<p>Hi, we have our big college trip coming up and I have a couple of driving questions. We are planning to drive from Charlotte to Elon in the morning. We have to be there by 10:00. We are leaving 2 hours to get there. Is that enough? Will there be any commuter traffic? We are debating whether to change our reservation from Charlotte to one in the Elon area, but would prefer to stay longer in Charlotte. Thanks! Also which is a nicer town Elon (Burlington) or High Point? We are still deciding where to stay.</p>
<p>2 hours should be fine. You may want to leave like…2:15. It takes me about 1:45 minutes to get from a suburb south of Charlotte to Greensboro at any time of day. There shouldn’t be much commuter traffic. Maybe a little in the city. But no one will be leaving Charlotte, just coming in. High Point is nicer than Burlington. Burlington is fairly sketchy. Elon is very nice, but I’m not sure how many lodging places they have.</p>
<p>You’ll be on 85 most of the way, I think, so 2 hours should do it with no problem. I doubt there will be much traffic, especially since you’re not traveling rush hour, and 85 seems to zip along anyway.</p>
<p>Burlington or High Point? Hmm . . . I wouldn’t turn around for the difference, but Burlington is pretty depressed–not much there, except outlet malls. High Point’s claim to fame has always been the furniture market, which they are in danger of losing (sad to say). It is a much more lively place than is Burlington, but that’s not saying much. It’s not very close to Elon. </p>
<p>Greensboro would be closer to Elon (than High Point), and would be a nicer place to stay. It is a moderate-sized city, with stuff to–if you have time. We always eat at the Green Valley Grill in Greensboro, which is great, but it’s actually a part of the old O’Henry Hotel. The O’Henry is right off Wendover, which leads you into 70, which takes you right into Elon.
<a href=“http://www.o.henryhotel.com/[/url]”>http://www.o.henryhotel.com/</a></p>
<p>We did a similar trip in 2005…except we drove the whole way. We stayed in Greensboro and then drove to Elon. If you really don’t have a reason to stay in Charlotte the night before, I would suggest you find lodging in Greensboro for the night before your tour at Elon. It will make your trip at the college more relaxing than driving in the morning, hopping out of a car and going on a college tour…just my opinion, of course. What other schools are you looking at in that area? We went to UNC Greensboro, Wake Forest, Elon, Davidson, U of South Carolina, U of Richmond…but we drove the distance and we were gone for about 10 days (combined the college visits with a family vacation). We drove from U of SC to Charlotte…stayed near Lake Norman. Went to Davidson. Drove to Greensboro where we stayed for a few days…went to Elon, UNC-G, Wake from there.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great info. We are looking at Queens University and UNC Charlotte. We were planning to spend the night in Charlotte because we wanted to have more time to see the area. That is why we are trying to drive to Elon in the morning. We are also looking at High Point University because it is close to Elon and might be a nice safety. I guess we will stay in High Point instead of driving back to Burlington or Greensboro. We will be further south for our very long trip back to Florida the next day.</p>
<p>If you are traveling I-85 on a weekday and need to be at Elon at 10:00 a.m., you’ll definitely be traveling through rush hour traffic. I would give myself more than 2 hours if I were you. Better to get there early than to be late because you got stuck in a traffic jam on I-85. </p>
<p>In Charlotte, the area around UNCC is pretty traffic heavy too. So leave yourself plenty of time to get through the traffic if your are supposed to be there at a certain time for a tour.</p>
<p>Please let me know what your impression is of Elon University. I am still trying to convince D to visit there as I have heard it is an excellent school and beautiful campus but she still has this thing about it being close to NOWHERE! Burlington pretty much sucks…don’t know any other way to put it and the only thing Highpoint is good for is furniture but I keep telling her she’s be going there for an education and not the surrounding areas…geesh!</p>
<p>My daughter is concerned about the location of Elon, but the campus seems beautiful. I think she will prefer being near a bigger city like Charlotte. We are also looking at a school near Atlanta. So we will look at three schools near a big city and two in more small towns. It will be interesting to she what she prefers. It sounds like leaving two hours in the morning might not be enough. She has to be there by 10. We will leave our hotel by 7:30. That should be early enough.</p>
<p>Does she know what she wants to major in? My daughter was pretty zoned in on NC colleges. She was accepted at every college she applied to across the nation, large & small, but fell in love with Montreat (near Asheville/ Black Mountain) Fantastic financial aid package, research opportunities as an undergrad & very friendly campus. I was amazed at the faculty & staff. Beautiful area. It’s just off of I-40, west of Hickory. Worth a look.</p>
<p>She will be an education major.</p>
<p>If you decide you want to stay at Elon, I always stayed at Country Suites-it’s right at one of the Elon exits. I believe they just opened a new Marriott there too.</p>
<p>My oldest graduated from Elon and loved it there. It really is not in the middle of nowhere. The campus is very active and it is a short jump to Greensboro, Raleigh and Chapel Hill (without having to live with that kind of traffic on a daily basis).</p>
<p>UNC Charlotte tends to be a suitcase school --so on your visit ask questions. They were having a vote of some sort to start football at the school—if that went through, there was hope that it might help the weekend exodus.</p>
<p>Another college she might be interested in in that geographic area is Peace College. I don’t know much about it except that a couple girls I know went there and liked it. I believe they have a new education program. It is just “across the street” from NC State–so lots of other students in the area.</p>
<p>thanks mkm, I think Elon would be great but admissions has been getting tougher, so she needs some safeties. We are looking at UNC Charlotte because we are already going to Queens University and I wanted her to see a big school. She is more interested in a small school like Queens. I looked at Peace but it is all girls. I already tried to get her interested in other all girls schools and it was a resounding “no way”. We have limited time for this trip. She will probably visit more schools in the fall. But this trip will be a great start. We did see one school over spring break.</p>
<p>candace, are you looking at UNC Greensboro while in the area? It’s bigger, about 16,000 students, but has a much smaller feel than UNCC. </p>
<p>As far as Peace–yes, she would go to class with all girls I suppose, but State is across the street with I believe a 60/40 male to female ratio (or thereabouts).</p>
<p>If she likes small schools, as one poster mentioned earlier, Montreat is a pretty school in the mountains. And there is Lenoir Rhyne College in Hickory–I believe fairly strong music dept and very good local choral group and symphony. Another smaller school that several from our area have gone to is Gardner Webb in Boiling Springs.</p>
<p>thanks mkm, I wish we had more time on this trip. There are so many good schools in NC. Maybe we could drive by UNC Greensboro on our way to High Point. We are looking at UNC Charlotte because my daughter wants to see a big school to compare with the small schools we are looking at.</p>
<p>Will you be visiting High Point University too?</p>
<p>Another nice small school that would be right on your way (maybe on the return trip back to Charlotte) is Catawba College. It is in Salisbury NC which sits right on I-85 (exit 76) between Charlotte. It has a pretty campus in a small town.</p>
<p>yes, she is interviewing at High Point. They seem to have a good education dept. We did consider Catawba, but just don’t know if we have the time on this trip.</p>
<p>We do have many schools around here! I forgot about Catawba! My son did Boy’s State there and said their food was really good and that their fitness facility was state of the art.</p>
<p>mkm: My daughter did Girls State there, too. We dropped her off, and the campus is really beautiful.<br>
I didn’t even know the school existed before that time. For anybody interested in a small girls school (it is still all female, right?) in the South, it’s worth checking out. I <em>think</em> they have a really strong music department, too, if I’m remembering correctly.</p>
<p>I think it’s coed. Believe it is associated with Church of Christ, but not sure.</p>
<p>Oops. You’re right; it is co-ed. I just looked it up. I don’t know where I got the idea it was all female; at any rate, it’s a beautiful campus. <a href=“http://www.catawba.edu/about/history.htm[/url]”>http://www.catawba.edu/about/history.htm</a></p>