Fencing Scholarships

[Foilling Around]

We brits seem to have quite a few golfers and other sporting youngsters gaining scholarships to college in the US. There are however few fencers. Louise Bond-Williams is the only one I know of and she was recruited by the coach.

My question is, what standard would a british fencer need to be to stand a chance of a scholarship to a US college/unversity?

The reason for my query is that I have a very bright daughter who is only 13 at present, but has a bronze medal from the British U14 Foil and was 26th in the British Senior Champs. How far would she need to progress for a good college to look at her?

I know this is a long way in the future, but I like to work with goals, aims and objectives.

I admit to being a pushy parent, because I'd rather push than hold back, but fortunately I have a daughter who is quite happy to tell me when I am pushing too hard.

Anyone got any advice?

My sons are into cricket and I doubt if there are any cricket scholarships in the US!!!!!

[CalFencer]

Certain universities in the US do have fencing scholarships, but they are really hard to get. You need to find a school that has NCAA fencing, especially division 1. I know that Stanford University offers fencing scholarships, and they even have a special dorm for their fencers. Just call the coaches at any of the big fencing universities and they should be able to tell you what you want to know. (UC Berkeley is better than Stanford!)

[afc fencer]

Certain universities in the US do have fencing scholarships, but they are really hard to get. You need to find a school that has NCAA fencing, especially division 1. I know that Stanford University offers fencing scholarships, and they even have a special dorm for their fencers. Just call the coaches at any of the big fencing universities and they should be able to tell you what you want to know. (UC Berkeley is better than Stanford!)

Stanford can not give fencing scholarships because it is an ivy. Penn state, ohio state, st johns, temple, and northwestern are a few that give fencing scholarships.

[DHCJr]

Stanford can not give fencing scholarships because it is an ivy. Penn state, ohio state, st johns, temple, and northwestern are a few that give fencing scholarships.

I hope this was a typo. Stanford CAN and DOES give scholarships and it is NOT one of the 'IVY' schools.

[MHS Fencer]

Some schools also manage to provide very good financial aid on a need basis and fencing can help you get into those schools. Some places also find ways to steer their athletes to other scholarships, even though the school itself does not provide a "fencing" or any other athletic scholarship. OSU and Penn state are the two schools that come to mind immediately when I think of fencing scholarships, but my guess is that your daughter would have to have some strong Jr World Cup results in order to qualify for those.

[prototoast]

Stanford can not give fencing scholarships because it is an ivy. Penn state, ohio state, st johns, temple, and northwestern are a few that give fencing scholarships.

Yeah, as DHCJr said, Stanford is not an ivy (that would really be hard for 1 ivy school to be on the west coast with the rest in the northeast--way too much travelling for everyone).

To add to your list of schools that do give scholarships, I believe Rutgers and Notre dame also do. Also, while columbia does not give scholarships, I believe they do give grants for their top national/international fencers to help pay for competition fees.

[Aeric]

Even if you don't get a scholarship the first year, you can qualify for some "extra" athletic financial aid from the varsity sport.

[mike morgan]

The Ivy League has five schools with Division 1 men and women's fencing teams: Columbia, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale. Cornell fields a women's fencing team, while Dartmouth and Brown have no NCAA fencing teams.

None of the eight Ivy League schools give athletic scholarships. All scholarships are solely ‘need-based’ . However, the Ivy schools vigorously recruit--and compete for-- ‘student athletes’ both nationally and internationally. Indeed, sponsoring conference championships in 33 men's and women's sports, and averaging more than 35 varsity teams at each school, the Ivy League provides intercollegiate athletic opportunities for more men and women than any other conference in the country. All eight Ivy schools are among the "top 20" of NCAA Division I schools in number of sports offered for both men and women.

[prototoast]

The Ivy League has five schools with Division 1 men and women's fencing teams: Columbia, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale. Cornell fields a women's fencing team, while Dartmouth and Brown have no NCAA fencing teams.

Not quite... brown has an NCAA team, but it's not a member of the ivy league.

[mike morgan]

Not quite... brown has an NCAA team, but it's not a member of the ivy league.

Brown is a member of the Ivy league, but only fields a women's team.

[prototoast]

Brown is a member of the Ivy league, but only fields a women's team.

No, brown fields both a men's and women's team, and they are both NCAA, but they are not a member of the ivy league (it's a conference thing).

[mike morgan]

No, brown fields both a men's and women's team, and they are both NCAA, but they are not a member of the ivy league (it's a conference thing).

We don't want to upset any Brown University graduates who would be shocked to learn that Brown is not a member of the Ivy League. so here's another go at this:

I competed in the Ivy League for four years and was an officer of The University of Pennsylvania for 10 years, dealing with all the other seven Ivy League schools including Brown University: Here are the eight members of the Ivy league:
Brown University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Harvard University
University of Pennsylvania
Princeton University
Yale University

And here is the Ivy League Athletic website which lists all the schools and their sports, histories and schedules:
http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/

Hope this is helpful.

[kalivor]

We don't want to upset any Brown University graduates who would be shocked to learn that Brown is not a member of the Ivy League. so here's another go at this:

I competed in the Ivy League for four years and was an officer of The University of Pennsylvania for 10 years, dealing with all the other seven Ivy League schools including Brown University: Here are the eight members of the Ivy league:
Brown University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Harvard University
University of Pennsylvania
Princeton University
Yale University

And here is the Ivy League Athletic website which lists all the schools and their sports, histories and schedules:
http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/

Hope this is helpful.

Looking at that website (or, more specifically, the standings at http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/sport...s.asp?intSID=7 ), it would appear that Brown has no men's or women's teams competing in the Ivy League -- they aren't mentioned in the Ivy League standings.

However, Brown is listed as having competed at the IFA Championships (both men's and women's), leading one to believe that they do field a fencing team that doesn't compete in the Ivy League.

This is in spite of the fact that Brown is listed as one of the Ivy League schools, so it obviously competes in the Ivy League otherwise.

I choose to investigate further ... they have an official web page: http://brownbears.collegesports.com/...fenc-body.html ... still no sign of them competing in the Ivy League, though they certainly compete in the NCAA and refer to themselves as an Ivy League team ...

[whtouche]

Given the fact that prototoast is a current member of the brown fencing team, I would tend to believe that he has some insight into these matters, and it seems his statements have proven correct.
It's interesting that brown fencing doesn't compete in the ivy league - I wasn't aware of this, does anybody know why?

[mike morgan]

Given the fact that prototoast is a current member of the brown fencing team, I would tend to believe that he has some insight into these matters, and it seems his statements have proven correct.
It's interesting that brown fencing doesn't compete in the ivy league - I wasn't aware of this, does anybody know why?

Perhaps it may be a budgetary issue not unlike the situation at Cornell. For decades Cornell fielded one of the strongest Ivy League fencing teams under outstanding coaches such as Sudre and Cointe. But due to budget cuts it dropped men’s fencing, retaining only women’s fencing.

Brown has many fine fencers and already competes against most of the other Ivy fencing teams. Brown would be a superb addition to the current core of formal Ivy League fencing teams! Below is a snipet of a Brown University fencing story from last season:

“On Sunday, February 1, the Brown fencing team squared off against Ivy rivals Cornell (women only), Harvard and Penn as well as Yeshiva (men only), Penn State, UNC and NYU. Brown was only able to come away with one victory, the men's 24-3 triumph over Yeshiva. The weekend's event against several Ivy and National powerhouses was the toughest competition for the Bears this season.....”

[prototoast]

Perhaps it may be a budgetary issue not unlike the situation at Cornell. For decades Cornell fielded one of the strongest Ivy League fencing teams under superb coaches such as Sudre and Cointe. But due to budget cuts it dropped men’s fencing, retaining only women’s fencing.

Brown has many superb fencers and already competes against most of the other Ivy fencing teams. Brown would be a superb addition to the current core of formal Ivy League fencing teams! Below is a snipet of a Brown University fencing story from last season:

“On Sunday, February 1, the Brown fencing team squared off against Ivy rivals Cornell (women only), Harvard and Penn as well as Yeshiva (men only), Penn State, UNC and NYU. Brown was only able to come away with one victory, the men's 24-3 triumph over Yeshiva. The weekend's event against several Ivy and National powerhouses was the toughest competition for the Bears this season.....”

I'm not sure of details, but I've heard that brown fencing may join the ivy league (not this year, but possibly next).

[mike morgan]

I'm not sure of details, but I've heard that brown fencing may join the ivy league (not this year, but possibly next).

That would be excellent! Brown would be a wonderful addition to Ivy League fencing and a great boost for intercollegiate fencing as a whole.

[whtouche]

Cornell does still have mens fencing, tho I think they may only be a club team.

[telkanuru]

NYU does fencing scholarships too. Good luck getting one.

[darius]

Cornell Men is a club.

darius