<p>I need some guidance in planning our school visit end of November. I am planning to be in the NE from Wednesday to Saturday. The list of schools my sons have narrowed down are: Lawrenceville (NJ), Choate, Hotchkiss, Loomis-Chaffee, Taft, Pomfret (CT), PA, Deerfield, Middlesex (MA) and PEA (NH).</p>
<p>I am not very familiar with the location of any of these schools. I can either land in EWR and visit Lawrenceville and immediately head to CT. Or, I can reach Boston, and then head south to NJ. Will we be able to cover all these schools within 3 weekdays and 1 Saturday? Where to stay at CT and MA so that we are not wasting our time driving around too much?</p>
<p>If any of you have visited these schools I would greatly appreciate how efficiently I can make this happen.</p>
<p>Not sure if this helps. But three years ago, my son and I flew into EWR on a Tuesday morning at about 10:00. We rented a vehicle and drove to Hotchkiss for a 1:00 p.m. interview. Hotchkiss is in the northwest corner of Connecticut, very remote location. After many twists and a few wrong turns - we made it there about 15 minutes late.</p>
<p>We then drove across Connecticut and stayed in the Tewksbury area of Massachusetts (near Andover). Got up early on Wednesday morning to head north to Exeter for an interview and tour. We were stopped for speeding by the State Patrol in New Hampshire on I-95 (no ticket but told to slow down). </p>
<p>Left Exeter and headed south to Andover for tour and interview in early afternoon. Flew out of Logan about 5:00 p.m. to head home. Very rushed second day. </p>
<p>You need at least four hours per school for tour and interview (student and parent interviews are separate and not at the same time).</p>
<p>My plan is to fly red eye in to Logan or EWR and reach there early morning. Then start visiting the schools. If I land at EWR, my choice is to go to Lville and then drive to CT. If there is cluster of schools in and around the same area, I can visit them on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday. And Friday drive to MA and visit PA, Deerfield and Middlesex. PEA is open on Saturday, may be they will arrange an interview on Saturday. I intend to fly back Saturday p.m. and reach home late night.</p>
<p>If one and half days will not work to cover CT schools, then I need to visit what is possible and arrange skype or phone interview for the rest of them.</p>
<p>The schools we don’t want to miss are: Lville, PA, PEA, DA, Middlesex, Choate and Loomis. I would love to visit Taft as Exie was really impressed by it. Hate to miss any one on this list. We really don’t have any time. The boys have to back at school on Monday.</p>
<p>You can create a ‘My places’ map on Google maps with all the schools. That might help you to see which ones are clustered together. It looks like several of the CT schools and Deerfield in MA are not far from I-91. Hotchkiss, Taft, and Pomfret look like they’d require some extra driving.</p>
<p>I strongly advise you to bring your own portable GPS. Your rental car may not have one. I know Logan airport is very convenient, not too busy and easy access to CT and Ma schools. Lville is closer to the Newark, NJ and Laguardia-NY airports. Perhaps Lville could be the school you skype unless you depart from a NJ/NY airport.</p>
<p>I strongly advise you to bring your own portable GPS. Your rental car may not have one. I know Logan airport is very convenient, not too busy and easy access to CT and Ma schools. Lville is closer to the Newark, NJ and LaGuardia-NY airports. Perhaps Lville could be the school you skype unless you depart from a NJ/NY airport.</p>
<p>Consider also flying into BDL (Hartford/Springfield) in CT. SW Airlines flies there. BDL is closest to Hotchkiss & Deerfield. </p>
<p>If you have airline freq flyer miles, check the airline’s website for their destinations map, and see if there is a logical airport that that carrier serves.</p>
<p>See if a one-way car rental is feasibile. If so, then consider flying open-jaw into Boston then out of Newark, or vice versa.</p>
<p>It’s really hard, nearly impossible, to do more than two schools in a day. Taft and Hotchkiss combine well in a day. With an early interview at one and one of the last interviews at the other you could combine Loomis and Deerfield, Deerfield and Middlesex, or Loomis and Middlesex with a long drive between. We did it. Middlesex and Andover can easily combine in a day. Wednesdays can be tough because some schools have a shorter schedule. The same is true with Saturdays. Even if you can’t squeeze in an interview, you could drive through a third school, observe practices, and get a feel for the campus.</p>
<p>GreatNWdad- I second the recommendation to fly into Bradley airport (Hartford/Springfield) From there you can easily get to Deerfield (45 minutes), Loomis (15 minutes) and Choate (40 minutes), up and down interstate 91. I agree that you have to budget 3-4 hours for each visit and can do no more than two in a day. You could land at Bradley early and do Loomis/Choate or Loomis/Deerfield. You could also do Loomis/Taft or Choate/Taft (they are about 50 minutes apart) Hotchkiss is literally in the middle of nowhere, although you could probably combine it with Taft which is in the western part of the state. Hope that helps! I’ve been to all of these schools for sports matches.</p>
<p>Also, Connecticut, specifically Bradley Airport had up to 22 inches of snow this week. Interstate 91 is always cleared pretty quickly, as is 84 but you might want to watch the forecast.</p>
<p>Wow. Thank you all for giving me valuable information. Can you suggest a nearby city which would be convenient in MA to visit Andover, Middlesex, Deerfield and Exeter? Also one in CT which is closer to Choate, Loomis. I will try to plot all these schools on Google map today. I have a place to stay closer to Lville.</p>
<p>GreatNWdad- you might want to stay right next to Bradley airport- although it is a relatively small airport it has almost every chain covered. The town is called Windsor Locks. You could also stay in the next town up on 91 from Choate, called Meriden, they have a number of big hotels. Don’t forget that the states in New England are pretty small, you can also get to Taft and Deerfield very easily. Pomfret and Hotchkiss are more difficult because they involve back roads, and in the case of Hotchkiss, a mountain. Did you say that you have sportsy boys? I might add Avon Old Farms (same area) to the liust and take Pomfret off…</p>
<p>Great NW Dad-- I like the idea of flying into one place (like Logan), getting a one way rental car and flying out of NJ so you aren’t captive to your rental car office. I wouldn’t try to do more than two schools in a day. Some of the bigger schools might keep you waiting a while. It happened to me at a remotely located school on your list.
Also some of the boarding schools have places you can stay on campus, like Choate has the Sally Hart Lodge for example.</p>
<p>Deerfield is closer to Choate and Loomis than it is to the other MA schools. Staying near Bradley works, as would Hartford or Northampton, MA. Avoid Springfield, MA. For the eastern MA schools I would suggest staying right around Andover. It is most central of the other three.</p>
<p>There are a couple of hotels right off of I-93 one exit north of I-495. This is just north of Andover. Andover also has it’s own inn on campus. Andover is approx. 40 minutes north of Logan and about 45 minutes south of Exeter.</p>
<p>One additional thing we found was that some of the hotels had special rates for the schools. The hotel we stayed in for Loomis, for example, reduced the rate we were paying when I mentioned that we were in town for a Loomis interview. Agree that Deerfield combines well with the CT schools for visits.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for giving me really valuable advice. I have made interview appointments and booked my flight. I am yet to book hotels and rent a car. Which I will do shortly. I have dropped Pomfret and Hotchkiss from my list as I could only do two schools in a day and those two are out of my way. I will try and arrange for skype or phone interview. Lvle, has no opening during my trip days. I have already arranged a skype interview with them.</p>