Fencing Recruit

Athletic Recruits
1

<p>Hi guys!</p>

<p>I am looking to be possibly recruited for fencing in college. Do you think there is a possibility of that happening?</p>

<p>Currently I'm a junior at The Lawrenceville School. </p>

<p>GPA: Around a 3.7 or 3.8</p>

<p>Courses this year: (My school doesn't have AP courses so Honors courses are considered APs)
- Standard English (can take English AP this June)
- Honors Calc AB
- Honors Bio
- AP Art Studio
- Honors Chinese Literature</p>

<p>I'm taking my SAT this Saturday but I've been scoring high 2200's to 2300's on all of my practice tests.
I have an 740 on my Math 2 SAT subject Test (currently getting my last month's test rescored because there was something wrong, so hopefully 800).
I'm also planning on taking the Bio M, and English Lit SAT subject tests.</p>

<p>In June, I'll be taking the Calc AB, English, Bio and Art AP tests.</p>

<p>I'm a B rated epee fencer who currently has cadet points. I'm also hoping to have Div 1/ Junior points in the next two NACs.</p>

<p>I fence for my school as well and am currently cocaptain of my team.</p>

<p>Schools I'm currently looking into:
Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Yale, Haverford, Swarthmore, Northwestern</p>

<p>Of course, as I look more into colleges, I'll have a bigger list.<br>
I'm interested in doing a dual major with art (graphic design) and medicine or engineering.</p>

<p>Any feedback and/or college recommendations would be really appreciated!</p>

2

<p>I forgot to mention that I have international competition experience and my coach is the Princeton coach.</p>

3

<p>You have great college counseling at Lawrenceville – you should go talk to your advisor. </p>

4

<p>As a B rated épéeist with cadet points you’re recruitable at some but not all fencing schools. Of the schools you listed, your best shot for being recruited is Haverford. Call Chris Spencer and set up an unofficial visit with him. He’s very approachable and a really nice guy. Zoltan can tell you better than anyone else if he’ll recruit you to Princeton, but I expect he won’t. He typically gets the best of the best. </p>

<p>I assume you’re a woman, as Northwestern doesn’t have a men’s team. They’re very strong, so you’ll probably need some Junior or Senior points. Same wth Harvard and Yale. Brown’s possible. See if you can set up a meeting with Atilio. He’s at all the NACs. If he’ll support you, the school could be a great fit for you, with their connection to RISD.</p>

<p>I don’t believe Swarthmore has a fencing team.</p>

<p>Consider Duke. You fit their profile. Good luck in SLC in January.</p>

5

<p>It’s probably too late, but some knowledge I picked up as also a B-rated epeeist looking at colleges: Yale allows a lot of walk-ons and is very inviting, so even though fencing won’t help you unless you are top 3 fencer applying this year between all 6 weapons, you can still get to fence. And Swarthmore has a very strong (relatively speaking) club team I’ve heard. And I’ve spoken with a few Haverford fencers and they have seem pretty nice/good. Harvard and Brown I’m sure are very hard to get on to.</p>

6

<p>Request JDF (Durso-Finley) as your college counselor (when the time comes). He’s knowledgeable about athletic recruiting. </p>

7

Consider Div3 schools too - Vassar (strong program, great coach who would support your application, hosts many of the tournaments at Vassar reducing travel impact to your studies) and Tufts might be a good match for your educational interests. (Medicine is not a major - revise that phrasing before speaking to coaches.). At some schools you’ll get a lot of competitive fencing time and at others you might not see much collegiate competition until you are a junior. Look at the schedule of some of the teams you are interested in to get an idea of competition - it is common for Div1 and Div3 teams to fence each other. There are several great schools with club teams that are very competitive as well. Put your educational priorities and fit first, then reach out to coaches at schools you are interested in. You should also register on the NCAA site and become familiar with rules about recruited athletes and when a coach can speak with you. There are several places you could gain support of a coach that will help your admissions. But you will need to pursue them. Make it easier on them by organizing your fencing results and your academic achievements, grades scores. Be persistent and be responsible for gaining clarity about what that support actually entails - some coaches will hope you are admitted and can join the team, but they wont be sponsoring your application with admissions, understand their process. Good luck!