Echoing @thumper1: Tour NYU first, then cab or Uber to Grand Central, then Metro North to New Haven. There are some car rental places right at New Haven Union Station and others within a few blocks. Wesleyan is a half hour drive from New Haven. From there it’s all west: roughly 2 hours to Vassar, then about 5 hours to Rochester, then about 4 hours to Cleveland.
If you do Vassar first before heading east to Wesleyan, you end up backtracking west to Rochester. Think of New Haven/Middletown as the far northeastern fringe of the NY metro area, Poughkeepsie the far northern fringe, and Rochester far to the northwest. It makes more sense to go NE-N-NW than N-NE-NW.
I live in NYC and feel that using no car here is best. it’s expensive to rent cars in the City. If I were doing this, I’d take the public transport to NYU. Then take the Metronorth out of Grand Central (an easy subway ride from NYU on the 4,5,6 green line). Then rent a car in Poughkeepsie. One of the car rental companies delivers cars to you. I think it’s Enterprise or maybe National. Then I’d drive tow Wesleyan and then back to Poughkeepsie and drop off the car. The Metronorth back to the City or the Amtrak (both are available in Poughkeepsie) can bring you to where you want to go.
If you're trying to get back to Newark from Poughkeepsie, I'd take the Amtrak to Penn Station and then take NJ Transit to the airport. Super easy.
If you're trying to get back to LaGuardia (which is under construction and a mess, but still works okay), I'd take the Metro North line to 125th Street station, exit the station, and get the M60 City bus out to LaGuardia. It's cheap, fast, and easy.
JFK is accessible by taking Amtrak back from Poughkeepsie to Penn Station and then getting the A Train out to JFK.
If you decide to rent a car in the City and drive, taking the Henry Hudson Parkway (Rte 9A) out of the City straight north to the (Sawmill, Cross County, and then) Taconic Parkway and then to Vassar – that’s a pretty and easy route to take.
Travel light and your life will be easier!
One advantage of using a train to get to Poughkeepsie is that you will see that Vassar is easily accessible from the City. You will notice that it’s on the commuter train line and that Vassar has good connections with the City in terms of finding eventual jobs, finding internships, going in for the day to see a museum or a show. If you DRIVE, you will feel that Vassar is really far away. It seems much further by car than if you take the train.
@thumper1 We arrive in NYC on 3/28 but are going to be with our tour group until mid-afternoon on Monday, 4/1, so that part doesn’t really count as far as the college touring part goes. We have from Monday 4/1 afternoon at EWR until late afternoon Saturday 4/6 flying out of Cleveland (although I haven’t bought that return ticket yet so I guess we are still a little flexible on that end, but my husband is leaving on a business trip the next day so I have to get home).
As of today, plan is: NYU tour on 4/2, Wesleyan tour on 4/3, Vassar tour on 4/4, U Rochester on 4/5, and CWRU on 4/6.
@Dustyfeathers and @bclintonk - thanks for the tips. Do you need to prepurchase MetroNorth tickets? Are seats reserved or are they first-come, first-served?
Since touring NYU seems to cause a complication in travel, I have a question. If you run the NPC, will it remain on your daughter’s list of affordable options? If not, perhaps rethink the visit?
One small idea: If you are interested in Wesleyan and Vassar, there are six or seven similar colleges that could be visited on the way between Vassar and Rochester. Bard, Hamilton, Colgate, Union, Ithaca, Hobart/William Smith, Skidmore. Or RPI if that’s how you swing. With the right planning, you could probably shoehorn one of them in there by seeing two liberal arts colleges in one day. Wesleyan and Vassar in one day is definitely do-able if you don’t start the day in NYC. Vassar and College X might be a little tougher because the drive to Rochester is pretty long – probably at least four hours of driving there. Similarly, Rochester to Cleveland is no short hop.
Depending on how much you like/hate driving, there are also 3 Amtrak trains a day from Poughkepsie to Rochester that are about 5 hours each. You’re traveling first week in April so hopefully winter snow storms will be over. If weather is bad though, driving can be tough (especially if you are from California). So you could technically train from NYC (NYU) to Poughkepsie / Vassar to Rochester / URochester - then rent a car there to go on to Cleveland (about 260 miles). Just realized this overlooks Wesleyan though.
Just chiming in to say we love the train trip to Poughkeepsie along the Hudson—beautiful. Far less stressful than driving in/around the city. (You can get to Skidmore in Saratoga Springs by train, too.)
I think I made that mistake, seeing CWRU as CMU. In that case, it’s an easy drive from Rochester west to Cleveland…about 4 hours without weather MetroNorth tickets can be purchased online through the app or at a kiosk at Grand Central. There is no reserved seating, it is a commuter train. However, I think your plan to go to Wesleyan first makes sense. Then Vassar the next day. It’s about a 5 hour drive from Vassar to Rochester, (and almost 3 to Colgate/Cornell/Ithaca/Hamilton), so I’m not sure an additional stop will work, logistically. The only ones that might work are Cornell/Ithaca on day 3 morning with a mad dash to a late afternoon tour at Rochester on day 4.
You say you can make NYU work if it’s a good fit. It’s the stingiest school on her list. At over $72,000 a year cost of attendance, that’s a lot to make work. The school says it doesn’t meet full need…and it doesn’t. In addition, need based aid and merit aid are also leveraged to encourage high flying kids to attend.
The other schools on your list…have much better better need based aid awarding policies and some give very decent merit aid.
Wesleyan and Rochester meet full need. CWRU has excellent merit aid for good students. Vassar has good aid.
I know you are asking about trip logistics, but really…if the costs are going to be prohibitive…it might be easier to jettison that visit to NYU.
If you have an interest in seeing Hamilton on your way from Poughkeepsie to Rochester, the visit would add only about 13 miles to the trip (less if you take exit 31, which I’d recommend anyway).
IMO, renting a car in NYC need not be terminally scary, so long as you stay away from midtown and rush hours. The only real “city driving” you need to do is get from the rental place to the highway. Driving on the highway is no big deal (providing that you are not near rush hour).
If you have an EZ pass equivalent that will help. A GPS will help. If you are taking the West Side highway, keep to the left to minimize the slowdown for people getting off for the George Washington Bridge.
Regarding prospective weather issues in Rochester, there is bad news:
“Snow always falls here in April. Always.”
"The season’s last snow, on average, is April 14. "
I wouldn’t rent a car at EWR and then drive back into NYC. The parking alone can kill you ($$$).
Do you need to be with the group on the flight to NYC or can you join them in NYC? If so, can you go a day earlier (or on a redeye), tour NYU and then meet the group as they fly in on the first day? Can you sneak away during the 4 day tour to look at NYU and see if the area is even something she likes?
MetroNorth tickets can be purchased online through the app or at a kiosk at Grand Central. There is no reserved seating, it is a commuter train. However, I think your plan to go to Wesleyan first makes sense. Then Vassar the next day. It’s about a 5 hour drive from Vassar to Rochester, (and almost 3 to Colgate/Cornell/Ithaca/Hamilton), so I’m not sure an additional stop will work, logistically. The only ones that might work are Cornell/Ithaca on day 3 morning with a mad dash to a late afternoon tour at Rochester on day 4.