Committed d2, still getting recruited by community college

Don't go to community college especially since the coach seems like a douche.

Go to the JC. That D2 school or one that is very similar will be there if you don't improve and there's a decent chance that a better offer will come from a D1 if you do. Unless you really like the school that you committed to, the D2's in California aren't very serious or well supported/funded.

don't necessarily have to go to this coach's community college, but he's definitely right. Unless you're going to a great school and have good financial aid, 2 years community college -> 2-3 years at a good school is a much better choice. Especially given how good the community colleges are in California.

Just look at cristian soratos. worked for him.

If I go to the community college will I have to sit out because of my commitment or can I run like the coach says? The d2 doesn't have track if that matters but the team still runs in track meets.

You will be immediately eligible ... No sitting out.

Go JC. Unless running got you in at a top tier academic school, paying lots of money for a BA(or soft BS) is a bad deal. The team at the JC will give you the social benefits you missed out on your freshman year on campus. Sticking with training and staying dedicated at CC will make you a boss. Sign a TAG agreement, do well at CC (which won't be that hard if you are dedicated) and then either run for or run at a good UC. You will be a better man/woman for the experience, and you can accumulate crippling debt at grad school rather than undergrad. Once you are done with undergrad, you will only have one degree, with no asterisk, and UCLA/Berkeley/UC Irvine/UCSD means more to employers/grad schools than Concordia, Point Loma Nazerene University etc.

Also succeeding at CC will teach you to be a self starting, self sufficient adult.

A man is only as good as his word. You made the commitment.

This is coming f/ a 4 year HC point of view:

Committing and Signing are two different things. Which did you do? It does not matter in terms of you being eligible to run at the JUCO do to the governing bodies are different. I am just curious as signing seems to be a stronger form of commitment.

Are you walking on - is that why you committed? Or, do you have a scholarship to run? If you have a really good scholarship - which sounds like you do not - I would stick w/ the 4 year school.

Here are some things to consider from my experience of signing about 10 JUCO runners to my 4 year school the past 6 years.

The 4 year schools are there to make money. They will not accept all your JUCO credits. If they did, 85% of the students coming out of HS would go to a JUCO. You can pretty much count on entering your 4 year school in 2 years with Junior eligibility but as an incoming Soph academically. Most of my JUCO runners took 5 years total to graduate, I think 1 did it in 4.5 years, zero did it in 4 years. Remember, that 5th year you will not be on a scholarship so you will be paying out of pocket at the 4 year school - unless you redshirt your 4th year - see below.

Will you save money? Maybe? If you are paying all 4 years at the 4 year you will save money by going the JUCO route. If you are getting a good scholarship - you will lose money going to the JUCO. You will graduate in 4 years at the 4 year - that 5th year you will not be paying for school and hopefully in the work force earning money.

There is a chance, it only happened to 2 out of my 10 runners I had, that you will be ineligible your 4th year. You need to be making progress towards a degree. If the 4 year does not accept many of your credits, you will be deemed ineligible by the NCAA or NAIA - they do not like Senior elig. runners who are Soph academically.

I could go on all day - why don't you answer these questions - and then I and others on this board will guide you in the right direction

a) How much does it cost to attend the 4 year school - everything

b) how much scholarship money are you getting

c) what will it cost to attend the JUCO including your scholarship

Lastly, some JUCO's are great and put there runners in classes that will transfer. Some transcripts I see are a joke - oared with PE classes to keep them Elig. and they cannot get into any 4 year school. Take legitimate college classes if you are going to the JUCO -

My best advice, after two years at the JUCO - make sure your JUCO transcript is evaluated by the 4 year school before you sign with them. Get in writing how many classes / hours are transferring - good luck

Commitments aren't work the paper they are printed on. You can go where ever you want. The D2 commitment only prevents other D2s from continuing to recruit you (publicly). A NCAA commitment does not prevent you from going to a JUCO or NAIA or NCAA D3 or walking on to a DI program.

A commitment is essentially a cease and desist order to others in their league.

I don't think that you understand how the California JC system works. As long as you make it clear to the counselor that you want to transfer to a UC, that person will make sure that you are placed in the appropriate classes and as he stated, there are guaranteed admissions programs as long as a person gets the grade because JC transfers have a higher success level. The same will be true if a person wants to attend a CSU. The system here is vertically integrated and JC are being evaluated based on their transfer rates.

The advice that I would give based on my own experience is that you probably want to go a regular counselor as opposed to the athletic counselor who will be more oriented in keeping you eligible than making you transferable.

It really depends on what you are getting from the University. If your getting a great package now it may not be there in another 2 years. The case of Christian Sorotas is rare, he is the exception, not the norm. Does your community college have a history of producing great runners?

Comes down to where will you be happiest in the next two years?

Best of luck.

You've hit the nail on the head. I chose to go to JC because I wanted a UC degree and couldn't get into one of these schools out of high school. I could have gone to a CSU, but realized what a waste of money that would have been and felt a lot better about my decision when my classmates bounced back as sophs. Some of them were so screwed up from that experience that they never finished college, but the allure of getting away from home was their primary motivation.

I'm not sure which D2 school the OP plans on attending, but other than UCSD, I can't think of one in California that is above mediocre academically and employers all know it.

Former CA JC Athlete wrote:

I'm not sure which D2 school the OP plans on attending, but other than UCSD, I can't think of one in California that is above mediocre academically and employers all know it.

I would add some to the list as being highly regarded in specific areas of study:

CSU Monterey bay for Marine Bio

Chico for hardcore drinking

Academy of Art (obviously for art)

Dominican University (for religion)

But I do agree that DII schools in California are generally poor academically. Most of the best schools are DI or DIII in california.

My main reason for picking the d2 is I want to go away from home and I like the area the school is in. The team is ok and improving each year and will make d2 nationals this year. I wish the had track But the guys can still run in meets but don't have nationals. The school seems like it's good but I heard that the rankings say it takes most people 5 years or more to finish.

The jc tuition is way cheaper. Even with a scholarship at the d2 the jc will only be $2000 for the whole 2 years. The jc team is pretty good and the coach says the team is way better then the d2 and that nobody improves at the d2. The jc also has guys that transfer and get scholarships to good schools.

Do jc guys get recruited or do they have to walk on with no scholarships? What should say to the d2 coach I do if I pick the jc?

I'm going to take a stab and guess your D2 school is Cal Poly Pomona?

I can't comment on going to JUCO, but I can give you some insight into transferring halfway through your career.

1) If you don't improve at the JUCO, or don't improve very much, your transfer options will be limited.

2) It is difficult socially to transfer from JUCO. XC teams form deep bonds from freshman year on, and it can be difficult to feel like you fit in. Most teams are welcoming, but you'll never have the same experience with a team if you come in late.

3) A school's academics matter less than you think for undergrad. I went to a liberal arts school for a science degree and am having a really successful career in my field of study. Who you know and who you are matter way more than what school you went to.

And if your school is Cal Poly, the JUCO coach is lying about improvements. They've been one of the biggest surprises in D2 recently.

Now I'm not saying JUCO is a bad idea, but you should be aware of the pluses and minuses of your decision.

Best of luck.

You can get a very good academic education for the first two years and have opportunities to run XC and track at the community colleges in California. There aren't a lot of coaching jobs (and professor jobs) at the 4-year schools compared to the ~100 community colleges in the state, so you can get coaching and classroom instruction. Talk to an academic advisor about setting up a schedule of classes that transfer to the UC and/or CSU. Some schools will have transfer agreements with a nearby 4-year school, so if you were set on transferring to UC Berkeley (for example), then you might consider a community college in the Bay Area that had a transfer agreement. Otherwise, you should talk to an admissions officer at your destination 4-year school and find out which CC classes would be recognized for transfer credit. Many people live at home to save money and go to a CC near home. Subset your list of CCs by those with good XC and track coaches/programs. This may take some more research on your part.

There are some very good D2 schools in the CSU system. Chico State has very good computer science and engineering programs and good XC and track programs for example.

unfortunately both coaches are making things up about the other programs. Statements are glaringly false and petty.

Are you saying that you're scholarship is for $1000 per year and that the university in question doesn't have a men's track team?If so, you've been conned. Go to the JC today and enroll for classes. And any coach can say "we're going to Nationals next year." How many times have they gone and how many All-Americans has the coach produced whether there or someplace else? The JC coach is blowing smoke too, but it won't cost you the same way that the D2 school will.

Cal Poly Pomona is going to be a powerhouse in division 2. Look at the team's track p.r.'s this past season for distance, they are definitely creeping up on Chico. Also has a great coach, Wes Ashford a former BYU runner. Should expect a great cross country season this fall since they are returning virtually everyone and getting some stud recruits. Not to mention Cal Poly has a great engineering program, one of the best in SoCal.