The Only College Fencing Recruiting Thread You Need to Read

Athletic Recruits
641

Some thoughts on recruiting at this year’s Summer Nationals from the perspective of a current college fencer parent who was in St. Louis for less than 36 hours…In no particular order of observation…

The UNC coach must have rented a table and chairs just outside the venue because he was there, usually interviewing someone pretty much any time I entered or exited the venue. My guess is that, both as a new head coach, as well as recruiting for a team that generally does not get first pick, UNC casts a wide net particularly at Summer Nationals.

Saw Don Anthony many times, usually in meetings with FIE/USA Fencing or other related officials, but never interviewing fencers. Don’t know if someone else is handling this for OSU (saw their head epee’ coach, for instance), but did not see anyone who I recognized doing this.

Saw the PSU team, but no recruiting meetings.

Columbia apparently did a small number of personal interviews, focused on top recruits. However, the school also did several info sessions. These were limited-capacity (I think 50 fencers), with an advance sign-up.

Both the Princeton and U Penn coaches regularly around the venue, but did not see either in one-on-one meetings.

No one from Yale, Harvard, or from Brown (although I believe I caught sight of Coach Ripa in the venue).

Noted several coaches from Duke, but not the usual recruiting team.

Notre Dame, of course, was there in strength. No notable meetings observed, but they are a very aggressive and strong recruiting program.

To the extent to which action was somewhat restrained, as opposed to prior Summer Nationals, my sense is that recruitment for 2023, particularly at the higher levels, has been very aggressive. A lot of top recruits have been snapped up already which may explain the relatively low level of activity involving the top DV1 programs. Recruiting action at these schools seems to be largely a function of (i) last minute reneging on oral commitment; (ii) recruit opting to take a gap year or time off, or (iii) targeting a very specific gender/weapon need late in the process.

I am not overly familiar with the DV2 + DV3 programs so would appreciate input from anyone who interacted with these schools in St. Louis.

Would love to hear about other people’s sense of the recruiting vibe, as well as of any interviewing experiences people want to share. As I started off, my time was pretty limited and I am sure there was a lot I missed.

Hope all who participated had good and successful experiences.

642

I’m here with my 12 year-old, so not much help in recruiting news, but I do know two of her club mates committed in the spring. One to Columbia and the other to Princeton.

643

@BrooklynRye Zoltan was meeting with another fencer next to me during my meeting, so Princeton may have met with a few fencers. One of my friends who was pretty qualified for Princeton was in contact with him but was not able to schedule a meeting.

In terms of Duke, not sure who you meant by the usual recruiting team, but my friend had a meeting with both Mr. and Mrs. Beguinet. For prospective Duke fencers, he was told that they have a strong focus on academics, a little more than fencing accomplishments.

I think I may have also saw a Penn State meeting but I may be wrong.

And for anyone interested in UNC, they have only 4 recruiting spots (spot on team + influence with admissions) for all weapons and genders. I was also told that they are very frugal with the spots, as they used their last spot early this February, which is pretty late. Coach really emphasized strong essays for those who he thought were fit for the team but lacked on the academic side of recruiting.

644

Thanks, Cash. Kind of assumed these top programs were recruiting, juts had limited observation time. Yes, I was referring to the Beguinets re Duke, and from personal experience have always heard that Duke places a strong weight on the academic piece. I imagine another factor for UNC is the difficulty of bringing in OOS. I think UNC is somewhere north of 80% in-state. Hope your meetings went well! Please share!

645

@BrooklynRye I forgot the exact numbers, but I think it’s like 82-18 for IS to OOS generally speaking, though I thought that recruiting wise this didn’t matter too much unless you were trying to walk on?

As for my meeting with them, I won’t go into specifics as it wouldn’t be fair to UNC or the prospective student athlete. A majority of the meeting was him asking questions prepared by their sports psychologist to see if you were a good fit for the team. That’s as specific as I will get.

646

Also noticed that Hopkins had a lot of meetings. Heard they have a decent amount of “pull” with admissions, somehow possibly related to the fact that their lacrosse coach has a lot of weight on admissions.

647

@cashcarti Just curious that Hopkins is D3 school for fencing, how come the coach can have a decent amount of “pull” with admissions? But their lacrosse is D1, I guess that is why the lax coach has a lot of weight on admissions.

648

No idea, just an unverifiable rumor. My guess is that since their lax coach has a decent amount of pull, admissions is willing to pull some strings for their other sports teams. Then again, their recruits are pretty much all great in class and on strip. They seem to get a lot of great well rounded fencers.

Overall, you’ll still need good/great grades to get recruited. Since they’re division 3, it’s probably best you go in with the mindset that they have absolutely no pull with admissions.

649

Another thing to add about UNC was that during my visit and my meeting at nationals, the coach strongly emphasized preparing the student-athletes for the real world after fencing. They are very conscious about the student-athlete not only performing well on the strip, but also in the classroom and eventually into adulthood. During my visit, I was fortunate enough to meet with one of the academic advisors, who talked in depth about how they help prepare student-athletes to create portfolios to help with internships and job opportunities. Definitely something that my parents and I were very impressed with. Hoping I am lucky enough to get an offer!

650

NCAA eligibility

Hello all – my daughter was attempting to register for NCAA eligibility and came to this question:

Have you practiced or played with any Women’s Fencing teams or clubs since turning 14 years old?

And the NCAA provides some explanation for asking this:

Student Sports Participation History
For Certification Accounts, this includes details for any expenses or awards you received, any teams you have practiced or played with or certain events in which you participated outside of the traditional high school season. It also includes information about any individuals who have advised you or marketed your skills in a particular sport.
This information helps the Eligibility Center certify your amateur status when it is requested by an NCAA school.

Okay, I get it. But if she answers YES to the above question (and I assume she should since she’s been club fencing, but maybe this assumption is incorrect), I then have to disclose how much I pay her club and at what frequency – the digital form will not let one advance without this information. This seems unnecessarily invasive. So my question is, am I doing this correctly – do I really need to cite this information and/or should I answer yes to the above question if she is club fencing?

How did others go about this, and do anyone have insight with regard to getting certified without surrendering financial privacy.

651

typo ;(
does anyone

652

Hi all,

Longtime reader/first-time poster. I just wanted to thank everyone for your contributions to this thread. DD will be fencing DIII in the fall for a fantastic school, and the things I learned from you all were very helpful over the last two years in our search for the right fit.

In a nutshell, for those who want to compare their chances:

Academics: DD scored 35 on ACT, had a 5.16 GPA (all final grades above a 95 for all four years), 10 AP classes (all 5s on AP Exams), National Merit Finalist. Finished n the top 3% of very large high-achieving public school (two students in her class were offered full-ride scholarships to Duke out of only 10 given in the entire state).

Fencing: B2017 epee/ E2017 foil with almost 200 tournament events under her belt (13 NACs, 5 Nats, 5 JOs). On the JWE points list, barely, during Junior year of recruiting. Top 32 at JOs in Junior year. One NAC medal (bronze, D2) junior year.

We knew DD could get in to any school in the country with her academics if she could get recruited for her fencing. But we also realized that it was a long shot because she wasn’t high enough on the points list, etc., so not on the radar of coaches. So we knew she had to self-recruit. During sophomore year she began her email campaign, writing to coaches of all schools she even had a vague interest in. Before every NAC, JOs, or Nationals, she would contact them again with her latest fencing and academic results and ask to meet at the venue. Most coaches didn’t respond, though we later learned that most were paying attention.

At the events my job was to identify coaches and point them out to DD. After she was done competing for the day, she would introduce herself to them. D1 coaches, per NCAA regulations, all said the same thing, to the effect that they couldn’t talk to recruits but that she should keep doing what she was doing. We didn’t see this as a negative, indeed it was exactly what we expected and was useful just to “keep the iron in the fire”. D3 coaches could actually talk with her and did. Once D1 coaches could talk to her we had several meetings at Nationals, all of which were very positive.

DD applied to Yale, Brown, Northwestern, UNC, Johns Hopkins, Wellesley, Vassar, Drew, and Lawrence. Pre-reads were all thumbs-up at all schools. She was accepted at all but Yale, Brown, and Northwestern. Northwestern wanted her but when we met the coaches at Nats they were virtually certain she would get in on her own and wanted to use their recruiting spot for another fencer; indeed one of her friends whose scores were lower (including some B’s) was recruited, applied ED, and was accepted. Yale coach told her he’d love to have her but couldn’t recruit her; Brown coach couldn’t talk with us as he was still negotiating his contract. All the other coaches supported her application in admissions. (Interesting side note: CalTech coach, who had never responded to an email and who DD had never met, contacted her over Winter break and said she’d support her application, but DD had already decided against applying.)

DD was disappointed by the rejections, but she understood that by not applying early decision and committing to a school, her chances were lower. And she’s not sure she would have chosen any of the three even if she had been accepted, partly because she feels like fencing D1 and trying to handle the workload of those schools may have been too much for someone who can’t imagine herself getting a “B” in a class. In the end, she’s extremely happy with her choice and can’t wait to begin in just a few weeks.

My advice to those who’ve read this far: if your kid has a clear choice (but ONLY if they are sure they want to attend that school, and you can afford it), they should apply ED with the support of the coach. They have a much better shot at getting in than if they apply RD.

Thanks once again to all of you!

653

@sasmsb → Responding immediately after reading your post (twice!) because I don’t want to filter my response. Wonderful post! So refreshing to have such a candid and open recitation of the recruiting process. It is very understandable why most of us are leery of sharing our true identities. Sometimes it is as simple as respecting our child’s privacy. Sometimes, in the heat of the recruiting process, we are careful not to negatively impact. Of course, there may also be fear of reprisals. To the extent to which, however, more are able to share their experiences with such openness, I strongly believe it helps us all immeasurably. Very appreciative!

654

I failed to mention that all our interactions with coaches were positive, even those who, like Yale, said that he couldn’t recruit DD, it was not mean-spirited at all, just a statement of fact that she wasn’t at the level the coach needed. I appreciated the candor. I’m sure had DD got into (and chosen to go to) Yale, Brown, or Northwestern, she would have been a welcome addition to the team, as long as she was able to prove her worth.

655

@sasmb Thanks for the post. Wish my academic stats were as good as your daughter’s. Although I have a B rating so my chances fencing wise aren’t too bad, my grades are nowhere near those - hence having a tougher time with recruitment despite some coaches showing some form of interest. Congrats on her recruitment!

656

@cashcarti keep plugging away. There are plenty of fencing programs, including very competitive club teams, at colleges and universities across the country. DD applied to nine schools, four of which we classified as “reach”, two as “target”, and three as “probable” schools in terms of her admission chances. But–and this is the important thing to remember–she would have been happy to go to any of the schools, as they all are wonderful institutions with a lot to offer. Make sure you apply only to schools that you WANT to go to, and make sure you have some in each of the aforementioned ranges (each student’s range is different; we found CollegeBoard’s “BigFuture” website very helpful in this regard). Good luck!

657

It’s always great to hear how most fencers end up in excellent schools, although not always their “dream school”, nonetheless excellent schools aided by their fencing. For someone low on the ranking list will find it very difficult, although not always impossible, to get recruited to a powerhouse Div 1 school. Therefore, the OP’s daughter, despite being a stellar student with excellent academic stats, being a B-rated fencer very low on the junior ranking list, it wasn’t surprising the Div 1 schools did not recruit her. Although she bronzed in a Div 2 NAC, which is a very admirable achievement, most Div 1 school coaches would be looking for someone very high on the junior national ranking list.

658

@downallunder - Keep in mind that not all top recruits carry excellent academic credentials. It is not uncommon for top programs to recruit lower-ranked/rated fencers who have stellar academics in order to balance the team’s cumulative Academic Index. This may happen relatively late in the recruiting season once the top recruits are finalized and the coach has a sense of any need to improve the cumulative AI.

659

Thanks @sasmsb for the great story of your DDs recruitment process!

Your post also stresses something that I love to see highlighted here. There are 45 women’s NCAA fencing teams currently, including 26 Div I schools. Almost all of these teams would absolutely LOVE to recruit a B-rated fencer with a 35 ACT. At some of the Div I schools, and at most Div III schools, you’ll join as #1 or #2 on the roster for your weapon. You’ll also have a great team experience. While the golden ticket of recruitment to one of the half-dozen uber-selective schools might be nice, there are many other great schools with fencing teams!

Personally, I wish more fencers at this level, like sasmsb’s DD, would continue on with NCAA fencing (whether Div I or Div III), as the more of these excellent fencers that continue fencing in college, the higher the quality of NCAA becomes, which is great for all teams and the sport as a whole.

660

Yes I agree that not all top fencers will have the academic credentials to be recruited/admitted to the “elite” schools. But in the case of the OP, despite her have excellent academics, her being “barely” on the JWE rank list, which I assume is somewhere between 75 to 116, doubt she’ll will attract any serious attention from a Div 1 coach, unless they are seriously desperate to improve the team AI.