Originally Posted by
zippy the pinhead
We really appreciate the advice and contributions of everyone on this thread.
Our plans are firming up... flights are booked, and now we're considering the on-ground portion. We're flying in to Boston on a redeye from LAX on a Sunday morning. Six days later, we fly out of PHL on another redeye. As an added bonus we were able to get MileSAAver deals for both flights, and instead of the ~220K AA miles I expected to spend, they will set me back only 90K miles.
We're wondering about a few things. The general idea is to get from Boston to Philadelphia, but never having been in the area, I saw no harm in asking what anyone in the thread thinks of our tentative plans. We're renting a car in BOS and dropping it at PHL, so we're mobile.
We're looking for a stable base in the Philadelphia area for 3 nights, give or take, at the end of our week. I have a good number of IHG, Hyatt, and Hilton points, so I am looking to use some, and I was thinking suburbia (maybe King of Prussia) vs. downtown or closer to the airport. Those of you who are familiar with the area, is there a better choice? My son is a swimmer, he eats a good amount, so free parking and free hotel breakfasts are OK with me.
We're still waiting for PSAT scores-- no idea how much they might influence our plans-- but at this point we are thinking to visit Rensselaer, Cornell, Lehigh, Princeton, U Penn, and one or two others as the schedule permits. We have SAT scores and his mathematics scores, in particular, are very good, but we've not sent them anywhere yet. From what other parents who've been down this road tell me, the flow of mailers will probably increase once the PSAT scores are released.
Our flight home is on a Saturday evening, so we expect to have Saturday morning/afternoon to do something in/around Philadelphia, and we're open to any ideas/suggestions.
Wow, this thread has really taken many turns! As to the Philadelphia Hotel, I would consider staying in the city, not in the suburbs, to have more access to sightseeing, etc.
Philadelphia is a great walking city. There is a Hilton on the Penn Campus which is decent, and staying there would allow you to really feel the campus, eat at the many food trucks, etc. It is walking distance to the Amtrak Station, as well, if you have ditched the car by then.
One of our children went to Princeton in Engineering - she picked it over MIT - because of the ability to have a well rounded college experience. The program is small and
excellent but, of course, many would not make the same decision. Another of our children went to Penn...seeing one small college on our tour (in this case, Swarthmore)
took small schools totally out of the running, so I agree with the advice above about seeing smaller schools.
This process is fraught for many reasons, but there are an endless number of fantastic colleges out there, so have fun doing this. It is true quality time with
your children.