Colleges to research further

In your view — Is the focus of college today on academics or running? Does a child need college to run trails? Sorry, I meant to say, what is your child’s academic record like?

Academic record is quite good.

Her times are good enough to be interesting even for Division 1 schools. She should try to enter some post season meets to get some coaches attention. The nxn/foot locker regionals too next fall after xc.

You really need to do some basic thinking on your own first.

What does she want to study?

Does she aspire to a top academic school?

How important is financial aid/athletic scholarship?

Would she prefer big D1 school like U Washington, or tiny D3 school like Pomona?

All of this is much more important and useful than 'does it have trails?'

Know multiple very low 9:0x boys and low 4:5x girls who didn't get any interest from Stanford

Not from the US so not familiar with what is available geographically in many places. Have done plenty of research already but interested in what people on the ground have to say...

Prefer D1 and good academics.

If you’re fine with D3 (which you should be), look at Pomona Pitzer

I would recommend looking at schools that have the major she wants first and then verify they have distance running. Then have her pick the ones that interest her ( not the parent, coaches dont want to hear from parents) and have her send an email to the recruiting coach ( not always the head coach) and fill out rhe recruit questionnaire on their website.

Thank you - we did know most of that already. But there are a lot of colleges to go through so was just looking for some recommendations/feedback as well.

I never mentioned Stanford. Unless you can get in on your own, they are only looking at top 5 recruits. Dudek#2, Bunnage Int'l #1, Riggs #1, Cole Sprout, Young Twins etc.

I'm not sure she would get a ton of interest in all the power 5 schools (highly recognizable name schools) with those PRs. Or at least, I wouldn't think she would automatically get a full-ride scholarship from them. Though, with international students, sometimes coaches are willing to take a chance on talent, but it depends on the circumstance. I can tell by your spelling of "programme" you might be from Canada, Britain or Australia?

There are plenty of lower level d1s, d2s, d3s, NAIAs and JUCOs that would love to have her I'm sure. She should pick what fits her academic/athletic/environment/financial needs.

Something also to consider, mate: Is this her journey, or your journey being lived out through her? There is no nightmare worse than sending your child to a different country to have a traumatic experience in a place she realizes she doesn't want to be in. I know many parents want their child to excel and do amazing things, but if she wants to come to the US to run... let her do the research. This is her path now, she needs to "take the wheel" if she wants to drive.

I might recommend this testimony from a talented international girl who went to oregon:

Thanks. Definitely her journey - I'm just helping with the research. She still has another year at school so am hoping her PBs will be further reduced by then eg she went 5.11-5.03 this year. Again just looking for some further info about schools that could be good to look at - pref D1 but really after more local info about the programmes and the local areas

University of Portland

Oregon State University

Simon Fraser University (D2 in British Columbia)

Boise State University

University of Nevada at Reno

Definitely check out oregon state - the coach is great, and the mid-d girls have been absolutely thriving recently. Strong engineering/stem programs. Corvallis is also a lovely town.

Look at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps if you’re going to look at Pomona-Pitzer. Same academics and a really strong team, too.

The New York Times has a useful new college search tool that allows you to select the criteria that matter most to you and generate your own rankings:

nytimes.com

Opinion | Build Your Own College Rankings

By Quoctrung Bui and Jessia Ma

The values that you care about most should inform your top college choices.

Link:www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/03/27...

I’d caution against making a decision based on desired major. Half of college students change their major within their first couple of years. Plus the common majors can be found at just about any big school.

The same could be said about looking at a school based on the coach. Not many coaches stay around for more then a few years. Kids will likely see multiple coaches within 4 years.

Thats great. thanks for link

The new (does three years count as new?) coach at UC Davis is doing a great job of building up a very forgettable program into a legitimate D1 team. Davis is a beautiful town with some great cycling paths (though unfortunately no hills). Trails near lake Berryessa are a short 15 minute drive away. UC Davis also has a great culture as a school and solid academics. I enjoyed my time there immensely. Might be worth looking into. I wish your daughter lots of luck in her college decision process. It can be stressful so let her know it will be okay wherever she ends up :)