<p>Sophomore S is currently 1st of 275 in a good but not great public HS. 4.0 UW, 2 APs so far, 5 on AP Human Geography, waiting for score on AP World History, expect a 5. Five APs next year. Strong community service. ECs include Key Club, NHS, and HOBY.</p>
<p>His sport is fencing. He’s ranked in the top 20 in the country in the under-20 age group (he just turned 16). National rankings are by birth year rather than school year so I can’t be sure, but I believe he is the #2 ranked high school sophomore in his primary weapon.</p>
<p>Some of the best colleges in the country have good fencing programs, and he will undoubtedly consider those schools. On the other hand, some of the other best colleges in the country don’t have fencing programs, and I’d like him to consider those colleges as well. </p>
<p>His dedication to fencing is certainly limiting his time available for other ECs. Will this hurt him at colleges w/o fencing?</p>
<p>I believe it will help him with some of the elite schools. Many of the top schools are looking for students that excel at some thing. It is better to be top at one thing that just average at many things. I have a friend whose S and D were both nationally ranked tennis junior players few years back. Both of them end up at Harvard and I believe their tennis ranking help them in their admission to Harvard.</p>
<p>In general it won't hurt. Colleges understand the time and dedication involved in becoming ranked (at sports or anything else). Some schools that are perhaps more holistic in their evals may knock him down a little.</p>
<p>There used to be a poster on here whose daughter fenced in high school and continued it at Brown. She was pretty sure it helped with admissions, although it's obviously difficult to know for certain. </p>
<p>You will usually hear colleges saying they prefer applicants with devotion to a couple ecs rather than superficial activity in several. They mean it! </p>
<p>Your son may want to consider LACs that have fencing, if there are any. Many LACs are eager to admit qualified males.</p>
<p>Being ranked in the top 20 kids nationally can only help your son with admissions regardless of whether or not he fences in college. It is a big deal to be the top 20 at something! That said, it will help all the more if he decides to continue fencing at the collegiate level.</p>
<p>Getting in from sports related activity is always a risky game--sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It won't hurt him as long as he stays on top, but it will definitely hurt him if he slides down in rankings at all. There are a number of threads on getting into college through sport related activity. I would search this site and see if you find something. I'm positive there was a long thread floating around here.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the input. I think the dilemma will come down to the fact that there aren't particularly strong fencing programs at any of the LACs. So if he wants to fence in college, there will be some great schools from which to choose, but no LACs among them.</p>
<p>The one exception is Reed, which though it only has recreational fencing, is about 10 miles from a premier private fencing club (Northwest Fencing Center) where he could train. So he could attend Reed and fence, but obviously Reed won't be looking at him as a recruited athlete.</p>
<p>So, let me rephrase my original question:</p>
<p>How would the top LACs view an academically strong applicant whose primary EC was a sport at which the applicant excelled but in which the college does not field a competitive team?</p>
<p>From the posts I've read above, it seems that he should be fine. And the truth is that whether his fencing helps with his college apps or not isn't the point. With all I'm reading on this forum about "passion", I should probably just be happy that he's found an activity that he loves and let the future bring what it brings.</p>
<p>Your son should have no trouble getting into Reed, recruited athlete or not. That's not to say it's a bad school, but it's not particularly selective and your son has great academics.</p>