Oh ya. Especially at high season like thanksgiving, it can be cheaper to fly from SFO to Europe than to New York!
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My son is 2 hours away -and itās lovely. We can stop in - see him for lunch and go home without interrupting his life. He can also drive home easily for events. Itās nice to know we could get there easily in an emergency.
My daughterās āclosestā school that she would want to attend is 6 hours away driving. There are a few 9 and 12 hours driving ā but most of them are āflyingā locations. Luckily a number of them are direct flights that are only about 2 hours away by plane. So which is better - Iām not sure. We could actually get to the flying ones in about the same amount of time overall -assuming flights get back to ānormalā.
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The colleges D26 applied to are 1 hr, 40 min away and then 14 and 16 hr drive away.
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Just used Maps and looked up hers - D26 furthest is 18 hour drive (2 of them are this far) and nearest 2 hours (at least 3 of them are this close, 2 of which are within her top 4 colleges). The furthest by plane plus driving (and no train option there) is her top choice and the nearest larger airport is quite a drive. Other option is small airport with connection. I hate flying and will have to get over it if she gets accepted and chooses to attend there!
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D26ās 11 schools are between 1 hour 15 minutes and 8 hours 45 minutes away. Her ED school is in the middle of the pack (4 hours 15 minutes).
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My kidās schools range from 1.5 hours away to a 3 hour flight and then a 1.5 hour drive, which is totally not ideal. After the 1.5 hour away one, the next closest are a 5.5 hour(ish) drive. But those are about an hour or two from my sisterās house so at least she/we could stop there on the way and has someone close by if needed. There are only 4 (out of 11) we could reasonably drive to. So yeah. I donāt love it. My husband keeps really talking up the 1.5 hour away school and extoling all its virtues. And keeps telling me how nice it would be to just be able to drive down there whenever and see her. Iām thinking that sheās not going to want to see us that frequently, but itās cute that he wants the option. My āboysā (husband and son) are going to be lost without her next year.
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Reporting back as promised! Ended up taking the 9 hour train from NYC to Pittsburgh on Friday. Admitted students day was phenomenal. I work in higher ed and can truly say that nobody does these events better than Pitt!
We absolutely love the engineering school and feel more confident that my autistic child will have the support he needs to succeed. Praying that he gets the financial aid he needs to be able to attend. Itās his dream school.
Pittsburgh is a great city, so much smaller than what my son is used to, but I can absolutely see him thriving there. They also mentioned that there is some agreement with other area colleges where kids can take classes (so he could potentially take a class at Carnegie Mellon and get Pitt credit).
Highly recommend attending one of these for anyone considering Pitt!
Travel-wise, our flight back was canceled, but we were able to get a flight at 6 am the next day. I also had backup train tickets in case the flight was canceled, but SO grateful we didnāt need to use them and got the full refund. Sending smooth travel vibes to all of you!
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These reports of Pitt Admitted Students Day are getting me excited to visit in a couple of weeks. I just hope the government gets their acts together so we can get there (and also for a lot of other, more important reasons). We have no wiggle room in our travel plans, so if our flight there is cancelled weāll be SOL. We could drive home if we needed to but itād be an 11 hour drive so obviously not ideal.
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When is your visit? Sending all good thoughts!
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December 1st. So travelling there on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend which is already not the best.
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Iām so glad she loved RIT, although that return trip sounds harrowing. Egad. I responded to your post on the RIT thread. 
My D22ās final decision came down to two schools, and she really made us wait until the last second before telling us her choice, lol. But yes, she knew all along ā itās just that she thought the other school was the more practical and better decision on paper, but her gut really leaned toward the one she picked. She needed to come to terms with it in her own head before sharing, though.
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Thank you for sharing all that! So nice that your son loved it. DH and I lived in NYC for six years, and all of our kids love the city. Our oldest didnāt want an urban campus experience, but D26 is intrigued. Weāve never actually been to Pittsburgh, but she is really interested from what she sees online. And the opportunity to maybe take a class or two at Carnegie Mellon is a huge benefit ā she loved a couple of their programs but decided the school as a whole would be too intense. A couple of classes, though, would be ideal.
I wish we could make a full admitted students day work, but alas, her schedule is tough, and weāre just doing a regular admitted students tour in February. I still think she will be able to get the vibe, though ā in fact, I almost donāt want the whole red carpet treatment because I want her to be able to assess the vibe of the school without a lot of fanfare.
Itāll be funny if this thread alone sends a whole handful of kids to Pitt, lol ā they can form their own College Confidential posse. 
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Same here! It helps that itās the only school he has toured with us so far.
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I cannot express how much I love Pittsburgh!! We lived in NYC for 10 years and although it has its charms, I prefer Pittsburgh hands down! Weāre not on a Pitt level, but D26 is in at Point Park and itās one of her top choices. Her father really doesnāt want her going to college in a big city like that, plus itās the farthest from us, but itās ultimately her choice.
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Great to hear both the admitted students day AND the train were successful!
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Seriously. I just looked at plane tickets to get D22 from LA to SF over thanksgiving, and the tickets were $600-$800 on United. That is double the max I have paid the other 3 years I have paid for these tickets. Sheās gonna drive. Even with CA gas prices, itās a fraction of the cost and only takes 2-3 hours more after you factor in the airport security and driving to/from the airport. Iām glad itās an option for her to drive!
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Holy cow thatās a lot for that hop!! The roads will undoubtedly be busy so make sure she takes it easy.
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Yeah, thatās absurd. Even before all this shutdown mess, Thanksgiving airline prices were crazier than usual this year. (I booked D22ās from HOU-ATL in early September, and it was almost $500. Plus sheās getting back at midnight because anything earlier was a couple hundred bucks more.)
How long is that drive? I donāt have any sense of California traffic or how arduous that drive is.
(I do understand Atlanta traffic, though. Whenever we go to the airport, we have to leave four hours in advance of the flight ā no joke.)
I am trying to book tickets from Atlanta to Pittsburgh for mid-February, and the cheapest I can find for a direct flight at reasonable times is $637 on Delta. For a 1-hour and 40-minute flight during non-holiday travel? Come ON.
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Depends exactly where in the LA area to where in the Bay Area. On a good day with normal LA traffic could be 6-7 hours. Weāve done most of the route over a thanksgiving holiday before and there are parts of I5 that end up being very slow going so likely longer.
Iām not booking Pitt flights yet because I think weāre going to end up doing a multi-leg trip. Oy, I hope we can at least use some air miles.
Thatās insane! Sounds like driving is a better option, as long as sheās comfortable with that long a drive on her own.