Worth noting that Beeeze Airways now offers nonstop flights between Burlington and four cities in Florida. Some flights are seasonal, some year round. Not as easy to get to as, say, Chicago or Atlanta, but doable. Once on the road, BTV to Midd is about the same distance/time as MSP to Carleton. For Vassar, you’ll either need to fly to SWF (Breeze also flies here), HPN (very limited flights, also a Breeze destination), or fly to Albany or the NYC airports, which can take 1.5-2 hours.
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I agree, and I don’t think this aspect bothers him now or will later. My other child wouldn’t have done too well with it.
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I’m in the, “Let him decide” camp.
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I think when there are no financial implications to a family, it should always be let the student decide (short of rare things, like health issues, etc.). After all, they have to attend and live there four years.
I think when families have financial impact that might hinder their long term well being - well then it becomes a personal (and often) parental call.
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I wasn’t so much concerned about the OP’s finances. That’s their business. I was more concerned about the whole “vibe” thing. If the child is mistaken about it or their own self-assessment (I’m thinking about a recent thread involving a kid who changed their mind about what kind of vibe they wanted within 6 months of matriculating another NESCAC), I would mark it up as a valuable life lesson perhaps best illustrated by the Rolling Stones song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (“but, if you try some time - you get what you need”.)
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Yep. My kid ended up at her school because she “liked it better.” No really great logical reason. She had a hard time adjusting, which was normal but worrying, and then she had a great time.
Just adding a point about getting to JFK from Vassar via train. It isn’t a hop skip and jump. Plan on a minimum of 3.5 hours, door to door. JFK has been more of a mess than usual lately. As someone who lives in the region, it will continue to be a mess for a while. Uber, Lyft, etc… from JFK is astronomical at the moment. You have to be shuttled to a separate area to get the car. Right now, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if an Uber to Vassar was $400, easily.
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Re the uber situation: definitely $400+!!
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Vassar does run shuttles to JFK and LGA for student breaks. https://offices.vassar.edu/campus-safety/transportation/airport-shuttle-schedule/
Good to know!
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There is also a ride share board attached to the parent FB page so 2-3 kids share the car service if they’re getting in around the same time. There are tons of kids flying in and out of the NYC airports every break. But yes, it’s a train to the train if you do that and then an uber or bus (free to Vassar students) a couple miles back to campus. There is also a Vassar shuttle to the train station at the start of breaks, not sure about end since that’s so variable.
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That would be true for me too, and was true for my kid, especially since she came with an existing social network. However, my wife has said that it would drive her crazy, as have some other people. To be fair, I have heard that people who attended or worked at Cornell also found it to be isolated.
The difference is that Vassar is, essentially, an urban college. It is in Poughkeepsie, which is a pretty small city, but is the major city in a metro area with about 700,000 people, which is larger than the population of the state of Vermont. Low density and green metro to be sure, but it is still surrounded by residential areas, even if these are of homes on large lots.
Middlebury is a rural college, with a mix of agricultural fields and wooded areas starting at the edge of campus and a major national forest only a couple of miles away.
You don’t need to “commute” to outdoorsy areas from Middlebury, they start right outside the college, and sometimes on campus. There is a regular shuttle to the ski slopes (a 20 min ride), and hiking and cross-country trails start on campus.
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I love this thread!
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Figures: Vassar is extremely similar to Wes and (really) could be considered an honorary NESCAC member, Midd is already a proud NESCAC constituent, and I hear that Carleton is thinking of (along with Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, Mac, etc.) breaking away from its current conference and starting the MWSCAC (pronounced “Moo Scack”) – in partnership with NESCAC.
hehe (I need this bit of whimsy to make it through the Monday slog…)
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One daughter went to UVM (not all that far from Middlebury, with very similar winters). One time I agreed to go skiing with her. As the day approached, the forecast high was 15. I asked her “do you want to go skiing when it is going to be so cold?”. She replied something along the lines of “Dad, this is Vermont. 15 degrees is not cold!”. We went skiing. I dressed for it and we were fine.
Silk gloves under the mittens help a lot. So does a coat that is roomy enough to wear a sweater under it.
Yup. They still have blood flow to their fingers and toes.
One time on a trip to Ann Arbor on the bus to the airport I happened to be sitting next to a U.Michigan student from India who had never seen snow prior to arriving in Ann Arbor to attend graduate school. She had gotten used to it.
These are three very good colleges to choose between.
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Yes, my Floridian kid who has done 4 years in Michigan has done fine. He will probably be more sensible with his outerwear, too.
I agree that they’re wonderful options. He worked hard, and is happy with his choices for sure.
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OP here–thank you all for the replies. What helps most is hearing from people who either have the lived experience or whose kids do.
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Hi OP, just curious… what did he decide?
This was a super difficult choice. In the end, there was some back and forth with Middlebury around some aid and study abroad questions that was not in its favor, and he also was feeling like the high number of varsity athletes was not his thing. He chose Vassar. I think we are all kind of sad about letting Middlebury go, and I admit I personally was sad about letting Carleton go. Onward to another wonderful option!
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No matter what he chose you’d have those feelings.
That’s the problem with choice - you have to make one.
Seems a great one. Congrats to your student.
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Vassar is a wonderful choice! He’ll have the Gunks and the Hudson River valley for hiking and outdoor life, and a wonderful educational experience, too. And NYC is a train ride away.
I totally understand the sadness at leaving a great option (two great options) behind. But it sounds like he made a very thoughtful and informed choice—congratulations!
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