> Albany would be about 4 hours from the most distant location
> (Brown, Clarkson SLU, Yale and Princeton). Much more reasonable.
 
In fact, I think you will find that Brown and Harvard are both less
than (barely) 3 hours from Albany.  How about one person from
each ECAC school send me their travel time from the school to
Albany (or Schenectady or Troy), and I'll post a definitive list.
 
Or maybe it's time I got a new set of AAA maps, and get the AAA travel
times off of the back?