I am looking to go to a D1 school in California next year, possibly within the UC system. How do these schools compare in their respective middle distance programs/coaching and facilities? I also want to know what kind of vibe can be expected from each location.
Each of the UCs produces at least one Mid-Distance or Distance qualifier each season for NCAAs. Not too versed on each program but do understand the vibe...
Riverside - hot as Hades and more agriculture. Not the nicest campus
Santa Barbara - Absolutely beautiful location right on the lagoon/beach and great social scene
Los Angeles - prestigious, big campus with a massive variety of things to do nearby
Berkeley - very very "liberal" if that matters to you and not far from San Francisco
San Diego - moving to D1 soon and has an enormous, beautiful campus. Very academic environment and not too far from the San Diego social scene
Irvine - super academic and inland. Gets decently warm. Not much to do there, but beats being stuck in Riverside.
All of these UCs have great facilities with the exception of Santa Barbara. They're doing work on their track.
Consider Can Poly SLO too if I were you .
NoNonsens3 wrote:
Consider Can Poly SLO too if I were you .
+1 to this. I know several people currently running for SLO, and all of them love the place. It's a beautiful area with excellent coaches and great academics. If you plan to work in CA, you'll be competitive for pretty much the same jobs as Berkeley/UCLA grads, and you'll pay half the price for your education. I genuinely do not know anyone at SLO who is dissatisfied with the school.
Berkeley's the strongest UC for running. The place is competitive as hell, especially for engineering/premed/business fields. Around 10% of my high school graduating class went there and most of them felt like it was a real slog. It's considered the "best" UC academically, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you really click with the coach/team.
Are you considering the non-D1 UCs at all? San Diego and Santa Cruz are both beautiful schools (I grew up running near Santa Cruz, and I can't recommend the area more highly for running) and strong in the life sciences and engineering respectively, if either of those is your forte.
Um, ever heard of UC Davis?
NoNonsens3 wrote:
Irvine - super academic and inland. Gets decently warm. Not much to do there, but beats being stuck in Riverside.
Agreed with the rest. Irvine is 4-5 miles (depending which street you take) from the beach. Not sure where your beach house is, but I wouldn't consider 4 miles "inland." Irvine gets the second most mainland Chinese applications behind UCLA. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
Aside from the vibe, how many of these programs are fully funded and use scholarships for distance kids?
Tracktownpizza wrote:
Aside from the vibe, how many of these programs are fully funded and use scholarships for distance kids?
Aren't you more interested in what they might offer you? Just get onto recruiting trips and meet the team. If you're fast enough to hope for d1 money, I would recommend choosing your school based on:
1) academics within your major
2) what they offer you
3) how well you click with the team, coach, and school lifestyle overall.
I would encourage you to put Extra weight onto 1 and 3.
Tracktownpizza wrote:
Aside from the vibe, how many of these programs are fully funded and use scholarships for distance kids?
^ excellent question
Knew I was forgetting one!
UC Davis - All UCs have great academics like this campus. Very agricultural area but also a very active area. Not sure of the vibe but they have produced some solid top girls (Rionna Goins made the NCAA 800 final this year)