Question for those who have been through this before: did you have your fencer be the sole communicator with the coaches of his/her prospective schools, or was/is there a time it’s appropriate for the parent to reach out, too? My D has had interest and met with several coaches (who I also met), and they’ve gathered all of his info for admissions. One school is an admissions stretch where he would more than likely need coach support. Coach indicated he is still trying to figure out where he has his greatest need to see who he will use his limited admissions “chits” on. At what point is it time to ask a coach if they have a firmer grasp on their need, and is that a question best asked by the fencer (or their hand-ringing parent)?! This waiting game stinks! ?
Great question and could not agree more with you.
@RRRtex - Believe me when I tell you that the frustration and angst you are feeling is shared by many parents of current applicants on this thread. Perhaps some of them will weigh-in and share with you.
For the most part, I think the student-athlete should be the main point of contact with coaches. This not only demonstrates the maturity of the student, but provides a lot of useful firsthand data in terms of synergy with the coach and the program. In the long run, you will not be there to regularly communicate with the coach. Your child should build this relationship now and own it. While we have developed a personal relationship with our son’s coach, we do not engage regarding the nuances of our son’s participation on the team. The main area in which we engaged is financial, e.g., reimbursements.
My general sense of the recruiting process outside of ‘elite’ recruits is that coaches line up their ducks during the junior year of high school. They then take time after Summer Nationals, i.e., during July-August, to assess their recruitment strategy. There are several criteria involved in this assessment:
(1) Who are the best fencers regardless of gender or weapon?
(2) Where are the greatest needs of the fencing program in question?
(3) Who is most likely to commit to the program?
(4) Which fencer(s) are more likely to get in based on academics with or without coach-support?
As with drafting in professional sports, a general rule of thumb is to take the best athlete(s) available. Within reason, I think fencing coaches follow this mantra. The weapon/gender may not be an immediate need, but very few pass on the opportunity to recruit a top athlete whether as an upgrade or as a future prospect.
Of course teams need to fill holes, including gaps left by graduating seniors, athletes who have left the team, and/or for those taking time off for Olympic competition.
Most of us have told more than one coach that his/her school is our kid’s first choice. They know this, particularly inasmuch as they may tell several prospects that he/she is their first choice. But at some point everyone decides. The question on both sides is, how likely is a commitment?
Some coaches try to strategize to get recruiting ‘freebies.’ They do this by recruiting only the best, particularly those that might not gain admission independent of recruiting. This does not mean that a student, capable of gaining independent admission, but not receiving a likely letter or letter of intent, is a less worthy recruit. It just means the coach’s strategy is to maximize his yield combining official recruits and supported ones.
In any case, it can be a long haul for fencers outside of the top 5 or so in each weapon/gender. Try not to get too frustrated. Always measure carefully what is productive versus what is more about scratching that itch for temporary relief. Everyone gets there…
Thanks, @BrooklynRye ! I completely agree about letting the student be the communicator, and that was certainly the tact I took with my older son (diff sport). Just wanted to verify that protocol is not different in fencing. At our meeting with one of the coaches (the admissions reach school) at SN, my D’s coach made a point of coming over and saying wonderful things about my D to the coach. Would now be an appropriate time to ask our coach to follow up, or would that seem like overkill? Trying to balance the amount of advocacy/interest showing with being too pushy. ?
If your coach has a relationship with the college coach this can be a tremendous asset. Personal coaches can speak to college coaches on a much less formal basis, minimizing the risk of being too pushy.
Talking about the rigorousness about the course load for high school fencers, is there any AP a must, such as APUSH?
I think that it depends on how academically competitive the university is that the fencer wants to attend and (to a lesser extent) if the fencer is very strong. For example, Ivy’s or Stanford would expect very rigorous course work, such that 8 or more AP tests would not be remarkable. On the other hand certain Universities might be open to somewhat less rigor for a US team member, so long as they have demonstrated that they would be able to manage that university’s coursework.
Thank you very much for your reply. There is another difficulty in my kids’ school, sometimes the students can’t get what they tried to enroll.
Your child can only do the best they can. The academically competitive colleges will want a student to take the most rigorous course work possible, but I’m sure will understand that there are limitations especially at small schools with few course sections. At least fencing practices are often in the evening. The athletes playing daylight sports like golf can have an even more difficult time with fitting the courses in.
Heres a new option for women who’d like to fence in college - Denison adds women’s fencing as 24th varsity sport. https://www.denisonbigred.com/sports/wfencing/2019-20/releases/20190819i9bncq
Now if Cornell and Northwestern would only add men’s squads!
Daria Schneider, Cornell’s head coach, was in the process of raising the necessary funds to reinstitute a men’s team. This has been in the works a couple of years now. Not sure how far they are along.
@BrooklynRye is this recent? I wasn’t aware that Lafayette did any recruiting at all!
@superdomestique thank you for your insight on this thread. You personally helped my D on her journey with your excellent input and advice. Thank you!
@stencils - At least 5-7 years ago. Actually don’t know how much formal recruiting Lafayette does. Remember at first thinking that the highlight reel was ‘silly’ until I also realized that the student was a “D” fencer with no podium finishes or other distinguishing competitive accomplishments. The reel made him look like an Olympic fencer!
So my senior has gotten an email from a coach who sent his info through admissions, and coach said congratulations, admissions deems you admissible, and while not a guarantee, a very positive result. We haven’t received anything directly from admissions at this point (haven’t submitted formal application yet), but I’m wondering how confident we should feel? I’ve heard stories of fencers who were told by the coach they would get into the school only to have things change last minute. We really like/trust this coach, but I don’t want to be naive. My older son (not a fencer) received a pre-read letter from admissions that gave me lots of confidence. Should we request the same of this school, or is that not really a thing with fencing? My D is an A rated fencer who had a podium finish at SN this year (timing was great!). ?. This school is one of his top choices, although others out there, too…
@RRRtex: I am not an expert by any means, but I don’t know that admissions offices necessarily send anything in writing until you have actually applied (we didn’t) - I would have to guess that this varies by school. But if you are unsure, why not call them directly to ask about process and expectations for when the application should be submitted, when you might expect to hear, etc.?
Good luck!
The pre-read for prospective recruits is to confirm that the student-athlete is academically eligible for recruitment. It is not a general sign of likely admittance to the university. At this point, all the coach is telling you is that, IF he/she decides to recruit your child, they can do so knowing that your child is academically eligible. Personally, never heard of request a formal “pre-read letter” but, in any case, agree with SpaceVoyager, that this is something you can ask about directly. More importantly, since your fencer is a top recruiting candidate who may well have his/her choice, I would not push too hard on schools that are not your first choice. You may get a response that includes a request for a more rapid response than you are prepared to give…
@RRRtex As Brooklynrye mentioned, a positive preread is the admissions office green light to say go ahead with the recruiting process. It certainly is not a guarantee or even a reassurance of admissions. From my experiences with 2 kids gone through recruitments, one to a Div 1 and other to a Div 3, we were never at rest until finally receiving the Likely letter from Div 1 and the admissions letter from Div 3. Even after a very positive preread, our kid had to spend a lot of time and effort completing the application, especially the essays and requesting LoRs and going to several interviews. The news of the preread was only delivered by the coach and never directly from admissions. I’m sure the admissions will not give you any concrete correspondence without a completed application.
Thanks, @SpaceVoyager, @BrooklynRye, and @downallunder for your weekend responses! I guess my older son’s soccer/admissions experience was outside of the norm of what most fencers are experiencing. Soccer coach sent his transcript/test scores through admissions in summer, and we received a letter from admissions (coach copied) saying if son applied ED, he could expect a positive outcome from admissions and a merit scholarship with amount. It was his top school, so that’s what he did. Made senior year much less stressful! SAT scores coming back on Friday, so hoping for a best score on this go. He has some overnight visits scheduled for this Fall, and then I guess things will start to become more clear. Fingers crossed for everyone going through this stress!!
That’s pretty remarkable, @RRRtex. Have heard of coaches reassuring recruits of admission once a pre-read is successful, particularly very top recruits, but never heard of a formal confirmation from the Admissions Office. Your son must have been a very special recruit indeed. Congratulations!