Ivy League University Tour 2026

Arrival Day

Meet NSHSS and EU Tour staff at Boston Logan International Airport

NOTE: Travelers on this tour should book their flights arriving between 1:00 and 3:00 PM on Day 1. Tour staff will coordinate airport pickups.

Hotel check-in in Boston

Welcome to Boston, one of the oldest cities in the United States!

Dinner and guided sightseeing in Boston

Greet your fellow travelers and enjoy dinner in historic Boston! Explore around Faneuil Hall Marketplace and be introduced to Boston's most historic sites.

Return to hotel

Boston

Breakfast

Enjoy a quick breakfast in historic Boston

Morning Tour: Harvard University

Start out the week with a tour of the iconic Harvard!

Lunch 

Come together for lunch and shopping in Harvard Square

Afternoon Tour: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Continue the day with a visit to  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Travel to Rhode Island

Have dinner in Providence, RI, as we explore the area

Check into hotel

Providence, RI, and New Haven, CT

Breakfast

Morning tour: Brown University

Spend the morning exploring Brown University

Lunch

Enjoy lunch in the coach on our way to beautiful New Haven, Connecticut, for our afternoon tour

Afternoon tour: Yale University

After exploring Yale, stop by one of Yale's favorite haunts for their famous milkshakes before taking a rest on the motor coach on our way to New York City!

Hotel check-in in New York

Dinner and evening sightseeing

New York City

Breakfast

Morning: New York City sightseeing

Get a quick peek at the Empire State building as we head towards Greenwich Village, where you will have lunch, then spend a moment reflecting at Ground Zero

Afternoon tour: Columbia University

Dinner in Times Square in New York City

Broadway show

Enjoy your Broadway show; it's sure to be an unforgettable theater experience!

Check into hotel

New Jersey & Philadelphia

Breakfast

Morning tour: Princeton University

Lunch & Transfer to Philadelphia, PA

Afternoon tour: University of Pennsylvania

Dinner in Philadelphia

Enjoy one of Philly's best cheesesteaks and a sweet treat. The locals know it puts Pat and Geno's to shame. We recommend the Philly with cheese wiz! Really! Vegetarian options are also available.

Sightseeing in Philadelphia

Our tour director introduces you to some of Philadelphia's sites, like America’s most historic square mile, Independence Mall; Independence Hall/Liberty Bell; and the Rocky Steps.

Hotel check-in

Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Breakfast

Morning tour: Johns Hopkins University campus visit

Lunch & transfer to Washington, D.C.

Afternoon tour: Georgetown University

Guided sightseeing in Washington, D.C.

Experience the magic of seeing Washington's more impressive sights, including MLK Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, National Mall, and more are illuminated during your evening scenic tour downtown!

Dinner and hotel check-in in Washington D.C.

Departure day

Depart for home from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

The recommended departure time on DAY 7 is in the morning or the early afternoon. Tour staff will coordinate transportation to the airport. 

These terms refer to hotel room occupancy. All aspects of the tour are the exact same for each attendee, so we base the tour price on the attendee's hotel room preference. If you select TWIN, you are reserving ONE SPOT for yourself in a hotel room with one other person. The hotel room will have two beds, with one person in each bed and two people in the room in total. If you do not have a roommate request (who is a paying traveler on tour), you will be matched with a roommate. If you select SINGLE, you are reserving an entire hotel room for yourself. For this tour, TWIN accommodations are recommended, but if you would like your own room, there is a $650 upgrade charge imposed by the tour company. All tour pricing is per person.

Yes! To attend the Ivy League University Tour, each attendee (parent, relative, or guest included) must purchase a tour by filling out an enrollment form individually with their personal information. Parents are allowed to accompany their students on this tour, and they would participate in all aspects of the tour just as every other member does. For parents planning to attend, please note this is a dry tour, and alcohol consumption will not be permitted during the day's tour programming. Tour prices are per person, not per member. 

Each attendee (including parents, relatives, and guests) must complete their own enrollment form to attend the tour. Please note that tour prices are per person regardless of group size. Adults can only be placed in a room with students they are attending the tour with. If a parent and a student would like to attend the tour and room together, the student would fill out an enrollment form and select TWIN. The parent would complete their own enrollment form (with their information as both the traveler and the emergency contact) and select TWIN. If the student does not want to room with their parent and would like to be paired with other students attending the tour, the parent must select SINGLE, and then the student can select any rooming option. 

For a group of 3 or 4 attending the tour (any combination of parents, students, siblings, or guests) who would like to share 1 hotel room (2 beds), please email tours@nshss.org to discuss alternative rooming options. In some cases, a TRIPLE or QUAD occupancy room may be available for families to share with a small discount. 

Regardless, ALL attendees would fill out their own individual enrollment form with their personal information.

No! As an NSHSS member benefit, members and their relatives can use the NSHSS member tour pricing. Please note that tour prices are per person. Non-member pricing is reserved for students unaffiliated with NSHSS who would like to attend the tour. If a member is planning on bringing a high school student-aged guest who is not an NSHSS member, then Non-Member pricing would apply, but they are welcome to apply for NSHSS Membership to reduce this fee!

Each attendee is responsible for their own transportation arrangements. NSHSS does not assist with airfare, and flights are not included in this tour price. With NSHSS members all over the country, it would be too difficult to facilitate flights for every member coming from different airports at different times. Some members are also within driving distance and don't need flights, so we are able to offer a lower price for everyone without flights included.

The package includes premium hotel accommodations for the week, charter bus transportation, all meals on tour days, guided tours and activities, a full-time tour director, refreshments on the bus, parent information packets, and all gratuities.

Since this is a traveling tour with days spent on the road for much of the time, some university stops will be longer than others. Each campus visit differs depending on schedule constraints and the university's restrictions. We do our best to secure a guided private group tour at each university, but occasionally a school will not allow group tours and instead offer only self-guided or public tours, so we will find a local student to act as a guide. Each campus visit will include a stop at the university bookstore. The university's student ambassadors will lead most tours, but others may be led by current university students, depending on the campus. Where available, campus tours could also include an information meeting provided by the admissions office staff.

This is a traveling tour with a very tight schedule. We are fitting nine university stops into five days while traveling across nine states, so we will spend a lot of time on the road. We will be doing A LOT of walking – anywhere from 10,000-20,000 steps and at least 5 miles PER DAY. We will be outside a lot, and it will most likely be hot since it is summer. When we are at a tour stop, there is no option to wait at the hotel or on the bus, so please keep this in mind when inviting relatives or grandparents with mobility issues to attend. Students are encouraged to pack comfortable clothes and shoes, sunglasses, hats, sunscreen, and portable fans. When we leave the hotel in the morning, we will not return until the end of the day. The days will be very long, but the experience will be worth it!!

NSHSS will provide a welcome dinner reception upon attendees' arrival in Boston on Day 1. On each full tour day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be provided. Snacks and drinks will also be provided at various points on the bus, but make sure to bring some snacks or money to buy some snacks if you get hungry easily! On departure day, attendees can enjoy breakfast at the hotel before making their way to the airport. 

The NSHSS Ivy League University Tour is only sold as an all-inclusive tour package, so, unfortunately, we cannot remove the hotel's cost from the tour price as that is a large part of the package. Keeping all tour participants at the same hotel makes it easier to keep everyone accounted for overnight so we don't run into logistical issues in transportation to and from the hotel and daily activities. This is also a traveling tour, so attendees are often staying at a new hotel each night. The package, however, does not include airfare as members are flying in from all over the country, so that's great you are so close and won't have to worry about purchasing travel arrangements!

Upon arrival in Boston, the tour staff will meet attendees at the airport baggage claim. Students are encouraged to book flights arriving between 1 - 3 PM PST for minimal wait time. Once the entire tour group arrives, we will load onto the bus and head to the first hotel to check in!

As NSHSS tours are entirely optional to our members, we currently do not have any financial assistance programs for our tours at this time. However, payment arrangements are very flexible to allow participants to create their own payment plan and pay the tour fee in increments of their choosing at any time and as many times as they would like up until the final due date. Please be sure to check out our NSHSS Scholarships page for multiple scholarship opportunities, where many of the scholarships are open to both high school and college students. Keep an eye out as new scholarships are always being added!