<p>I have been looking at schools all over and am now on to SoCal schools. I have not decided if I want a large state school or a small liberal arts school but was looking at Redlands, and Pitzer. So far they have all seemed like pretty good schools. My problem is that I am a runner and am not sure how the smog is since i have heard many mixed answers. If anyone knows about these schools and can give me some insight to the smog and also just the school in general that would be great!</p>
<p>Some other SoCal schools are UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, and USC.</p>
<p>Small schools: Occidental (in LA). Claremont McKenna and Pomona are colleges in Claremont. Scripps is also in Claremont but it is a women’s college and Harvey Mudd I think is an engineering school.</p>
<p>Unless you have asthma or another health condition, I wouldn’t worry about running in the Southern California smog. Many of the top high school runners in the country come from the CIF Southern Section, and many of them go on to attend colleges in So Cal.</p>
<p>Redlands is notorious for its horrible air quality. I had D cross this one off her list for that reason.</p>
<p>Best SoCal Schools:</p>
<ol>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>Claremont McKenna</li>
<li>Pomona</li>
<li>USC</li>
<li>UCSD</li>
<li>UCI</li>
<li>UCSB</li>
<li>Occidental</li>
<li>Pepperdine</li>
<li>LMU
*. Caltech/Harvey Mudd (not many people want to go here, but they are great)</li>
</ol>
<p>I think UCLA and Claremont McKenna are the best schools in SoCal for a few reasons. They each have excellent academics and highly motivated students but also are excellent socially. Pomona, Caltech, and Harvey Mudd are more academically focused, so the students there are likely to be less balanced and more high-strung and competitive.</p>
<p>So if you can get into any of these schools, I would recommend choosing UCLA if you want lots of school spirit and an awesome West L.A. location or Claremont McKenna if you want a small college with a personalized feel in a less urban area.</p>
<p>If you are not a typical CC’er and are not a super-academic applicant, UCSB and LMU are some of the most fun schools in the world to attend as an undergraduate. Beautiful girls everywhere, year-round temperate weather, proximity to the coast, and pretty good academics make these two schools AWESOME places to go as an undergrad.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>btw, USC is pretty much as bad as it gets in terms of air quality; the school is located in the heart of downtown LA (very smoggy).</p>
<p>RR…where are you coming from? Both Claremont and Redlands are in smoggier areas of the greater Los Angeles area. There are days throughout the year when the South Coast Air Quality Management District will advise against rigorous exercise due to smog. See their website at [South</a> Coast AQMD](<a href=“http://www.aqmd.gov%5DSouth”>http://www.aqmd.gov) If you are not used to the smog it will be an adjustment. You might consider schools that are closer to the coasts where your air quality will be much better…UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Loyola Marymount, Chapman University, any of the San Diego schools, CSU Channel Islands, CSU Long Beach, etc. Occidental is also a good one to look at. Good luck!</p>
<p>Must disagree with Jimmy above…Redlands and Claremont Colleges will be much worse with smog…the air just seems to sit in the greater San Gabriel and Inland Empire areas (where those schools are located).</p>
<p>Do a CC search for “claremont smog.” You’ll literally find dozens of threads about this, and a few of them were started by concerned runners :)</p>
<p>The consensus seems to be “Some people think it’s gross, some people don’t notice it at all…some days better, some days worse, all days better than a few decades ago. Under normal circumstances, it shouldn’t be a deciding factor, but you need to visit and judge for yourself. It does make for really beautiful sunsets.”</p>
<p>what is the point of comparing the huge universities to the tiny LACs? that list makes no sense and oversimplifies way too much.</p>
<p>ucla and usc are noted for their rigorous academics and sexy babes.</p>
<p>The So. Cal. smog situation is much improved from decades past. Whereas they used to have 75 to 80 smog alert days per year in the 70’s, they now have only 1 or 2, almost always during the summer.</p>
<p>The smog varies by season, and also by time of day. During the non-summer months when school is in session, it isn’t so bad in the inland areas like Claremont or Redlands. In fact, most of the time it is gorgeous, with views of snow capped mountains.</p>
<p>The smog also drifts eastward from the coast. In the morning, it is worst near the coast, because there are a lot of oil refineries that generate the bulk of the smog producing VOC’s. Then in the late afternoon, this smog is driven eastward by the prevailing winds, and trapped up against Mt. Baldy and Mt. San Gorgonio where Claremont and Redlands are located.</p>
<p>So, if you are a runner, run in the morning if you are inland, and run in the late afternoon if you are along the coast.</p>
<p>If you are a liberal, Pitzer is supposed to be the best school in the L.A. area. However, if you are a runner, you better be planning on running indoors. </p>
<p>USC has much better air quality than Pitzer but it is not a liberal school. Same applies to schools like Chapman. Orange County has much better air quality than the East Valleys and you could probably run most of the year. But Chapman has John Yoo as a visiting prof at its law school. Of course, Yoo is tenured at Berkeley and that used to be a liberal school. CSULB is a big school not far from the Ocean. </p>
<p>The air quality is also better at San Diego Schools, Point Loma is right on the beach.</p>
<p>I have friends who were on track at both Redlands and also CMC, one of the 5C’s schools along with Pitzer. Neither ever said a word about the smog, but if memory serves me correctly their practices were very early in the morning.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Redlands, but I work for an organization that does a lot of work with the 5C’s (Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Scripps and Pitzer). Pitzer definitely has the reputation for being a liberal school. Many of the students are very socially conscious, environmental, and the school has a community service requirement. Students can take classes at any of the colleges if they are admitted to one, which is a big bonus. The schools are beautiful and because there are 5 of them you don’t notice that each college is really very small. If I could do it again, I’d go there in a heartbeat! Good luck.</p>