@starwars1: Generally speaking, I would say no…at least not at one of the more competitive programs. If you were open to a wider range of schools, then I would say maybe/yes. I have seen lower rated/unranked fencers on some rosters of strong D1 schools, but they are either walk-ons or have other special situations.
@starwars1 If your desire is to fence in college, you can always look into the schools where your solid academics will get you in with or without a coach’s support. And there are quite a few D3 schools who would love to have a D rated fencer come on board. In fact, at some of these schools you’ll have a good chance at starting right away. As an added bonus, solid academics at a non-top school will often get you some decent merit aid.
This is the route my daughter took. She is an unrated fencer but was happily/eagerly accepted as a walk-on at her small LAC, quickly became one of the top 2 fencers on her squad, and her academics ended up putting her in the top tier of merit scholarships that her school offers.
Best of luck to you during your college search.
A good (and definitely more easily understood than the NCAA press release) recap of the recent NCAA Division 1 rules changes:
https://www.ncsasports.org/blog/2018/04/25/ncaa-recruiting-rules-change-timing-recruiting-activities/
Note, this is in no way an endorsement of NCSA, with whom I have zero affiliation. I was simply served an ad for a link to this blog post and thought it did a good job of clarifying what is allowed/not allowed now.
This is a message for the most knowledgeable posters: As the upcoming new school year approaches, for newcomers who are fortunate enough to find this resource, I was thinking that it might be useful to provide a “cheat sheet” of acronyms and references. I feel like I saw something like this at some point, but could not readily find it so maybe it is a repost of something. Regular readers/users may know what “DD” and “DS” and “LL” and “NLI” and “AI” are but newbies can understandably be befuddled when starting the process. In recommending this site to others, I always advise them to start with the very first postings that provide a wealth of information but someone was asking me for all these definitions recently and I could have sworn I saw something like that at some point (or maybe it was just wishful thinking? ;-)). thanks!
@SpaceVoyager Are you referring to the meaning of the abbreviation used on CC? See the following thread:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52585-abbreviation-thread.html
I’ll add the most relevant ones to this thread here, some of which are also in the thread @noanswers mentions.
[ul]
[] D or DD or D19 or DD19 - (Dear) Daughter (graduation from HS year, in this case 2019)
[] S or DS or S18 or DS18 - (Dear) Son (graduation from HS year, in this case 2018)
In the above the year is often a source of confusion, because newbies will sometimes assume that the year above is their age, not their grad year.
[] CC = College Confidential
[] NLI = National Letter of Intent (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Letter_of_Intent)
[] LL = Likely Letter (https://admissions.dartmouth.edu/glossary-term/likely-letter)
[] AI = Academic Index (http://www.collegeconfidential.com/resources/academic-index/)
[li] D1,D2,D3 or Div1, Div2,Div3 or DI,DII,DIII = Division 1,2,3 of NCAA (http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/ncaa-member-institutions)[/li][/ul]
Perfect, thank you @noanswers and @stencils!
“the year is often a source of confusion, because newbies will sometimes assume that the year above is their age, not their grad year”
Oh man, guess I’m still a newbie. I’ve been on CC for 2 years and did not know the year was HS grad year. But to be fair, the education related forum I frequented most before CC used the digits after DD/DS as age. Lucky for me my daughter’s age and grad class have coincided for this last year. 
@saharafrog Ha! I was confused by this too. Grad year is more vital than age when talking about athletic recruiting (or college admissions in general). In fairness, like you say, I think in many forums it is age, which makes more sense in a general parenting forum.
And the last two years are the only ones where I think it’s not obvious. If the year was 2002 or 2036, then there would be no confusion, but we’re in the exact time where D17 could be an 18 year old that graduated in 2017, or you could have an S18 who is currently 18 years old that just graduated!
My fencing D is now 19, was a 2017 HS grad, and is starting her second year of collegiate fencing. also have a D who is now 16 who graduates in 2020, and an S who is 13 and graduates in 2023. Neither of the younger two fence. Both tried, neither fell in love with it like the oldest did. We’re just starting the college search process for D20 (or is it D16? ), who is a bassoonist, dancer, and likely CS major.
Referring back to changes in the DV1 fencing recruitment (#742 above). By far the major change is the moving forward of the contact date to September 1st of junior year of high school. However, to be clear, this applies only to email, phone calls, and to on-campus visits. The student and coach can still not have direct physical contact, such as at NACs, until July 1st after the junior year of high school.
Congrats and good luck to all the new recruits and their parents moving in to their new school this week/ next week.
@BrooklynRye
Can I get some clarification please. With the Div 1, my daughter who is starting her Junior year emailed a coach and he responded that he can see her at any of the NAC’s this coming year. He’s a veteran coach, do you think it’s confusing for all right now?
@dinjimh Perhaps the coach is referring to “seeing her” as in watching her fence at any of the NACs – not as in meeting with her in person at those events.
@dinjimh - My firm understanding, confirmed by several DV1 coaches, is that the new contact rule, as of September 1st ot the junior year of high school, is via email, text, cell, or via an unofficial on-campus visit. Coaches still may not have in-person contact with potential recruits earlier than July 1st after junior year (or thereabouts depending on the season). This applies to NACs as well as other competitions. I think that @fencingmom has a good take on this…
Correction re my last post (courtesy of @superdomestique), who points out that it is unofficial or OFFICIAL on-campus visits that are allowed as of September 1st of the junior year of high school.
Another significant change is that the coaches are not allowed to participate in any unofficial campus visits with any athletes before Sept 1 of their junior year. So sophomores can no longer visit campuses to meet with Div 1 coaches to discuss recruiting.
Thank you for the responses.
@BrooklynRye , ok so she can meet with a coach as an official or unofficial visit at campus but not at a NAC?
Sorry I’m just trying to make sure I understand. I don’t mean to keep bringing up the same topic but I think I got it now.
@fencingmom yes maybe that is what he meant but was not very clear.
@dinjimh - Your daughter can have contact via phone or email, and can meet with a coach on campus as of September 1st of her junior year in high school. That’s it. There is no personal contact other than that, including not at NACs.
Thank you for clarification. I finally got it. YAY! I didn’t know she wanted to fence NCAA until just a couple months ago so there was no knowledge before hand on any of this for us. Thanks so much for everyone’s advice, it’s very helpful!
Regarding the rules around contact, the organization @SevenDad mentioned in Post #742 provides information: https://www.ncsasports.org/ncaa-eligibility-center/recruiting-rules
One can of course go directly to NCAA for the formal rules but it seems NCSA does a decent job of stating those more clearly. Note that the rules are different for Div I, Div II and Div III.
Here are some links for the NCAA info
http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/resources/recruiting-calendars
http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2018-19DIREC_DIOtherSportsRecruitingGuide_20180703.pdf
http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2018-19DIREC_OtherSportsRecruitingCal_20180706.pdf
Somewhere it states that it is OK for brief non substantive verbal interaction (saying “hello”), which can be a way to simply introduce yourself to a coach so s/he can put a face to a name, then follow up with emails.
Also, since there is more flexibility speaking with Div III coaches, that can be a great way of learning more about the processes, and also learn about some of the Div III schools that may be good fits as well.
Good luck!