<p>Last week I received an email from the Columbia coach which had attached a video of one of their freshman fencers. I couldn’t figure out why I had gotten it–I mean I have an 8th grader who is a sabre fencer. He has done well (still fairly new to the sport) and had terrific SSATs-- but I mean–an 8th grader??? Seems awfully young to send a “just thought this may be of interest” email out to a parent-- don’t you think. I’m sure it within the rules (actually I’m not sure the NCAA covers 8th graders…) but seems a bit odd. Nevertheless, Columbia is a great college and good program, and so, better to be on even a bulk email list than not!</p>
<p>Etondad, That Columbia e-mail seems to have gone out to several people, even those without fencers, who aren’t sure how they ended up on the e-mail list. Oddly, it did not go out to families of incoming freshmen, or the incoming freshmen themselves. Not to say Columbia is not interested in your kid. : )</p>
<p>I agree with poetgrl.</p>
<p>I agree with poetgrl, too.</p>
<p>Yeah, poetgrl is right.</p>
<p>Absolutely have to agree! And with that being said it is no wonder since poetgrl has such accurate knowledge of such things……</p>
<p>This poetgrl - seems sharp as a tack</p>
<p>Etondad- It appears that your S was sent the Email from a bulk email list. Athletes who are formally recruited by Columbia are issued a user ID and Password so they can log on the recruit questioner section of the Columbia athletic website. My S received a letter on Columbias letterhead which contained his user ID. I think it is a good sign that your S was included in the bulk email list and I would tell his club coach about the email.</p>
<p>^ It would be very very early (he is 8th grade) for him to be formally recruited I should think. I was just surprised that he was on the bulk email list, but it came several days after he qualified for nationals so maybe that was the trigger --but then may be that is a post hoc propter hoc fallacy! 
</p>
<p>Bottom line-- He had fun telling his sister who is a recruited swimmer who got her first informal contact (through me, of course to keep it legal) in the 9th grade that he beat her by a year-- ah, sibling rivalry :)</p>
<p>My daughter, a HS Jr., has been a B for three years and has an assortment of top 8 finishes at NACs, Summer Nationals, JO’s, and some international events.</p>
<p>Her academics are not as tasty as TastyBurger’s: 1970 SATs, 3.4 average with 2 APs from a very competitive public school.</p>
<p>Can fencing make up for what are below-average academics at the super-competitive schools her classmates are applying to? Or should I tell her to kiss Northwestern and Princeton goodbye and set her sights on Temple or Penn State?</p>
<p>Her guidance counselor doesn’t really know anything about college athletics, while her club coach doesn’t know much about US colleges.</p>
<p>I would appreciate your help!</p>
<p>
Very unlikely.
Those are definitely more realistic. Here’s a list of colleges with NCAA fencing.
[List</a> of NCAA fencing schools - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NCAA_fencing_schools]List”>List of NCAA fencing schools - Wikipedia)
The list is pretty academically top-heavy. Lafayette or Boston College might be worth a shot.</p>
<p>Good luck to your daughter.</p>
<p>nycbees – Don’t kiss Northwestern goodbye. The coach at NU has a great relationship with admissions, and when he really wants a fencer, they will be very flexible. A 1970 SAT from a competitive school will go a long way with them. That said, couldn’t hurt to have her take the SAT again. Don’t know if she is interested in Barnard, and I don’t know anything about the academic requirements there, but Columbia has been known to help girls get into Barnard (when their stats aren’t quite good enough for Columbia) so they can fence for Columbia. I don’t know if they use official recruitment slots on them though. Just something you might want to look into.</p>
<p>NYC-- I think a good place to start is your club,if you are a member of Empire/Fencer Club/NYC Athletic, Brooklyn or Cobra you have all of the resources about admissions/scores and talent level right there.</p>
<p>Realistically some schools maybe a reach, but with that basis of talent around you it’s the perfect gauge for where you fall, trust me everyone going to the big name/sports competitive schools and the academic competitive school aren’t “brains” by no stretch of the imagination, so the relationship you build and their needs is pretty much going to drive the process…besides going one of the more select, but less competitive schools might prove more beneficial both academically and financially.</p>
<p>Really appreciate the advice here! Yes, she is planning to retake the SATs in March and/or April, since she won’t be at those NACs.</p>
<p>Her club coach is ready to work with her about approaching college coaches, but asked us to come up with the list of schools.</p>
<p>Another question I could use some background on: would it ever make sense to go to a school that has club fencing rather than NCAA? For example, Smith is strong in her desired major, and we have family connections there. Other than lack of scholarship aid for fencing, is there any difference between club and NCAA schools?</p>
<p>NCAA v. Club Fencing</p>
<p>NCAA school depending on the school…mandatory practices in addition to maintaining a academic schedule, competitive environment, limited opportunities to fence tune-ups for season, will compete against none NCAA schools, maybe get some cool gear FREE(after all that practice) have to qualify for championships—not much sports money but academic money available</p>
<p>Club- relaxed fencing environment, will compete against NCAA teams, could compete in Club championships, cool gear you might have to buy, flexibility to fence when you want --no sports money but academic money available, not always the most competitive fencing and can do tune-ups and other tournament without NCAA rules violation</p>
<p>I’d be interested in hearing more about your experience with your daughter. Did you do many campus visits and/or summer training camps? Approach specific coaches?</p>
<p>We’ve compiled a list of 10 schools with NCAA fencing that are strong in her intended major, and developed a one-page summary of her fencing career and college interests. </p>
<p>What should we be doing next in the gap before SN?</p>
<p>I think you’re going about this correctly. Putting together a one page summary sheet is a good place to start with coaches. Coaches at her target schools are going to care about two things: 1) how good a fencer she is, and 2) if she can get through admissions.</p>
<p>The summary should be designed to answer those questions. I’d put her basic biographical info (name, contact info, etc.) on the top, then a summary of her fencing accomplishments, national rank, and current rating. Multiple top 8 finishes will get everyone’s attention. Then I’d put her academic stats such as GPA, class rank, and test scores.</p>
<p>I don’t put much stock in college sponsored camps. For the most part they attract undertalented wannabees. The coaches go to JOs, SNs, and NACs, and watch the point lists. They don’t use their camps to recruit.</p>
<p>Junior year campus visits are VERY valuable. I see these “unofficial visits” as an opportunity to check out the campus, see the fencing facilities, hopefully meet some of the team members and, most importantly, get some unrushed one on one time with the coaches. In both our kids’ cases, we took the week following JOs, which in our school district corresponds with a week long school holiday, to take whirlwind college tour trips. These meetings were very helpful for gauging both the coaches and our kids’ mutual interest in whether and how to proceed with the process.</p>
<p>If your school district offers a spring break, I’d strongly encourage you to get in as many college visits as possible that week.</p>
<p>Also, I’ve thought more about what I told you upthread. Your daughter’s GPA and test scores won’t cut it for Princeton, but I was probably too fast to discourage you from Northwestern and comparables. Consider Duke, too. It will be an academic reach, but the coaches would love to snag a catch like your daughter.</p>
<p>Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help.</p>
<p>NYCbee,
What stops your daughter from preparing a little bit and taking SAT again? Her score is not that far off and Pton superscores the SATs so she needs to just improve the weakest section(s).</p>
<p>I appreciate your change of heart about academics. I would like her to apply to a few schools where she would be at the very low end of the middle 50% admitted – schools like Northwestern, Duke, Barnard, Tufts, Brandeis, Vassar, or Wellesley. </p>
<p>I’d like to see her grades go up, but given the amount of time she spends training, and the 15 or so school days a year she misses for competitions, she is remarkably efficient already in the work she does. She lives for sports, and nothing is going to change that. Besides fencing, she is a foil and epee referee, a little league baseball umpire, an all-city softball player, and just qualified as a lifeguard.</p>
<p>One more thing she’s doing that I forgot to mention is taking their foil rosters and annotating them, including looking on FRED for those she does not remember fencing in person, and going over them with her club coach.</p>
<p>She just signed up to take SATs again at the beginning of March. I would like to see her aim for straight 700’s, and that means improving all three, not just raising her writing score. But generally, concentrating on the weaker section is a great strategy; that’s how my older son got a 2400 superscore (he ultimately chose between Yale and Princeton).</p>