If you have a bit of time around the Vassar visit I recommend the Walkway Over the Hudson (right there in Poughkeepsie).
Haverford is really the one that makes that drive bad, IMO. We visited it on a different trip than Amherst/NE schools.
In the general area of Amherst/Albany and similar feel of the schools you are interested in, there’s Connecticut College (no Greek life), Wesleyan (we also avoided it because of frats but I since came to think it isn’t as bad as that made it seem), Trinity also there in Conn, Bennington and Williams are close to Skidmore.
PS: I loved driving in Alaska - mostly only one road except Anchorage and even then really just one out and one in, hard to get lost! But I agree a phone with nav - I like Google - is invaluable on a trip like this. Get a cheap air vent holder and a charger for the phone, good to go.
I live in NYC and am sort of a weenie when it comes to driving. That’s what happens when you no longer own a car. The stereotype here about driving is that you either become an Indie 500 driver or a grandma. I definitely am the latter. I stay in the right lane and don’t go over the speed limit.
I don’t hesitate to rent a car and drive on the NJturnpike and up to Saratoga if I need to. I just stay in the right lane and go my speed. The others do whatever they need to do.
Driving across the GW doesn’t feel so bad to me because the traffic goes slow–15 mph would be a lucky day. That’s one blessing of a crowded bridge. And though you may need to change lanes to get your exit, you can inch your way over gently. People will generally let you in.
The parkways mentioned above (Taconic, Merit, Sawmill, etc) are old roads, narrow, because they were built when suburbs and cars were a fairly new idea, and there was this glorious idea of heading out of the City on a Parkway, to your lovely tree-filled suburb. The traffic speed limit is around 50-55. No trucks are allowed.
As far as the Wesleyan and frat debate, we dislike frats in his household and keep Wesleyan on our list. The frats seem like a minor part of the school identity.
I’m also a huge train advocate! If you wanted to take trains to the schools you mentioned, it’s possible for many of them. Like: Land in NYC someplace. I’d choose LaGuardia (it’s a mess because they are expanding the airport, but it’s convenient for getting into NYC easily and cheaply). Then walk outside the terminal to take the M60 bus toward Manhattan to 120th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. (To take the M60, purchase MetroCards in kiosks at LaGuardia. Then at the busstop you buy a paper ticket for the bus.) You can get fairly cheap and clean room to stay in at the Union Theological Seminary or at International House. The neighborhood is clean, safe and nice. It’s the Columbia U neighborhood. The M60 will stop at 120th and Amsterdam which is walking distance to these places to stay.
Union Theological Seminary – https://utsnyc.edu/about/landmark/
International House – https://www.ihouse-nyc.org/guest-accommodations-nyc-housing/
Teachers College, Columbia University Guest Rooms – https://www.tc.columbia.edu/housing/guest-and-conference-housing/guest-housing/
To get to your other schools:
- Amtrak (out of Penn Station NYC) runs to PA and the Haverford area (from Union Theological Seminary, walk to 116th and Broadway and take the subway red Number 1 train downtown and it stops at Penn Station.)
- Then as an above person noted, the MetroNorth train out of Grand Central in NYC goes to Vassar. In fact when your son is at Vassar, he will be able to easily get into NYC for the day (to go to the amazing museums or to a show for 1/2 price tickets on Broadway, for example) on the MetroNorth train. Getting from the Poughkeepsie train station to Vassar, there’s a line of cabs waiting and you can negotiate a fare before getting in. Lyft or another car service can take you back to the station. (To get from Penn Station to Grand Central, either walk the approx 1/2 mile across town and see some sights along the way or take a subway-- #1 red line uptown one stop to Times Square, change underground for the S special line to Grand Central)
- Then from Poughkeepsie take the Amtrak to the Saratoga Springs area. There you can rent a car to see your other schools.
Or rent a car in Poughkeepsie to see the other schools. It’s cheaper and easier driving.
To see Bard – take Taconic from Poughkeepsie north. (Bard is also on the Amtrak line and he could get to NYC that way)
To see Skidmore – continue north from Bard – cross the Hudson at Albany area.
etc.
To return to LaGuardia from Amherst – drive back to Poughkeepsie, take MetroNorth train from Poughkeepsie to the 125th Street MetroNorth Station in Harlem. Exit to street level and cross 125th Street to the M60 Stop–take M60 bus east to LaGuardia airport.
To navigate the various subway and bus lines in NYC download the Citymapper app on your phone.
Why is the Haverford visit the one that makes the drive bad? Is the Philly traffic worse than near NYC? I’d hate to skip it though. I don’t mind long drives, just the quick decision at 70mph bumper to bumper stuff that I suck at. LA is my nightmare. I cannot understand why people choose this over efficient mass transit. Still trying to get my kids to move to Europe so I can follow them!
I think the comment of Haverford making the drive bad is just because it requires traversing NYC in some mannner. Phiilly traffic isn’t any worse than NYC, but 95 seems to be eternally under construction. Trying to avoid driving at rush hour would make life much easier.
You can avoid NYC by taking the Tappan Zee. The rest of NJ and PA is just normal highway driving. Not crazy at all. And I don’t think 95 is that bad if you do it from where the Garden State meets it, to the PA turnpike. It’s always been fine for us the lat 5 or 6 years since EZ Pass was instituted and the roadway was expanded a couple years ago. Not sure what part of 95 @NJWrestlingmom is speaking of. Certainly the part north of exit 11 (GSP) can be bad. That’s why I recommend the TPZ and GSP 
Because it’s really far away from the other schools you want to visit - way south - and requires going through/very near NYC and Philly.
The others require only cruising around upstate NY and Connecticut and western Mass.
You don’t need to get on I-95, especially if you fly into Hartford or Albany. Conn College is near 95 but so far east the traffic isn’t bad yet.
I grew up in NYC and have no problem driving there but IMO 95 by car between central Conn and DC is just not pleasant at all. I’d consider the train for Haverford. And you go might as well see Swat too.
@donnaleighg I’m probably not talking about 95! Lol. I drive it, but have no idea what it’s called! From where I am, we take 295 into PA; I always assumed it’s 95 when you get into PA but I could be wrong! That area has been under construction forever. It’s up by the football stadium.
You don’t need to do 95 to Haverford. You’d take the PA turnpike from the NJ turnpike and then the Blue Route (495) south to Haverford. One of the accidents of nature (man) one can’t get to 95 from the PA turnpike. Until a year or so from now. But you still wouldn’t do it that way.
I’m not sure what you mean @donnaleighg - the NJ Turnpike is I-95.
But my main point is, it’s a good 4 hours south of Albany or Hartford and every other school they want to see is much closer to those two airports, and north or east or west - not south (Skidmore, Amherst, Vassar).
Haverford is pretty far from the those, and further in a way that requires doing NYC and Philly.
She/he was talking about 95 right next to Philadelphia (east side). You don’t need to do that to go to H’ford. And my point is you don’t need to do either NYC or Phllly. I’m well aware because I’ve driven that route about 30 times 
Anyway, enough arguing about highways. Let google do it 3 and a quarter hours south of Vassar. No NYC or Philly. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Vassar+College,+124+Raymond+Ave,+Poughkeepsie,+NY+12604/Haverford,+Pennsylvania/@40.83909,-75.6811371,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89dd3e5682674b4d:0xe3c87d640882d54c!2m2!1d-73.8957002!2d41.6867992!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c6c06cd47972d7:0x3a86f6b8329f4054!2m2!1d-75.3208107!2d40.0022406!3e0
Something like this:
- fly to Philadelphia
- take public trans to Haverford (then return to Philadelphia)
- take Amtrak to NYC (then subway + taxi to Sarah Lawrence and back)
- take Amtrak to Poughkeepsie then taxi to Vassar (maybe with hotel/B&B shuttle in the mix)
- take Amtrak to Saratoga Springs, then taxi to Skidmore (maybe with hotel/B&B shuttle in the mix)
- rent a car, drive to Amherst MA (~2.5 hours)
- (then figure out how to manage the rental car return and a flight out of Hartford/upstate NY/NYC)
Not saying this itinerary is better than driving all the way … but it may be a do-able option.
An Amtrak line runs upstate from NYC along the Hudson River. Very scenic most of the way, but not very fast. I know an excellent B&B in Saratoga Springs (called “Springwater” or some such); they might take you to/from the train station.
You’ll be covering a lot of ground regardless. If you’re from the West/Mid-West and not used to getting around in the NE, it may seem like you’re covering more ground (and taking more time) than the actual miles suggest. You may want to consider eliminating Haverford or Amherst. IMO it isn’t really necessary to visit every college on your list, as long as you’ve visited similar colleges and do your research on every one.
Thanks everybody. I think wel will drop Haverford, actually less for the driving and more for time. Within 9 day she we’re visiting the Midwest and the N.Y schools, plus Amherst, which will easily fill up the time, factoring in flight days too. Starred are the top favorites so far. Looks doable to fly in to Albany rent a car and do a big loop. Definitely want to not short on time at the most important schools, but also see some safeties. Any other thoughts?
Macalester**
Carleton
Skidmore
Amherst
Vassar**
Ithaca college
Cornell
I hope that you’re not dropping Haverford from the application list, maybe just from the visit list. It’s a wonderful school. Quiet, leafy, pleasant and the values seem to be based in kindness. Also the FA is excellent. Haverford is a lovely place and it’s also part of the consortium with Bryn Mawr – like a mile away and they run buses. Also she could take classes at Swarthmore and UPenn. Of all of your schools I wold not drop Haverford but might drop Ithaca.
Ithaca’s a wonderful school in many ways and I know several people who are attend or have attended, but its FA is NOT good. I’m really not sure how they afford it. Ithaca stands out as being different in that way from the others on your list.
If you’re looking in Western NY State, and you seem to like arty schools, you may want to add U of Rochester. Has a great music school/ scene; excellent overall academics; great FA; smallish university; few to none core requirements.
Here is Ithaca’s net cost by income bracket (from College Navigator)
$0 – $30,000 … $21,460
$30,001 – $48,000 … $24,536
$48,001 – $75,000 … $29,740
$75,001 – $110,000 … $34,570
$110,001 and more … $40,301
Here is Haverford’s
$0 – $30,000 … $10,821
$30,001 – $48,000 … $7,889
$48,001 – $75,000 … $14,922
$75,001 – $110,000 … $21,857
$110,001 and more … $47,068
Bard’s
$0 – $30,000 … $14,713
$30,001 – $48,000 … $13,890
$48,001 – $75,000 … $26,492
$75,001 – $110,000 … $28,456
$110,001 and more … $38,547
Cornell’s
$0 – $30,000 … $14,028
$30,001 – $48,000 … $10,652
$48,001 – $75,000 … $15,413
$75,001 – $110,000 … $25,404
$110,001 and more … $46,544
U of Rochester
$0 – $30,000 … $16,750
$30,001 – $48,000 … $19,915
$48,001 – $75,000 … $22,561
$75,001 – $110,000 … $30,068
$110,001 and more … $41,620
Wesleyan U
$0 – $30,000 … $7,508
$30,001 – $48,000 … $7,790
$48,001 – $75,000 … $14,311
$75,001 – $110,000 … $23,564
$110,001 and more … $47,448
Cornell (University?) seems like an outlier in your list.
Or do you mean Cornell College?
My husband and I have driven some pretty similar routes to yours for our own college trips. I totally understand your concerns.
I think your first job is to go onto Google Maps and build a couple of the routes suggested above. And select the “bus” or “Mass Transit” toggle. You may have to open several tabs because it won’t let you do multi-point maps with mass transit.
I would suggest you do a mix of trains and car rentals where it is unavoidable. Drop the car when you reach the city.
I would avoid renting a car at an airport. I find airports are intimidating to drive out–a lot of people, at any time of day, lots of merging, multiple freeways nearby. Dropping off can be problematic as well.
Taking others ideas I would suggest:
- Fly to Boston.
- Take an Uber out to a car rental in the Western part of Boston. (to the actual car rental since you’ll have luggage)
- Rent the car at a Western spot near the Massachusetts Turnpike. There are at least two Enterprises and one Hertz near that road. Hopefully a local can tell you which would be your best bet.
We have taken the drive to Springfield (near Amherst) more than once. We found it pretty low-key for a highway/freeway. I think this works.
- Then follow the routes suggested to the rural schools.
- Definitely turn in the car at Younkers and after Sarah Lawrence, take the train suggested above to Philadelphia. We absolutely did not enjoy the routes between New York and Philly and we've done it 3-4 times. Lanes are often leaving to join another freeway with last minute merges etc.
- You can take an Uber or mass transit to Haverford. It's a great school by the way. We really loved it.
Not sure if anyone is still following, but I have another related question. Driving just around New York, with a quick hop over into mass for Amherst, is it reasonable to try to avoid toll roads? I hadn’t even realized there were still such things, until I booked a Budget rental car and read a notification about toll charges. Seems so 1960! Anyway, I’d like to avoid these if it’s reasonable to find alternative routes. Or do I just pay the rental car fees and not stress over it?
Hi. Just piping in to say that if you are a nervous driver, when you are driving near NYC, do NOT take any of the parkways because they are very narrow and have a lot of turns.
Upstate NY? Doable. NYC, definitely not doable.
Google maps has an “avoid tolls” setting so you can see how far out of the way that takes you. Skidmore to Amherst, an extra half hour, not a big deal: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Skidmore+College,+815+N+Broadway,+Saratoga+Springs,+NY+12866/Amherst+College,+Amherst,+MA/@42.6222343,-73.7218484,9z/data=!4m16!4m15!1m5!1m1!1s0x89de377075999361:0xad44e348ee0554b9!2m2!1d-73.782673!2d43.099227!1m5!1m1!1s0x89e6cdf81b4c368f:0x4a19e7109e1126bc!2m2!1d-72.5170028!2d42.3709104!2m1!2b1!3e0
FWIW I like the parkways - no trucks.