<p>Zuma - I see what you mean now. :)</p>
<p>Frankly, I think the idea of staying in one hotel and making day trips is going about it the wrong way.
My suggestion would be to leave South Jersey and head up I-87 into New York, with the idea to arrive in Poukeepsie just after noon for your visit to Vassar.
Go back south on I-87 and head east on I-84 past I-91, picking up Connecticut 66 to Middletown and Wesleyan U. Spend the night and visit Wesleyan in the a.m.
Head north on Route 9 to I-91 and head north into Massachusetts. Visit Amherst in the afternoon.
Get back on I-91 and head north to Route 2. Go west on Route 2 to Williamstown. Spend the night in Williamstown and visit Williams in the a.m.
Leave Williamstown and head north on Route 7 to Middlebury. Visit Middlebury College in the afternoon.
Take a SR (pick one) and head east to I-89. South on I-89 to Manchester and head east on SR 101 towards I-95. Go north on I-95. Try to make it as far as Brunswick before stopping for the night. Visit Bowdoin in the a.m. Back on I-95 south towards Boston. Take Route 1 into Medford and visit Tufts in the afternoon.
Back on I-95 south toward Providence and Brown. Visit Brown in the a.m. On to New Haven and Yale for an afternoon visit.
Head towards New York. Spend the night somewhere, not in the City if you want to save money, or on the Upper West Side, if you don't want to commute to NYC in the a.m.
Visit Columbia in the morning, NYU in the afternoon.</p>
<p>If a school has absolutely no "curb appeal," meaning you couldn't see yourself spending the next four years of your life there, drive on, but be honest with yourself. Don't skip it just because you are tired, or it's raining, or whatever.</p>
<p>Head home exhausted....</p>
<p>Day trip to Princeton and Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Overnight to Chicago and University of Chicago - might as well visit Northwestern, as long as you are out there.</p>
<p>Re-visit the schools which truly interest you.</p>
<p>Have fun! All of the driving is a pain, but is merely a means to an end. You will see a lot of great places.</p>
<p>UMDAD - obviously you spent your previous life in the AAA routing office. Great itinerary and good advice to boot!</p>
<p>Richard, You've received a lot of good advice and you seem well organized. Since my son looked at 8 of the schools on your list I'll add a couple of comments:
1. I'd suggest that you try to devote one day to each school. Since you're looking at super-selectives, you want to make sure that you go slowly and carefully. If you spend the night on campus, in the morning you can go to the info session, take the tour, interview if offered, then spend some time wandering around campus. Have a meal at the dining hall, visit some classrooms or sports or arts facilities. Go shopping or have a cup of tea wherever the students hang out. In other words, get a feel for the place. Then around 4:00 p.m. you can head off to the next place. Even if you visit fewer schools, you will get a deeper understanding. Remember you still have 15 months until you have to make a decision. You don't have to do it all at once.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In some cases there is an advantage of basing yourself in one place and venturing out each day. In some places, it's counterproductive. We stayed in Old Saybrook which is a charming Connecticut resort town and traveled one day each to Yale, Wesleyan, and Conn College. We then stopped at Trinity on the way to Amherst. We stayed in Amherst and "commuted" to Williams. This was a big mistake, since we ended up going to Williams two days running (it's farther than it looks). I would strongly suggest that you spend the night in Williamstown. (Disclaimer, that's where my son is now.) It's a wonderful place, but not for everyone. You need to be there overnight to see if you'd like living there 24/7.</p></li>
<li><p>As a related comment, where are your safeties? I don't know anything about your qualifications, but your list seems very, very top heavy. How about adding some less selectives like Skidmore, Conn College, Hamilton, Sarah Lawrence? Schools that are in the same ambience as the others on your list.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>momrath-</p>
<p>Yes, I'm starting to get the idea that we are going to have to go much slower than planned, and stay at a bunch of different places as opposed to one (which makes a lot of sense when you think about it). <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=24829">Here's a thread where I listed my "qualifications"</a> I guess I am sort of lacking in the safeties category, yes. Wouldn't Vassar and NYU sort of be safeties, maybe? I mean I know there's a chance you could be rejected from any of these schools, so I'm not sure. Sarah Lawrence looks neat but I heard it has a reputation of being overwhelmingly liberal. And although I'm quite liberal (and gay), I think I'd prefer a less homogeneous social scene.</p>
<p>These schools are all super-selective, but don't you think I'd have a chance of being accepted to at least one? Hm.. I think I will apply to certain "safeties" (it's weird to call them safeties since they are still such good schools) and, then, if I end up not being accepted to any of my top choices, but I do get accepted there, I will have to visit them before making the ultimate decision.</p>
<p>Tufts is nowhere near Amherst or Williams. . .it's a good 3 hours away, and that's being generous. I doubt you could visit all three in one day as everyone else has suggested. I don't see any way you could do that from the same hotel.</p>
<p>Actually, no-one here has suggested doing Tufts, Amherst and Williams in 1 day; Just to do them from 1 hotel.</p>
<p>Depending on your GPA, by the end of Junior year, NYU amd Vassar could very well be safeties for you Richard. But you still have time to think about it.</p>
<p>Holy Cow, you can only do Williams and Amherst from the same hotel, or in the same day.</p>
<p>richard - you are on a great track and obviously learning a ton ( as we all do) through cc. Re safeties - as you will see on many older threads (and I'm sure there will be more) there is nothing more valuable than a safety where you would really like to go. I would definitely include some in my travels, if I were you, so that you can find one you feel good about and have it in your "back pocket," as you await results from your top choices.</p>
<p>It certainly seems that you would get into one or more of your top choices, but none of us can predict for sure. You will really enjoy the feeling of relief which some of us (and our S/D's) have experienced if you have a safety/match with EA or rolling admissions. Then in late fall, you will have an admission letter "framed" on your bulletin board during the painfully long wait for April to come and/or the difficult time when any rejections or deferrals come in.</p>
<p>Keep us posted. I am really enjoying following the development of your plans.</p>
<p>If you are planning a New England swing trip - you really can't do what you want by staying in 1 or 2 hotels - these schools are quite a distance apart - but with some thought and a good map/itinary you could make it a cool trip.<br>
check this out on a map and it will make sense.</p>
<p>I would suggest you keep your bags packed and start in the Boston area for Tufts
- then head north up Rt 95 to Maine for Bowdin - check out Bates if you can also
- cross over - go west ?on Rt 4 - thru New Hampshire into Vermont to Middlebory on Rt 7 N
- then head south on Rt 7 towards western Mass for Amherst and Williams
- from there you head Mass Pike to Rt 495 to Rt 95 S to Providence Rhode Island to Brown
- then Rt 95 S towards Conn to Yale and Wesleyan
- then a bit north for Vassar</p>
<p>(Rt numbers are to give you just a general idea of directions - not specific tho - sorry.)</p>
<p>That is quite alot of driving - BUT - if you stay in one place and attempt to do this you will do even more as some of these places are quite a distance round trip. We did a trip like this on October - flew to DC and then drove to schools starting in MD - thru VA - NC - SC and on to Florida and then flew home in 6 days!!!!! Drove 1500 miles - 8 schools!!!!! But we had it planned down to the T (and had to endure a hurricane along the way too lol) - and found inexpensive hotels as we went. We put a file folder together - 1 for each school - had the maps/info all together - and off we went - worked great for us.</p>
<p>Hamilton College is definitely worth visiting. I loved it.</p>