Spring break Boston college tour planning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd rent a car and stay in Newton, good hub to visit BC, Harvard, MIT, BU. You could also drive up to Dartmouth if you wanted, or out to Amherst

The only one of those schools that gives merit aid is BU.

OP, if you need merit aid for your DC to attend, don't visit schools that will be off the table at full price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you just randomly picked Boston? You seem very unfocused.

+1

It's nonsensical for a familly that needs merit money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd rent a car and stay in Newton, good hub to visit BC, Harvard, MIT, BU. You could also drive up to Dartmouth if you wanted, or out to Amherst

The only one of those schools that gives merit aid is BU.

OP, if you need merit aid for your DC to attend, don't visit schools that will be off the table at full price.

Agree 100% with this. We're not visiting schools that we know we can't/won't pay for. It's important to do this research in advance.

I.e. if Tufts is always going to be $80K (no merit across the board) and we can't pay $80K for it (or don't want to eat Ramen, juggle our finances in Houdini ways to pay $80K for it) we are not visiting Tufts. Period.
Not fair to our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please help me plan the trip with Junior DS, a younger sibling will tag along
We will fly to Boston for 3 days and I believe we need to rent a car
Where should we stay which colleges to include?
He is unsure about major, (1580 SAT) open to top 60 schools, especially those that give merit aid.

You should not make firm cutoff at 60. True safeties may fall below that. Why be a slave to USNWR?

Aim high, that is fine, but figure out what your kid wants (not what USNWR wants). Then see what schools fit that description. You are going about this the wrong way.

[Anonymous]

At least run the net price calculators at all, to get an idea of what you'll be paying at each. Since, as other posters have stated, Boston schools aren't going to give you merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are looking for top 60 and merit aid, you are somewhat limited in the Boston area. Schools that fit that criteria are BC, BU, Northeastern and Brandeis. Tufts recently stopped offering merit aid.

+1

Not understanding OP's trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you just randomly picked Boston? You seem very unfocused.

+1

OP makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please help me plan the trip with Junior DS, a younger sibling will tag along
We will fly to Boston for 3 days and I believe we need to rent a car
Where should we stay which colleges to include?
He is unsure about major, (1580 SAT) open to top 60 schools, especially those that give merit aid.

Shouldn't you identify colleges and *then* plan a trip?

Very few schools in New England award merit aid. Off the top of my head, Clark, Northeastern, BU, WPI do. But if he doesn't know what he wants to major in, I don't know that the larger schools (especially Northeastern and WPI) are good options.

Look to the Midwest for merit aid.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three days isn't really enough time to see a bunch of schools using Boston as your hub. I'd just stick to Boston and tour all (or most of the schools) and enjoy walking around the city a bit.
BC
BU
NE
Tufts
MIT
Harvard

If you don't want to see all the Boston schools you could add in Providence, RI and see Brown and/or Providence College. UMass Amherst might be another option.

I don't recommend more than 2 schools a day having done this with a couple of kids now.

+1

WIth three days, Op isn't going to see much, and doesn't even know what she wants. OP, your DC should be narrowing down schools, before you go anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Boston is a great place to visit, but for long-distance college tours, you should do a little more research if that is the sole purpose of your trip.
Does he want an urban setting or a "real campus"
Whether to consider BU depends on that answer.
How big/small of a school does he want? There are tons of small colleges in the Boston area, but not that many really big ones.
Merit aid will narrow it down more, if that is a must.

Having gone thru the college tour experience with 2 kids, I'd say to pick the schools first, then plan the trip. If you are still exploring urban/rural/big/small/etc., then choose some closer colleges to check out to help you narrow down the options for tours that require travel.

[Anonymous]

OP, I disagree with all of these naysayers.. As long as the point of this trip is to get a sense of what your DC likes and doesn't like (as opposed to letting DS fall in love with any particular school), Boston is a great place to start a college search because of the density of colleges of different sizes/locations. I'd suggest looking at Brandeis and Tufts for mid-size suburban, Northeastern and BU for large urban (both of which give merit) and definitely look at MIT and Harvard because why not? We did these in 3 days last year (my DC did not want to look at any of the Northampton schools though if you have the ability to tack on an extra day, I'd encourage you to go out there or to Burlington to look at UVM or UMass just to see if he likes large public schools).

If you decide to stick with the Boston schools, I agree with the folks that said you don't need a car--Uber out to Brandeis and stick with walking/taking the T.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

OP here. We prefer east coast school, we have been to MD, VA, PA, and NC so far and plan to explore Boston next.
merit aid is nice to have, not a must.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I disagree with all of these naysayers.. As long as the point of this trip is to get a sense of what your DC likes and doesn't like (as opposed to letting DS fall in love with any particular school), Boston is a great place to start a college search because of the density of colleges of different sizes/locations. I'd suggest looking at Brandeis and Tufts for mid-size suburban, Northeastern and BU for large urban (both of which give merit) and definitely look at MIT and Harvard because why not? We did these in 3 days last year (my DC did not want to look at any of the Northampton schools though if you have the ability to tack on an extra day, I'd encourage you to go out there or to Burlington to look at UVM or UMass just to see if he likes large public schools).

If you decide to stick with the Boston schools, I agree with the folks that said you don't need a car--Uber out to Brandeis and stick with walking/taking the T.

Good luck.

I totally agree!

But now that I know that OP has already been to a few spots, can you tell us more about what your kid liked and disliked?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We prefer east coast school, we have been to MD, VA, PA, and NC so far and plan to explore Boston next.
merit aid is nice to have, not a must.

we are more selective about the collages we are willing to pay 80k, not all top 60

[Anonymous]

I would also suggest looking at Brandeis. For renting a car, I think you should pick schools and decide. It will depend partly on your comfort with public transit and ride shares and partly on how far out from Boston you plan to travel.