NROTC in CA

FØB Zero

FØB Zero

Enthusiastically American
Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
205
Howdy y’all,
There are so many schools in California w NROTC (state with most from my perspective). How are the schools in CA with NROTC? Any input would be great! Which do you think are some of the best here?
 
DS has a friend at CSU San Diego who has great things to say about the unit (not surprisingly). The San Diego consortium has undergone a large expansion over the past few years. when his friend started in '17, there was just one host unit at USD, with cross town affiliates at UCSD and CSUSD, now there are two individual units with multiple cross town affiliates. If this area interests you, you may want to look up how the unit staff leadership is set up. The host units are individual units, but I believe there is one CO over the consortium. If you are looking at one of the cross town affiliates, seriously consider the commute time between campuses. Obviously San Diego is a big Navy town, so you may have some opportunities there for training that you would not have in other areas. If you are looking at northern California, the commute between any of the cross town affiliates and UC Berkeley could be a real issue, especially from UC Davis.
 
What aspects are you looking into?. I’m a UCSD and USD grad, Now live NorCal With DS entering second year in the consortium. Happy to talk via dm
 
Torero_dad said:
What aspects are you looking into?. I’m a UCSD and USD grad, Now live NorCal With DS entering second year in the consortium. Happy to talk via dm
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I would like to apply to one college in California with NROTC. However, I am trying to decide which one:
My criteria include
- no commuting
- preferably closer to coast
- strong corps and academics
 
You can check all of those items except the strong corps culture online.

I would break these into Very Selective schools (UCs, Standford, ok USC too but it is killing me) and Moderately selective (USD, SDSU, Pt Loma, CMA).

If you mean corps as in the MO, I would recommend the SD consortium. San Diego is one of the centers of the Marine Corps universe. So you are drilling at MCRD, running the obstacle course at Miramar, your small unit leadership drills are done at Pendleton. There are some navy guys hanging around too.

You have a range of selectivity of schools (rough order...UCSD, USD, SDSU, Pt Loma, and Sam Marcos).

Think about your competitiveness and whether absent a scholarship you would choose the school anyway. Would you prefer/be comfortable at a Catholic (USD) or Protestant school (Pt Loma)?

These are also broken into Northern California, Los Angeles basin and San Diego. These are very different areas with vastly different vibes. San Diego county is almost the size of Connecticut. LA County is the 9th most populous state.

UCSD and Pt Loma are literally on the water. You can see the water from USD. SDSU and San Marcos would be considered inland to people from SD.

DS hasn't mentioned San Marcos, but the rest commute to PT and Navel Science. San Marcos is almost 40 miles - one way. The others are 8-11 miles.

None of these are like PMCs or TX A&M. There is no corps of cadets. But SD consortium is sizeable - approaching 80 MO mids. And its SD, so everyone is so happy to be there they let you be you.
 
Go south. Focusing on the San Diego area is wise advice. UCSD is tricky: crosstown, and the school has expanded really fast without adequate housing and support. They're trying but it's not clear that they can handle so many students.

YMMV, but that institutional challenge, plus the crosstown commute, means you may be better off with a host town school.
 
Torero_dad said:
You can check all of those items except the strong corps culture online.

I would break these into Very Selective schools (UCs, Standford, ok USC too but it is killing me) and Moderately selective (USD, SDSU, Pt Loma, CMA).

If you mean corps as in the MO, I would recommend the SD consortium. San Diego is one of the centers of the Marine Corps universe. So you are drilling at MCRD, running the obstacle course at Miramar, your small unit leadership drills are done at Pendleton. There are some navy guys hanging around too.

You have a range of selectivity of schools (rough order...UCSD, USD, SDSU, Pt Loma, and Sam Marcos).

Think about your competitiveness and whether absent a scholarship you would choose the school anyway. Would you prefer/be comfortable at a Catholic (USD) or Protestant school (Pt Loma)?

These are also broken into Northern California, Los Angeles basin and San Diego. These are very different areas with vastly different vibes. San Diego county is almost the size of Connecticut. LA County is the 9th most populous state.

UCSD and Pt Loma are literally on the water. You can see the water from USD. SDSU and San Marcos would be considered inland to people from SD.

DS hasn't mentioned San Marcos, but the rest commute to PT and Navel Science. San Marcos is almost 40 miles - one way. The others are 8-11 miles.

None of these are like PMCs or TX A&M. There is no corps of cadets. But SD consortium is sizeable - approaching 80 MO mids. And its SD, so everyone is so happy to be there they let you be you.
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thibaud said:
Go south. Focusing on the San Diego area is wise advice. UCSD is tricky: crosstown, and the school has expanded really fast without adequate housing and support. They're trying but it's not clear that they can handle so many students.

YMMV, but that institutional challenge, plus the crosstown commute, means you may be better off with a host town school.
Click to expand...

Looking more into each of the SD schools in CA and think I’m really liking San Diego state university... not only is it public, but no cross campus commuting, decent academics, etc. thanks so much for your help!!
 
Ya, @navypmw I've seen that on the NROTC site but it doesn't seem to align with the materials from the unit's websites or my DS's experiences from the first year.

Probably a good topic for an interested applicant to confirm directly with the unit. Not both SDSU and USD started prep programs this year.
 
My son was considering NROTC at UCLA before he finally chose AFROTC at USC. Both had great detachments - they were proactive, were responsive to questions from my son and me, obviously cared for their cadets, had great leadership ideas, and their websites are up to date and professional (always check out a detachment's website since it gives a good indication of the activity and energy level at a detachment - one other school had out of date info and missing bios).
But for your question on NROTC, the detachment at UCLA is first-rate and I'd highly recommend you consider it. And UCLA (and USC) are selective and very strong programs.
 
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