Visiting Cornell Forum

[archipm]

I live on the West coast and have the potential opportunity to visit Cornell while on the East coast in a couple of weeks. They are willing to give me the reimbursement they offer other East coast visitors ($100) since I can't realistically come back to the East coast for their ASW. Time is a consideration and getting to Ithaca is turning out to be a lot more difficult to reasonably arrange than I anticipated (I will be coming from DC and going to NY after). Currently the most viable option is to rent a car in DC and drop it off in Ithaca, then bus to New York. For people familiar with the area, is there any reason why renting a car and driving DC to Ithaca is a terrible plan? Are the roads a disaster this time of year? I would really like to avoid the Greyhound for that leg of the trip since it's kind of a timesink (the route is not direct and takes significantly longer than just driving, cutting into what little time I have available to actually be in Ithaca) and I believe I can do the car rental for around $100 and be covered by the reimbursement. Flying is prohibitively expensive at this point for the dates I am looking at.

I am willing to let go of the visit altogether and just go DC-NY-home, but it seems like a shame to get that close and then not visit, especially when they're offering the reimbursement. I also think their campus seems cool and from what I can see on here, people have had enjoyable visits there. Any input would be much appreciated.

[Trippel]

I live on the West coast and have the potential opportunity to visit Cornell while on the East coast in a couple of weeks. They are willing to give me the reimbursement they offer other East coast visitors ($100) since I can't realistically come back to the East coast for their ASW. Time is a consideration and getting to Ithaca is turning out to be a lot more difficult to reasonably arrange than I anticipated (I will be coming from DC and going to NY after). Currently the most viable option is to rent a car in DC and drop it off in Ithaca, then bus to New York. For people familiar with the area, is there any reason why renting a car and driving DC to Ithaca is a terrible plan? Are the roads a disaster this time of year? I would really like to avoid the Greyhound for that leg of the trip since it's kind of a timesink (the route is not direct and takes significantly longer than just driving, cutting into what little time I have available to actually be in Ithaca) and I believe I can do the car rental for around $100 and be covered by the reimbursement. Flying is prohibitively expensive at this point for the dates I am looking at.

I am willing to let go of the visit altogether and just go DC-NY-home, but it seems like a shame to get that close and then not visit, especially when they're offering the reimbursement. I also think their campus seems cool and from what I can see on here, people have had enjoyable visits there. Any input would be much appreciated.

Driving is doable if weather permits. Sounds like an exhausting trip.

[archipm]

Driving is doable if weather permits. Sounds like an exhausting trip.

Thanks for the response! I agree, 5 schools in 10 days is a little intense. That said, I think driving to Ithaca would be less stressful/draining than being on a Greyhound for 10 hours.

[Glasseyes]

Only you know you, but I'd way rather do a bus or train for a trip like that instead of driving alone for ~8 hours. Buses have wifi, bathrooms, and allow you to sleep.

[Tls2016]

I would contact admissions and see their suggestions. I have seen these buses often in the city. They connect campuses. You might be able to get them to let you use the bus to visit. This seems like the easiest solution. You could take a direct bus from DC or Amtak and then get this bus at the Cornell club on 44th.

https://transportation.fs.cornell.edu/coach/

It's a long trip. Maybe driving would be better if you are used to it. The bus at least would let you get stuff done and be comfortable.

[Tls2016]

Driving is doable if weather permits. Sounds like an exhausting trip.

Thanks for the response! I agree, 5 schools in 10 days is a little intense. That said, I think driving to Ithaca would be less stressful/draining than being on a Greyhound for 10 hours.

What 5 schools are you visiting? Maybe I misunderstood, are you not planning on being in NYC?

[archipm]

Driving is doable if weather permits. Sounds like an exhausting trip.

Thanks for the response! I agree, 5 schools in 10 days is a little intense. That said, I think driving to Ithaca would be less stressful/draining than being on a Greyhound for 10 hours.

What 5 schools are you visiting? Maybe I misunderstood, are you not planning on being in NYC?

I am planning on being in NYC after Ithaca - I am visiting GWU and going to Georgetown's 2/26 ASD, then going to NYU and Columbia's ASDs that are 3/2-3/3 and 3/3-3/4. I wanted to see if I could visit Cornell earlier in the week between my DC visits and NYC visits. I can't miss more work than I am already missing for these visits (8 work days), so visiting Cornell early the following week is not an option for me. Google maps shows it as about a 6 hour drive, but if you take the bus they go out of the way to NYC and transfer, taking more like 10 hours. I enjoy a good road trip and kind of hate being on long-distance busses, so a 6-hour drive seemed preferable.

[deepseapartners]

You're in luck that the Ithaca winter hasn't been quite as bad as usual. If you're used to driving alone for long periods of time, it's definitely feasible. Driving at night might be a little difficult if the weather is bad, because a lot of the trip is through the middle of nowhere and there are no lights along the road, but besides that you're probably going to be fine.

[archipm]

You're in luck that the Ithaca winter hasn't been quite as bad as usual. If you're used to driving alone for long periods of time, it's definitely feasible. Driving at night might be a little difficult if the weather is bad, because a lot of the trip is through the middle of nowhere and there are no lights along the road, but besides that you're probably going to be fine.

Thanks! This is helpful. I live in the PNW so I am accustomed to seeing tourists stuck on the side of the road because google maps didn't mention you can't drive a Kia Rio up the side of a mountain covered in ice. I wanted to make sure I wasn't heading into any weather/road conditions like that if I end up doing the drive, although I feel like short of catastrophic snow the East Coast has their shit together about winter weather and roads a little better than this region. If you're familiar, do you have a preferred route between 81, 15, and 220?

[milkisforbabies]

Depending on when you leave DC, the trip could be anywhere between 5 and 7 hours. It's mostly interstates (81 is a pain if there's road work but it's way faster than any alternate routes), and you only spend about 30 miles on local roads- route 79 can be a little bit hairy at night during the winter, but it's really not bad. I'd recommend the campus-to-campus bus over Shortline for getting into NYC since it's a much nicer ride (but also more expensive).

[deepseapartners]

You're in luck that the Ithaca winter hasn't been quite as bad as usual. If you're used to driving alone for long periods of time, it's definitely feasible. Driving at night might be a little difficult if the weather is bad, because a lot of the trip is through the middle of nowhere and there are no lights along the road, but besides that you're probably going to be fine.

Thanks! This is helpful. I live in the PNW so I am accustomed to seeing tourists stuck on the side of the road because google maps didn't mention you can't drive a Kia Rio up the side of a mountain covered in ice. I wanted to make sure I wasn't heading into any weather/road conditions like that if I end up doing the drive, although I feel like short of catastrophic snow the East Coast has their shit together about winter weather and roads a little better than this region. If you're familiar, do you have a preferred route between 81, 15, and 220?

I'd take 81 for the reasons described above - less time on local highways and it's pretty quick going.

[Trippel]

Depending on when you leave DC, the trip could be anywhere between 5 and 7 hours. It's mostly interstates (81 is a pain if there's road work but it's way faster than any alternate routes), and you only spend about 30 miles on local roads- route 79 can be a little bit hairy at night during the winter, but it's really not bad. I'd recommend the campus-to-campus bus over Shortline for getting into NYC since it's a much nicer ride (but also more expensive).

The campus-to-campus bus would be nice. But I thought you had to be a current student, know a student, or affiliate to use it??

[milkisforbabies]

Depending on when you leave DC, the trip could be anywhere between 5 and 7 hours. It's mostly interstates (81 is a pain if there's road work but it's way faster than any alternate routes), and you only spend about 30 miles on local roads- route 79 can be a little bit hairy at night during the winter, but it's really not bad. I'd recommend the campus-to-campus bus over Shortline for getting into NYC since it's a much nicer ride (but also more expensive).

The campus-to-campus bus would be nice. But I thought you had to be a current student, know a student, or affiliate to use it??

Oh yeah, you might be right. Can you not set up an account unless you have a netid? There's a section on the campus-to-campus account creation page for guests/ visitors.

If not, I guess it's Shortline or Greyhound unless the Cornell admissions office can set something up. Shortline picks up on campus, if I remember correctly, so it's pretty convenient. For Greyhound, I think you need to get to the town bus station.

[Tls2016]

Driving is doable if weather permits. Sounds like an exhausting trip.

Thanks for the response! I agree, 5 schools in 10 days is a little intense. That said, I think driving to Ithaca would be less stressful/draining than being on a Greyhound for 10 hours.

What 5 schools are you visiting? Maybe I misunderstood, are you not planning on being in NYC?

I am planning on being in NYC after Ithaca - I am visiting GWU and going to Georgetown's 2/26 ASD, then going to NYU and Columbia's ASDs that are 3/2-3/3 and 3/3-3/4. I wanted to see if I could visit Cornell earlier in the week between my DC visits and NYC visits. I can't miss more work than I am already missing for these visits (8 work days), so visiting Cornell early the following week is not an option for me. Google maps shows it as about a 6 hour drive, but if you take the bus they go out of the way to NYC and transfer, taking more like 10 hours. I enjoy a good road trip and kind of hate being on long-distance busses, so a 6-hour drive seemed preferable.

I didn't understand your itinerary. It makes absolutely no sense to go to NYC first just to go to Ithaca.
The drive should be fine.
As for the Cornell bus, I though perhaps admissions would help if it was the only way OP could get there for a visit. I know they aren't in the business of shuffling admitted students up from the city.

[archipm]

Thank you all for all the input! Google maps was suggesting using 15, so it's good to know that 81 is the better choice. I will look into the different bus options for getting to New York afterward as well! Cornell has been super helpful so far and I'm pretty excited to visit.

[victory]

Definitely take 81.

Currently an ugrad at Cornell and from DC. I usually make the drive in about 6 hours with my RWD car. The roads were a bit messed up this morning, but they're usually pretty good about cleaning them up. Definitely doable.

campus seems cool

"Felt like" -30/-40 with windchill & blowing snow this weekend; it was definitely cool