Others more knowledgeable than I will hopefully chime in, but I’ll pass along some of what my DD (will be a college freshman this fall) and I found over the last year. Like you, she was/is a U, her GPA was a smidge higher (3.9 uw), and her ACT score correlates to be about the same as your SAT, no honors classes (none offered) but lots of AP.
Even with your good GPA and SAT, I would consider Tufts and BC to be reaches (UCSD and NYU may also be reaches, but I am not as up-to-speed on them). Not that your academic stats aren’t good enough for those schools, but many, many, students with similar stats will be applying. Walking onto a fencing team won’t likely be the hardest part of your journey - getting into any of your list of schools will be the highest hurdle in front of you. All of the schools you list are difficult to very difficult to get into. Please note, I am not trying to discourage you from applying, I think your stats are good enough to put you in the running, I just want to set realistic expectations.
I’d recommend emailing coaches a letter of interest and a fencing resume sooner rather than later. Don’t send a form letter where you just swap out the college/coaches name. Try to personalize it a little bit for each coach. Expect to get no response to most of your emails - Tufts, Lafayette, Brown - gave us nothing but crickets (your mileage may vary). Johns Hopkins had already rejected DD early decision, so of course we did not bother emailing that coach. Drew contacted us back after DD filled out a recruiting questionnaire. Lawrence University got back to us. The coach at Brandeis emailed back, but only after having chatted with my DD’s current fencing coach and liking what he heard.
Also note there are some fantastic college/university fencing clubs out there. And there are many colleges that are located just a short walk/bus ride from a fencing center/club (most of these will be in metropolitan areas). We cast a wide net, applying to some schools with NCAA fencing, some schools with active clubs, and a couple of good schools with nearby fencing centers (for instance, Macalester College is a short trip from the Twin Cities Fencing Club).
Best of luck to you,
-S.F.
I think that @saharafrog 's points are well taken. The demographic for most fencing families certainly seems to target the more elite undergraduate schools. Fencing is a tool that for most generally breaks a tie with all those students with similar stats to whom Sahara refers. For some very rare few in each recruiting year, the horizons are unlimited. However, even for those few, there are limits on how far elite schools will stretch to compensate for sub par academics. In researching schools, therefore, it may be helpful to filter a bit using academic criteria prior to placing the fencing template on top of the mix. Most fencers looking to fence in college and to use their fencing as leverage, are still fighting a somewhat uphill battle. Take nothing for granted (as my friend @superdomestique is fond of saying), and don’t stop running until the race is done.
P.S. It’s a shame we cannot specifically identify the schools about which each poster is writing. I understand this gets too close to home in ‘outing’ posters, but I can only imagine how much more helpful specific information would be. Hope that posters interested in specific schools feel free to PM others who seem to have deeper knowledge about specific schools.
Just a quick note to say that I am still alive. 
Daughter had a few meetings with coaches in SLC — though certainly not her best weekend on the strips. Planning on circling back to the thread in the fall with more commentary/observations.
Thanks for the advice, I am certainly going to apply to a mix of schools, these were just my top pics. Glad to know other passionate but still unrated fencers are getting interest. Does anyone have a list/know how to find a list of schools with strong club teams? I tried to check the results for the last championships but I only saw a couple, mainly in the Northeast. Thanks again!
Your post implies you have seen this already, but I’d start with the list of clubs competing in last year’s championships. http://www.usacfc.org/this-year-s-championship#teams If any of the schools listed there interest you from an academic stand point, I’d then google to see if their fencing club has a website/facebook page. If they are both sending fencers to the national competition and have an up-to-date web presence, they might be worth looking further into.
After researching schools that both interested my DD and that had varsity fencing teams, we then looked at schools that interested her and checked to see if they had a fencing club. If they did not have an “active” club (active being a bit subjective), we would check to see if these academically interesting schools had a nearby fencing center.
Best of luck in your search,
-S.F.
@surprise99 Sorry if I sound discouraging to you. But I believe you are here looking for realistic advice, not nice words. If I am wrong, then please ignore totally what I am going to say below:
If I were you, I would concentrate on something else, on your college application and your college extracurricular activities. The fact that you have been fencing for 4 years and still unrated tells me that either you have never taken it seriously, or this sport is just not for you. Look at the Summer National charts. In the junior women’s foil event (your age group), 100% of the fencers are rated. Even some of the 10 year old girls are rated. Yes you might find a couple of the unrated fencers in some college teams. Because almost all the teams have some extra members as substitutes, or “bench players”. But I can’t image any of those fencers were recruited - unless they had some special leverage nothing to do with fencing. If you are looking for “walk-on” opportunity, then I would still say your chance is very slim. Your academics is probably considered excellent or even outstanding if you were a basket player, but for a fencer, its just about average or little above average. Of course it doesn’t hurt to try. But let’s say you are lucky to get admitted by one of the colleges you mentioned and walk on to the team, what’s good for you at all? Just try to be one of those “bench players”?
Again, sorry if I sound little harsh to you. But that’s reality.
@surprise99 - There are so many variables here. While 4 years of fencing and still unrated with no significant tournament placements is certainly not a ‘strong’ recruitment resume’, not everyone is recruited nor do they need to be. Some of the strongest fencers in recent NCAA competition were walkons, including Jake Hoyle who won back-to-back individual NCAA Championships in men’s epee for Columbia. You might be surprised at some of the other strong NCAA fencers who were also walkons. Your academics are certainly within range of the schools you mention. Most will not reject a relatively new fencer who just wants to work out with the team and have a chance to compete by earning it. NYU and UCSD are a bit more competitive, but BC, Tufts, and Hopkins have very weak fencing programs and compete almost exclusively relatively locally. I’m sure they would welcome an enthusiastic, potentially up and coming fencer. Also, lest we forget, NCAA fencing is not national or international fencing. It is predominantly 5-touch bouts, something top fencers often forget, and at which lesser fencers can be be very good. So please do not get discouraged. While it is unlikely you will be recruited or even supported at any of these schools, target your best choice of schools for what you want to study and beyond. By all means apply the existence of a decent fencing team or club as part of your criteria. Walkons are welcome at even the most competitive program and there is fun and learning to be had even if it does not ultimately lead to NCAA glory. Good luck!
Hola.
Class of 2018, decently high on junior points. Relatively strong academics.
I am wondering how important it is to take SAT 2s.
I took the SAT in June and would like to take it again in August to shoot for closer to 1500s range. Is this too late for recruiting? Would it be better to take subject tests?
Thanks.
If you have not reached out to coaches yet and intend to matriculate in Fall 2018 then you are very late to the recruitment process. This is not to say that all is lost but, yes, you are late. “Decently high” and “relatively strong” are not exactly powerful inducements. Presumably you are not high enough to attract proactive attention from college coaches. Have any of them reached out to you?
The Ivies do not require Subject SAT scores. In fact, most will probably tell you that unless the scores are 750 or higher, not to bother. Generally, these scores do not seem particularly high on the list of top items at which colleges look. I recommend focusing on getting that 1500. Infinitely more valuable than SAT 2 scores.
In any case, I would get on the ball and start reaching out to coaches!
I apologize for the lack of clarity. I have already talked to many coaches. I guess I am being vague to conceal identity.
Also, your info about subject tests is very helpful.
Basically, here is my issue. I am under the impression that recruiting decisions are made during the summer, and that, subsequently, any test scores after the June date are sort of irrelevant. My current score is in the low 1400s. Let’s say I do very well on the August test. I will receive those scores on September 15th. Would that be too late for the scores to count towards recruiting?
Thanks again.
Ah. I know that colleges consider test scores at least through June, as they are reviewing the current batch even as we write. Can’t speak for how non-Ivies treat SAT 2’s, and I would certainly confirm with the Ivies as well, but am providing firsthand information re the latter. Without knowing your gender/weapon, it’s hard to get a sense of what your remaining prospects are. Perhaps you can share these, even if it is without specifying schools. For instance has any school made you an offer of recruitment, support or otherwise? Have you been outright rebuffed by certain programs? The recruiting process is largely a numbers game based on those at the very top making decisions which either take or free spaces for those lower down the list. As upper-level fencers commit, recruitment opportunities narrow at the schools to which the elite commit, but may broaden at the schools still looking for fencers. There is a lot of play here and particularly as opportunities trickle down and time ticks away, schools may speed up the process within which they want a commitment. For instance, early in the process a school may give someone in the top 5 a nice spread of time in which to make a decision. Later in the process, the same school may give someone in the top 35 a week to decide. Depending on your gender/weapon, I am quite certain the field has narrowed at a lot of top schools. Not that you should be discouraged or cease your efforts (other than if you are just told “no”), but target your schools and best opportunities wisely as time ticks…
Hi LB86, I think I might be able to help you on this…
Regarding AI, if you can take 2 SAT Subject tests where the average of those two scores would be higher than your lowest score on either the Math or the English section of the regular SAT, then do it, otherwise don’t worry about it. In general it wouldn’t be worth it, unless either your Math or English sections are under 700 and you have other subjects that stand out.
Generally speaking, for admissions, if you only want to take one test, and it’s above a 700, it wouldn’t hurt.
Hope that helps!
Has anyone heard a peep from Brown this year now that they have a coach? Has anyone gotten any indication of support from coach Ripa?
We spoke to Alex Ripa at Nationals, but he said he was not allowed to talk to recruits because technically he was only there representing RIFAC, not Brown. But he said he was interested and for DS to email him after Nationals with a transcript and other info. So I’d email him with your info and see what he says. (DS accepted another offer so didn’t follow up.)
Question regarding unofficial visits - have you tried to schedule meetings with coaches on weekdays or weekends? Weekend visits are typically easier to manage, but I don’t want to request coaches time on weekends (unless they’re used to it).
@Rollhigher - We generally tried to include at least one week day in our visit to accommodate the coach’s work schedule. Since we always wanted to tour the campus as well, we would arrive on a Friday, have our meeting with the coach, and have Saturday to tour. Also, being at school on a weekday gives you the option of sitting in at a class, running into professors in your child’s prospective majors, and talking to students during class time. We never had a weekend meeting, but I guess it depends on the coach.
@Rollhigher If the fencer is a sophomore or junior, another possibility is to try to schedule your visits to coincide with weekend “admissions open house” type events. Many schools offer at least one of these in the fall and spring, and some bigger schools do it even more frequently. We had multiple coaches who were willing to come to campus and meet on the weekend of an admissions event because 1) they didn’t need to organize any activities for you and 2) they knew you were interested enough in the school to be coming to the admissions event.
Often when these open house events were on a Saturday or Sunday we were able to combine it with a nearby fencing tournament on the other weekend day to get the most back for our buck with the weekend.
We chose weekdays because in addition to meeting with the coaches, we wanted to meet members of the fencing squad and watch a practice session and some lessons. We also wanted to talk to the admissions and financial aid offices, tour the campus, and visit classes .