Fencing Recuitment

Athletic Recruits
1

Hi,
I am a rising high school senior and am also interested in being recruited for college fencing. I have been a sabre fencer for about 9 years now and compete regularly at NACs throughout the year. I have yet to renew my B rating from a few years ago. Even though I’ve been fencing for a long time, I am not highly ranked in juniors, and my academics are stronger than my fencing achievements.
SAT: 2400 (superscore) 2360 (top score)
ACT: 36
SAT II Math 2: 770
(also plan on taking sat ii bio m and chem in october)
AP’s: Macroeconomics (4), Microeconomics (5), BC Calculus (5), Chemistry (4), APUSH (4), for senior year I plan on taking AP Psych, AP Stats, AP Lit, AP French, and AP Bio
GPA: 99.2525 weighted (no idea about unweighted since it hasnt been updated for this past year for me yet but around a 94, and my school releases it on a 100 point scale, not sure how it translates to the 4.0 scale)

I’m interested in BME or molecular biology as a major and my top choices right now are JHU, Duke, and MIT, but I’m also looking into Stanford. I met with the JHU and Duke coaches to talk about recruitment and they told me that they would support me, but I’m not sure how much influence they have on admissions, since the BME programs are so competitive especially at JHU. Earlier in the year, I contacted the Yale coach via email but he told me that the selection of athletes for their program was competitive and I would have to improve my fencing results. Also I heard that the MIT coach has nearly zero influence on admissions.

Can anyone tell me anything they know about the programs at these schools as well as how much of an influence college coaches may have on admissions for someone with decent academics but no astounding fencing results. Also if there are any other good schools with programs related to my interests that I have not looked into, please let me know. Thank you so much!

2

You’ve already identified what I believe are your two best options, Duke and JHU. I’m sure the MIT coach would love to have you but, as you know, his influence is negligible. Stanford’s a long shot.

I like the Duke program. The team is very cohesive, and a lot of the fencers are like you - excellent students, and good but not quite elite level fencers. I have zero doubt that if Alex and Elizabeth tell you they’ll support you, and with your academic credentials, you’ll be accepted, at least if you apply ED.

I suspect the story would be similar at JHU. I’ll contact a friend whose son fenced there and they might chime in.

Good luck.

3

Hi, I’ve been paged by sherpa to come and chime in.

My son recently fenced for JHU for 4 years. Great team and coach, loved it. I think Coach Young has quite a bit of pull, esp in ED. My son actually didn’t commit to JHU nor did ED so we didn’t do the full recruit route but I think Coach supported him some anyway. I’m sure if you ask him straight up he will give you an honest answer. I remember hearing that there was a >85% (maybe 90%) acceptance for recruited athletes in the ED. I’m guessing the academically marginal students are the ones that are not accepted. I do think he can, and does, also help in RD if you commit to attend during the RD process.

Re MIT, my impressions is the coach can help some, but maybe with only one applicant . He initially asked my son for a commitment (which he gave) and was all buddy-buddy, but then a better fencer came along late in October and we never heard from him again. Also was not admitted.

My suggestion would be to decide on Duke or JHU as your first choice and do ED. Unless you love MIT, in which case you can try there EA and take your chances in RD for JHU. Don’t know about Duke and RD.

If you’re interested, I can tell you more.

4

My son just went thru this process last year (Class of 2019) and we are familiar with all the programs you mentioned.

While the all the 2015-16 college fencing rosters are not yet published, the recruiting activity for the Class of 2019 may provide some good data points for the Class of 2020 the recruiting season.

Here are my thoughts:

Duke:
I agree with @sherpa that this is a wonderful, collegial, top fencing program. At SN in June I spoke with Coach Alex and asked if he took any male saber fencers for the Class of 2019 and he said he did not. Given who they currently have and who is graduating, I would guess they have needs in men’s saber for the Class of 2020.

Stanford:
They took 4 male saber fencers (3 from Cardinal) for the Class of 2019 to an already well-represented (5 fencers) saber squad. With only two graduating in 2016, the Class of 2020 will be a hard year to join their men’s fencing squad, especially with a top rising senior male saberist at Cardinal.

Yale:
They took 2 male saber fencers for the Class of 2019, but are graduating 2 in 2016. They may have needs for the Class of 2020. As @sherpa will attest, the Yale recruiting process is anything but transparent. The coach is not organized nor a great communicator, so it is a difficult process, especially if you are deciding on where to apply early.

MIT:
I don’t know if they took anyone for the Class of 2019 so their needs for 2020 are unclear. However I do think the MIT coach does have pull with admissions that is greater than zero.

JHU:
I don’t know if they took anyone for the Class of 2019 but their saber squad is young. The JHU saber coach (Aaron Kandlik) is a great guy.

I agree with @Sherpa that Duke and JHU are your best shots. I think both school will want/need you to apply early if you want the most pull from their coaches.

Of the remaining programs, I would rank them Yale/MIT/Stanford together as longshots with fencing having little influence on your application (especially if you apply RD).

Other schools you may want to consider: Caltech, Haverford, UNC, possibly Brandeis.

Hope this was helpful. Good luck.

5

A tip of the hat to @superdomestique for the great insight into current saber recruiting. Excellent post!

6

Yes, important to look at what school might be looking for what.

I just looked and saw that JHU had 10 freshmen on their roster last year and only graduated one. While a few may not return for sophomore year, it does suggest that they may not be aggressively recruiting this year. What I can tell you is that the coach is a good guy and will be straight with you, so just ask him what he can/will do for you.

Remember that the most important thing is which school you think you would be happiest at, academically and socially. Fencing will help you get admitted (some of the places) and it’ll be fun being on a team, but you will be a college student first and foremost.

7

Given the fencer’s focus on molecular biology, she should also take a look at UC San Diego, which has a decent fencing program.

UCSD has arguably the best BME program (and certainly one of the top 3-4 neuroscience research programs) in the nation, if not the world. San Diego is the nation’s top biotech hub.