<p>Just curious, is there much EC value for those who actively participate in fencing or other non-mainstream sports? I'm asking for DD2 that wants to apply (in a few years :)) to a few choice schools and would like to stand out. Academically she'll be OK I think but in the 'stand out' area do unusual EC's count much? At what level do such EC's become 'useful' hook wise? i.e. do you have to actively compete, qualify for the Olympics, or what? </p>
<p>Her other likely EC would be school newspaper (she has already caused more headaches to the school's newspaper than any student in recent memory... as in TV stories started by an innocent article, school board involvement, or the speech written for 9/11 anniversary)... We hope her reputation and skills will help her land a staff spot in the (nationally highly ranked, for what it's worth) high school newspaper.... Again, is that much of a hook and worth the effort?</p>
<p>Don’t know about the school newspaper, but fencing will most likely stand out as a somewhat unusual EC. I’ve been told, somewhat in jest, that to really stand out you want to fence and play the harp.</p>
<p>Whether or not having fencing as an EC will help will, like everything, probably depend on the school. You might even envision situations where it could hurt. For example, if a school doesn’t even have a fencing club, then they might think that your daughter wouldn’t be particularly interested in attending. Or, if she has an A rating, schools where it’s only a club sport might think that she’ll only be really interested in schools where it’s a strong varsity sport.</p>
<p>My personal recommendation would be, as my daughter did, to just put it down as helping to describe who she is, and let the chips fall where they may. Trying to second-guess these things just brings to mind a quote from King Lear: “That way madness lies.”</p>
<p>Just to clarify, a “hook” is not an EC unless you are a recruited athlete. My definition of a hook is something that helps a college meet an institutional goal, like winning sports teams, racial/geographic diversity, first-generation college student, etc. It’s typically not something a student can create in high school. </p>
<p>If your daughter is a good enough fencer that a coach will go to bat for her because s/he wants her on his team (is that mixing metaphors?), then I suppose fencing could become a hook. How good does she have to be? I would imagine pretty good, winning lots of matches, placing top in your state. I don’t know how fencing works, but you could check on the CC athletic recruiting forum, or do some googling to see if the info is on the internet. I’m just guessing here, but I doubt there are as many spots held for recruited fencers as there are for money sports like football and basketball. Her fencing coach might know.</p>
<p>If your daughter loves to fence and loves journalism, and is devoted to both of these, then she should participate for that reason alone, and not because she wants to go to a selective school. She shouldn’t take up an activity solely thinking that will get her into a college. If she is active, makes a difference in her school and/or community, and can write about it cogently and persuasively in her essays, then she’ll be in good shape.</p>
<p>Fencing is a nice way to show discipline and athletic involvement, but it’s seasoning in an application, not a way actually to stand out, unless you are good enough to get recruited to one of the few Division I programs out there. (Which recruit internationally, by the way.) I don’t think any college admits kids to stock its fencing club.</p>
<p>Journalism . . . is something that is almost universal for smart kids who can write, which is to say probably 90% of the kids accepted to good colleges, and 80% of the applicants. It doesn’t help you stand out. The only way for it to be a hook is if, as with Joyce Maynard once upon a time, the New York Times decides to put your stuff on the cover of its magazine. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, though. It helps your writing and your thinking, and that’s good no matter where you go to college.</p>
<p>I’ve been told that for fencing you need to be ranked competitively in order to be recruited. My S has been fencing in hs for 4 years (3 on varsity) and has been training with a well-known coach for 2. However, he does not compete nationally, which is a strike against him - he doesn’t really like competitions but thinks fencing is fun. He’s also not sure if he wants to fence for college varsity. Otherwise, I would have his outside coach write a letter/call the colleges with varsity fencing as a recommendation, which he does for any fencer that asks. </p>
<p>I really wanted to use fencing as a hook for my S because it’s a great one, but because he’s being stubborn, he may be passed over at the ivies as being just another smart kid. Dummy.</p>
<p>She’s beginner fencing for now, but if she’s anything as good as she is in video games or laser tag type games, she’ll be good :). She is in top physical shape, has excellent reflexes and thinks very fast… I do not know how good she’ll get for scholarship type hooks but as an EC it won’t hurt I guess. It’s unusual. We’ll see if she wants to compete, I am guessing she will, she is very competitive.</p>
<p>Journalism is another story. As I said, our school has one of the top ranked HS newspapers in the country, and is quite selective. Student writers seem to be getting into some pretty good top 10-20 type schools and certainly it can’t hurt. While she’d be very happy in a social sciences/law/economics type field, being a half Tiger has other, ehem, priorities. She’ll be in the IB track with a science focus, and is interested in Northwestern (Chicago is our home away from home), Vanderbilt, Emory, or Duke, maybe Tulane type Southern private school and the usual flagship state safeties. Some of these schools even have fencing programs :). </p>
<p>She’s still in her ‘self discovery’ phase so in a couple years she’ll be more of a concern… It’s funny how I ended up with two wonderful girls, one that was a natural for her field (and little interest for anything else :)) and another that is interested in lots of things…</p>
<p>Editor in Chief is a stand out position, an EC many highly ranked schools take notice. President of the class is another noticeable one. As mentioned by others, fencing is a nice EC, but it is only a hook if recruited.</p>
<p>Your kid only has so much time, I would “plan” out her ECs so she wouldn’t be all over the place and distracted. D2 was in the debate team, track, dance, newspaper, volunteer…Her counselor asked her what she saw herself continuing to do when in college. He said debate took up too much time with very little return. She said track was a hobby, but writing, dance and volunteer were important to her. She actively worked to become the editor in chief, president of one important volunteer club and and a lead role of student government.</p>
<p>D’s best friend is a fencer and goes to Nationals and was recently at Junior Olympics. She is working with 2 schools (not ivy) vis-a-vis- a fencing slot. She is a high achieving IB student. My impression is that if you are good enough to have fencing be a “hook” you will know because coaches will be in touch with you or your coach at national events. Otherwise it would be an interesting EC that might tell something about your D’s character and interests. In our area fencing seems to be the sport of choice for homeschool kids.</p>
<p>Several of the Ivies have web sites for the fencing teams that provide short sports bios for the team members. This should give a fairly accurate impression of how good a fencer has to be, in order to be recruited.</p>
<p>When my kids began fencing, it seemed unusual to me too, because it is not a sport I knew anything about growing up. However, nationwide, I don’t believe it is an unusual EC. In some parts of the NE, almost every high school has a team. Once you start looking you may find there are clubs almost everywhere. This is a good thing because if your daughter enjoys the sport, even if she doesn’t become one of those Olympic hopefuls, it is fairly easy to continue to fence for exercise and fun as an adult. Especially since you will have already bought all the equipment ;)</p>
<p>A lot of colleges have varsity fencing, but most have at least a club of some sort. Some clubs are big and competitive, like Penn State, but others are smaller and more for fun with no coach. Some of the most competitive schools only recruit nationally ranked fencers, while others allow whoever likes the sport to fence.</p>
<p>My S enjoys the cameradie of the team and the fun of the sport more than the competition, so he’d probably be happier with a low-key fencing club. Fencing is a great sport for people who like strategy games and playing with light sabers! What weapon is your D? She sounds like a foil, since she’s a fast thinker/mover. My S is not so quick, but he loves strategy games.</p>
<p>My IB daughter, who was employed through high school as a writer, used fencing as the topic of one of her supplemental essays. As was stated above, fencing is helpful to the applicant if she is recruited, and it really isn’t that unusual in some parts of the country, at least.</p>
<p>In my Daughter’s school (NJ), many of the top Asian students fence and consider it the “intelligent sport.” So, I would think a large number of Ivy applicants would have fencing on their resume.</p>
<p>Kiddie, i think you’re right. my S who’s a freshman at an ivy fenced throughout high school. here in NYC & suburbs every private school and the best publics have fencing teams. he had teammates who were recruited to the ivies, but they were internationally ranked. his coach told him last year that he thought he was good enough to be recruited but my S didn’t want to commit to doing a varsity sport in college. however, when he got to college this fall he tried out for the team, a div 1, because he missed fencing and was chosen. at the same time he was also involved w/ another time-intense EC (and he’s a STEM major & pre-med), and so decided to not accept the fencing position. he also didn’t want to be off campus 3 out of every 4 weekends most months through March. the matches would take him to texas, ohio, NH…it’s a job, really, and he’d rather do the 3 ECs he’s doing now that take up the time he’d have to commit just to fencing. so that’s something I’d consider: if you use that hook to get accepted, if you are in fact a good enough fencer to have it in the first place, is that the EC the kid will want to devote their time to in college?</p>
<p>I’ve always wondered about the president-of-the-class thing. It always seemed to me, both in my own hs years and with my kids, that the president of the class was simply the winner of the most recent hs popularity contest - not necessarily anyone who was particularly bright. Is president of the class really something all that impressive? I confess if I were an adcom I’d probably bring that prejudice to mind.</p>
<p>^In my older son’s class the POC graduated 25 out of 640 and was accepted to Brown. So clearly she was no slouch. She was active in a lot of different things, but I hadn’t actually heard much about her before.</p>
<p>That depends on the school. Fencing in college ranges from intense national competition (varsity or club) to informal club practice. Finding out what fencing is like at a school of interest, by talking to current fencers there, is well worth the effort.</p>