First of all, congrats on your acceptance to all these great schools! And Yale! Fantastic! Secondly, we used to travel all the time with our kitty (she passed away a few years ago), and after she got settled in, we often let her out of the carrier and she slept and purred on my lap (my hubby was driving). She would only meow when we were about 15 minutes from our destination (after a 1,000 mile trip!), she somehow felt we were getting close. Of course, ABSOLUTELY do NOT open the car doors until kitty is in her harness or carrier (Or both!). And letting kitty out may not work for you, but for us, she loved it, and she was totally calm and zen. Which meant we loved it, too!