USC, UCLA, Santa Clara

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Geez, are you sure about that? or maybe these girls weren't good enough to play in their backyard and decided to play elsewhere. Or maybe there was a better fir for the major they have decided to pursue.. Wait this was sarcasm right? I missed it, I've gone this far I might as well just submit

Maybe.
makes sense that for some all of the above is true.
also makes sense that for others the Back East thing is well, a thing.

given the density of colleges in the east, the prestige of those colleges, and the likelihood that a CA parent grew up here, there are more CA girls coming east than MA girls going west.

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You are right, but, there are many CA players on East Coast rosters.
There is a romanticism to going to school Back East.

Most CA schools are huge. Might not be what everyone wants. Lots of MA kids go to schools out west, just not to play soccer. Top CA players are happily taken by programs here. Some of the nation's top schools are in the east coast.

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My D knew by 8th grade that she didn't want to be more than a short plane flight from home. We live in MA, NOT the Dakotas or Wyoming or Iowa. There are plenty of really good schools in our backyard, and good enough soccer to stay within her desired radius. So she plays in the Northeast.

It's not really different for the CA youth soccer players; there are plenty of great schools nearby and who'd want to trade CA weather for the Northeast? So the CA players stay there, unless there aren't spots available and they're forced to look elsewhere. Is that too hard a concept to understand for the OP?

As does every 8th grade girl. Most kids don't want to be far away when they are that young. That is another thing that is wrong with early recruitment. Without the experience of being away from home, and immature brains, the 8th grade kid is making decisions the 12th grade may make differently.
I knew in 8th grade I wanted to be a T Rex. As I matured, I knew that wasn't possible. (Nod to Stepbrothers)

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As does every 8th grade girl. Most kids don't want to be far away when they are that young. That is another thing that is wrong with early recruitment. Without the experience of being away from home, and immature brains, the 8th grade kid is making decisions the 12th grade may make differently.
I knew in 8th grade I wanted to be a T Rex. As I matured, I knew that wasn't possible. (Nod to Stepbrothers)

Hopefully the new rules (for the most part) will push those decisions back into a more reasonable timetable. Not that I have early-recruit skilled kids, but I can't imagine them making those decisions as 8th or early 9th graders vs having finished two full years of HS. Spending time on different campuses really helps hone the decisions too regarding size, type of campus (rural vs urban), possible majors of interest. We were able to use that time to explore types of schools to target - would you take a 7th grader to make those same kinds of explorations?

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Ok, other than Duke, you are comparing 4 of the largest public research universities in the country to Santa Clara, which has a total student population of under 9,000 students and a tiny endowment of under $1 billion??? Even Duke as a private university has had over 6x as many students as Santa Clara and an endowment 9x bigger. That’s real apples to oranges, but I’ll still bet Santa Clara has better talent than PSU, Duke, and maybe UVA. And as far as academics, please go look at Santa Clara’s SAT/ACT scores and compare them to state schools like PSU, FSU, etc. The other plus is Santa Clara is in Cali, where a lot of its grads end up in good-paying tech like Google, etc. Much better than the economies around Happy Valley and North Carolina. I’m not even an alum, but I’m not dumb enough to make that comparison!

you are selectivity picking Santa Clara to make a flawed argument. it is not a different world out west. The top level is a different world. To suggest Santa Clara has better talent than UVA, Duke or PSU is just laughable really.

You then switch to a totally different track about post college employment.

fact is, the top players are recruited by all these schools but there are very few of them in the country. Yes California has more, simply based on numbers, but many of those players leave for other top schools outside CA.

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My D knew by 8th grade that she didn't want to be more than a short plane flight from home. We live in MA, NOT the Dakotas or Wyoming or Iowa. There are plenty of really good schools in our backyard, and good enough soccer to stay within her desired radius. So she plays in the Northeast.

It's not really different for the CA youth soccer players; there are plenty of great schools nearby and who'd want to trade CA weather for the Northeast? So the CA players stay there, unless there aren't spots available and they're forced to look elsewhere. Is that too hard a concept to understand for the OP?

but some of Calis top players do come east. Several in fact

https://gopsusports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=9470

example

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Hopefully the new rules (for the most part) will push those decisions back into a more reasonable timetable. Not that I have early-recruit skilled kids, but I can't imagine them making those decisions as 8th or early 9th graders vs having finished two full years of HS. Spending time on different campuses really helps hone the decisions too regarding size, type of campus (rural vs urban), possible majors of interest. We were able to use that time to explore types of schools to target - would you take a 7th grader to make those same kinds of explorations?

You are nuts if you think pushing things back is a good thing. All that it does is compress the decision making process and increase the likelihood of mistakes.

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You are nuts if you think pushing things back is a good thing. All that it does is compress the decision making process and increase the likelihood of mistakes.

As opposed to making life-impacting decisions when you're 14? No thanks. I'd rather kids be more mature, and so do the coaches and schools.

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but some of Calis top players do come east. Several in fact

https://gopsusports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=9470

example

No one has argued differently. There's a lot of great players out there and a lot of great schools here who want them. Many NE players aren't good enough to play out there, that's the first reality.

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but some of Calis top players do come east. Several in fact

https://gopsusports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=9470

example

Because there’s so much talent in CA and so little here. You can find CA players (as well as CO, AZ, TX, etc.) on East Coast rosters, but rarely the other way around. Better weather, fields, coaching, and a better soccer culture.

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You are nuts if you think pushing things back is a good thing. All that it does is compress the decision making process and increase the likelihood of mistakes.

Maybe. You seem to feel strongly, and obviously speak from a point of experience.
Going through this now, I think it has been a good thing. It eliminates bird-in-hand pressure from early offers with clocks, gives all full understanding of her Academic Index and allows us offers to be considered on same time frame.

Earlier this academic year (jan) my '21 D was getting pressure to commit to some of her 2nd choice schools. Now she has AI banked, 4 more showings at showcases, and used 6/15 as an indicator on the college's level of interest (8a or 10p call). With official visits coming up I feel she will be able to make a much more informed decision.

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Because there’s so much talent in CA and so little here. You can find CA players (as well as CO, AZ, TX, etc.) on East Coast rosters, but rarely the other way around. Better weather, fields, coaching, and a better soccer culture.

there is a no more there than here. they are rare...period.

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Because there’s so much talent in CA and so little here. You can find CA players (as well as CO, AZ, TX, etc.) on East Coast rosters, but rarely the other way around. Better weather, fields, coaching, and a better soccer culture.

I agree with above logic that MA can't keep up, but frankly, after a year of observing ECNL 02s, the Northeast hangs with any region. PDA won National Champs with an 4-0 run through playoffs and a 4-1 pounding LAFC Slammers in final. Same team couldn't win Northeast Conf tho.

Of the 4 NE teams in Champions League 3 won their brackets going undefeated (Stars, World Class, PDA), and across 12 matches there was only 1 loss (CFC) and 1 Tie (stars).

I think its that more West Coast families want to send their kids to East Coast colleges, and with the exception of Stanford, East Coast families don't view West Coast schools as superior to what's available within 200 miles of home

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Maybe. You seem to feel strongly, and obviously speak from a point of experience.
Going through this now, I think it has been a good thing. It eliminates bird-in-hand pressure from early offers with clocks, gives all full understanding of her Academic Index and allows us offers to be considered on same time frame.

Earlier this academic year (jan) my '21 D was getting pressure to commit to some of her 2nd choice schools. Now she has AI banked, 4 more showings at showcases, and used 6/15 as an indicator on the college's level of interest (8a or 10p call). With official visits coming up I feel she will be able to make a much more informed decision.

Same on the coach’s’ side. Now they can tell the very wide net they are very interested w/out having to make any actual offers. The coaches can now wait to see if players pan out soccer-ly and academically. Before, they had to give a specific scholly amount verbal to 8th and 9th graders just in case they planned so no one else could get them. Only 1 in 3 early recruits panned out so the college coaches love this rule more than anyone.

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I agree with above logic that MA can't keep up, but frankly, after a year of observing ECNL 02s, the Northeast hangs with any region. PDA won National Champs with an 4-0 run through playoffs and a 4-1 pounding LAFC Slammers in final. Same team couldn't win Northeast Conf tho.

Of the 4 NE teams in Champions League 3 won their brackets going undefeated (Stars, World Class, PDA), and across 12 matches there was only 1 loss (CFC) and 1 Tie (stars).

I think its that more West Coast families want to send their kids to East Coast colleges, and with the exception of Stanford, East Coast families don't view West Coast schools as superior to what's available within 200 miles of home

You can't judge anything by the entire team's record anymore. ECNL and GDA are all watered down with top players in all the leagues instead of just one and surrounded by not so top players. Coaches aren't interested in teams, just individuals.