found “drive-bys” to be just ok as it’s hard to get a sense of a school on a weekend day or by just driving through. What helped when we didn’t have an organized tour was finding some connection to get a current student to meet us and walk us around or meet us for coffee…we did that at a few schools and it helped (wake forest, Hamilton, Boston college).
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Thanks for the advice! We had a great trip!
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Reviews? Which place(s) did you end up adding?
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If you got a chance to visit Skaneateles, you might be interested to hear that it was just named among the most charming small towns in the U.S. by HGTV.