<p>Well, I can’t put it off any longer…the college search begins for my juniors. We have reservations in mid-February during the weeklong winter break to look at colleges in Massachusetts, RI, and Connecticut. So far we have this list. I would welcome ideas for other schools to look at, and suggested driving routes, for this list:</p>
<p>Starting in Boston (flight already booked) and tentative order. Does this sound like a logical route or should I re-think the direction and start with Amherst and Smith after Boston instead? Is this too much for 6 days?</p>
<p>Friday morning to Sunday 2 or 3 of the following:
Tufts
BU?
Wellesley?
Harvard just for the heck of it ;)</p>
<p>Monday:
Brown</p>
<p>Tuesday/Wednesday:
Wesleyan
Amherst
Smith
Mount Holyoke?</p>
<p>Thursday–fly home</p>
<p>Williams, Middlebury, and Dartmouth are all alternatives, but then I would omit a couple of others on the list as it just feels like a bit too much to crowd into a week. Also hotels other than in Boston, where we have booked something already. What wintertime tour in Boston would be the best? (We’ve done the Duck Tour already) Thanks so much!</p>
<p>If you get warm weather you could walk the Freedom trail. Otherwise I’m a fan of going to one of the museums. The Isabella Stuart Gardner museum is really neat, small and has a wonderful collection in a mansion. I think one college per day is doable, but I know that somehow driving always seems to take longer than Mapquest indicates.</p>
<p>Is there some way you can combine a trip to Brown and Wesleyan? They tend to attract the same type of students, so seeing them close together might be a good idea. Also, at least one of your Ds is already familiar with Brown, right?</p>
<p>You may want to think about checking about Boston College. BU is very expensive, and I have heard from many people that it’s not worth the money. I’ve never visited it myself, but I’m from the area and have heard this a lot from students and former professors.</p>
<p>Hi Marite–my thought was to see Brown on Monday, Wesleyan on Tuesday. (Will rent a car in Providence probably, take the train from Boston to Providence in the morning and then leave for Connecticut late afternoon). Then go to the schools in western Massachusetts. So I think Brown and Wesleyan would in fact be close together. Yes, one of the girls spent 3 weeks there last summer so she has announced she’ll be the tour guide ;), but of course we will take the official tour so as to see dorm insides, etc…</p>
<p>Thanks–I will read up on Boston College. I was thinking BU in part just to see a large urban university, although it is a popular choice in general. Honestly, I am thinking that they would be more likely to go to a UC than a large urban university elsewhere, if they don’t get into good fits in private schools…</p>
<p>February is a good time for a West Coaster to visit. If your DDs don’t freeze, then they can become serious about applying. If they do, then they’ll be happy staying in CA!</p>
<p>Patient, We visited many of the schools on your list (minus the all female ones) but we did it in the summer. You are brave to take on New England in the middle of February, but your daughters will certainly get a realistic impression of eastcoast weather, especially in the non-urban areas.</p>
<p>Our route was Connecticut (Wesleyan, Conn College, Yale, Trinity) to Providence (Brown) to Boston (BU & Tufts) to Amherst to Williamstown. From there you could easily get to Middlebury and Dartmouth.</p>
<p>We did a separate loop for Hamilton and Skidmore.</p>
<p>I strongly endorse the suggestion to visit the Gardner museum in Boston. My son interned there last summer and it is to me one of the best ways to get a snap shot of what makes New England tick. It’s just across the way from the Museum of Fine Arts so if you’re an artsy group you can do both. The caf</p>
<p>If you are starting to actually visit the schools around Boston Friday morning, then I think you could be looking at Brown no later than Sunday morning. That could potentailly open up Dartmouth, etc. on the back end. Since you’re driving from Wesleyan to Amherst, you should look at Trinity. It’s right on the way. Also, if you’d rather stay at a motel chain instead of a bed and breakfast, there is a Hampton Inn in Greenfield that just opened last week (right next to I-91 and I’m guessing but I think it’s Exit 24). Greenfield is about a half an hour north of Amherst, but gets you on the way to Dartmouth and others if you decide to look at Dartmouth, Middlebury, Williams.</p>
<p>Patient was an art history major at Harvard so she is familiar with all the art museums in the area. Some fun places to explore are actually at MIT: the new Gehry-designed Stata Center, the MIT museum. I was away when H and S went to the new ICA in Boston. They report it is well worth seeing. I’ll have to make time to visit.</p>
<p>Wow, Marite–great memory!! History and literature was the official concentration, but it was just a subterfuge to go live in France for junior year, and art history was the predominant study…</p>
<p>Thank you all!! Yes, the February choice is indeed deliberate for my California-born-and-bred girls. When I took my S there in Feb. of his senior year to visit Amherst and Williams, he was begging to go back to California about 90 seconds after we stepped out of the Hartford airport terminal :D. Then, he saw the baseball diamonds lying under snow and the team practicing in the field house and, well, the rest of that story wrote itself.</p>
<p>However, when I suggested to Ds that perhaps we go to the southern California schools in February and wait for April to visit the northeast, they actually said they wanted to see what the winter is like. Now, let’s not have any of that balmy east coast weather I have been hearing about!</p>
<p>I will read up on these additional schools, thank you so much. I know we won’t be able to make it to every school they would like to see. We will still need another trip to see some Pennsylvania schools (probably May), then probably a trip to the south, especially Emory. Lots of exploring to do still.
And if SATs are quite different from PSATs, we may have to revise the lists. </p>
<p>I do want to do the Freedom Trail although one of them is already familiar with it. I am wishing there were heated golf carts that time of year though.<br>
I will try to get them to go to the Gardner museum but somehow at that age, and taking US History this year, the Freedom Trail and other sites I think are a bit more interesting to them.</p>
<p>Sorry I didn’t finish my thought: The cafe at the MFA is also good and if you do make it to Williamstown the Clark and MassMoCA are worth the trip.</p>
<p>Thank you VoxDei–I will definitely discuss that and possibly add those schools and stay at the Hampton Inn. I stayed at the Lord Jeffery (sp?) Inn in Amherst when visiting with S, and enjoyed it–but it might be a bit too quaint for the girls. </p>
<p>Momrath, I did visit the Clark Center also when with S and loved it, and usually like all museum cafes! I forgot to mention that when I was there with S, not only was it February, but it was that vicious cold snap in February 04 when the temperature was dropping below zero. But the tour guides were still pretty lightly dressed and I even saw one crazy athlete guy at Amherst dashing from gym to dorm bare-chested.</p>
<p>I agree if you are coming into Connecticut to look at Wesleyan … hit Connecticut College in New London and Yale in New Haven, and also Trinity College in Hartford. </p>
<p>There are many reasonable places to stay in the I-91 corridor north of Middletown on up to Massachusetts, however I can’t think of any place I would want to stay within walking distance of Wesleyan or Trinity. Those are the two college neighborhoods that I am most familiar with as I grew up across the river from them (and my horse is currently leased by a Trinity student and living in my hometown.)</p>
<p>There are two different ways to take the train from Boston to Providence. The first is the commuter rail - schedule can be found at <a href=“http://www.mbta.com%5B/url%5D”>www.mbta.com</a> (Attleboro/Providence line). The other is Amtrak, since most trains from South Station will stop in Providence. Make sure that you leave plenty of time to get from Logan Airport to South Station when planning the itinerary (if you’re going straight from the airport). It’s not the easiest route via public transportation; you might consider a cab.</p>
<p>Many schools don’t offer Sunday info sessions or tours; I know Wesleyan doesn’t, and it doesn’t seem to have Saturday info sessions either. I don’t know how that would affect your schedule.</p>
<p>The Institute of Contemporary Art just opened a brand new beautiful building on the Boston waterfront a few months ago. It might be worth a peek.</p>
<p>You might want to think about renting your car in Boston and driving to Providence. If you rent in Providence and drop in Boston, you may be hit with a substantial drop charge. By rent in Boston, I mean the morning of the day you leave for Providence, not when you arrive at the airport. Many rental agencies have offices in the city, rather than at the airport. You won’t need a car in Boston - frankly it would be more trouble than convenience.</p>
<p>The Inn at Middletown does look like a nice place – and I am not familiar with it – although I can place Brooks Drug. And apparently at the better, more historic, end of Main Street. Has it been there (as a hotel) very long?</p>
<p>If you are driving from Brown to Wesleyan, you should def. stop in at CT College, it’s right on the way. In Middletown, if you get there early enough in the day, you should try to eat at O’Rourke’s Diner, it’s a Middletown institution.</p>
<p>RE: Saturday visits - I know Smith has Saturday tours and information sessions, you should check if the other western Mass colleges do too.</p>
<p>Driving from Providence to Middletown is not simple – there is no direct highway. If your girls have any interest in Connecticut College, it might make sense to drive from Brown to New London Monday afternoon, then go from New London to Wesleyan either Monday night or early Tuesday morning-- even if all you do is drive by the Conn. College campus.</p>
<p>Dartmouth and Middlebury are pretty far away from where you’ll be, and I think it would be tough to hit them on this trip.</p>
<p>While Trinity is between Wesleyan and Northhampton area, if your daughters don’t want preppy urban, I’d skip it.</p>
<p>I would use Sunday to either do something other than college shopping (my daughter couldn’t handle too much at once), or to do some drive-bys of BC, Brandeis and other Boston area schools. </p>
<p>If you want to see Harvard, consider taking the T from Tufts. Finding a parking spot in Cambridge is not easy.</p>