fencing at the college level

[govsecrets]

i will be going off to college in about a year and i was wondering at what level are most of the fencers in college at? how many years of fencing do most of them have who fence on the varsity teams? by the time i go off to college, i will have fenced for 2 and 1/2 years and i'm wondering if i have a chance of fencing in the NCAA when i go off to college.

[Welted 24/7]

You REALLY can't ask a question like that in such a general fashion. It varies hugely from school to school, and even sometimes within the club. For instance, a Rutgers or a St. John's fencer is obviously going to be, on average, better than the people at a nothing little club like the one at my school.

[EpeeConvert]

Haha, knowing some St. Johns Fencers (Crazy Ian comes to mind and Henry Kenard) The varsity level at those schools is phenomenal. But college fencing is so spread out from my experience it really depends on where you go. NCAA teams usually are really strong. Ohio State and Notre Dame are power houses not to mention a couple of friends at UPenn can hold their own. But the club teams are good too. Umass Amherst (future school) was 2nd place at club nationals. West Point i know won. so it really depends on where you go.

[mrbiggs]

I'm in this situation, more or less, myself.

How good do you have to be to fence in Div 1, div 2, div 3? I'm going to be applying to MIT, which has a Div1 team, so how good do I have to be to get on, for example, that team?

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

I'm in this situation, more or less, myself.

How good do you have to be to fence in Div 1, div 2, div 3? I'm going to be applying to MIT, which has a Div1 team, so how good do I have to be to get on, for example, that team?

Half of MIT's team is people with no prior fencing experience.
There are a lot of NCAA teams like that.

[GreenDot]

You probably won't get a scholarship (unless you are some sort of prodigy), but the chances of being able to at the very least get in a few bouts at competitions are pretty high. Most varsity teams don't have the money to bring in a lot of scholarship athletes, so if you have 2.5 years experience you might be able to just walk on and start. Of course, this all depends on your skill and where you go to school.

-James

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Half of MIT's team is people with no prior fencing experience.
There are a lot of NCAA teams like that.

Cool, thanks.

In general, how good does one have to be to gain an advantage for admissions? Also, what weapons are colleges most looking for usually? Also, is it worth it to talk to the fencing coach before applying to a school?

[fixxmyweapon]

*admission advantages- depends on if you talk to the coach or not. they would be the ones to help you out.
*different schools need different weapons. depends on the school. check with the coach.
*uhm, YES. talk to them so they know who you are, that you wanna fence, if they need whatever weapon you are fencing and yadda yadda yadda. check on NCAA rules on when you can and can not talk to them.

[MHS Fencer]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

Cool, thanks.

In general, how good does one have to be to gain an advantage for admissions? Also, what weapons are colleges most looking for usually? Also, is it worth it to talk to the fencing coach before applying to a school?

College coaches are looking for whatever weapon they are lacking - it depends on the cycle of people applying and your luck - if there's a relative dearth of your weapon that year then you could get lucky, whereas if there's a flood of nationally ranked fencers then you're not going to get much attention.

Talking to the fencing coach is a *MUST* if you want them to help you in any way. The good thing about fencing is that it's a relatively easy place to strike up convenient friendships with college coaches due to its relatively small size - it's the coach that will pull for you if you're good enough/what he needs on the team. I forget the NCAA rules pertaining to contact between fencers/college coaches, but if you've finished your junior year you're pretty much in the timeframe where you're allowed to contact/be contacted by coaches (there are differences between contact you initiate and contact the coaches initiate, as well as the nature of the contact - oiuyt can tell you the exact rules I'm sure). Basically, you need to convince the coach that you're what he wants on his team so that he can give you a boost in the admissions process, although I don't know how much sway the MIT coach has.

All in all, college applications tend to be stressful, so good luck with it.

[RebelFencer]

Just curious. How likely would it be to receive a fencing scholarship as a transfer student?

[fixxmyweapon]

not likely. fencing scholarships are hard to come by anyway.

[RebelFencer]

yeah, didn't figure so.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by RebelFencer

Just curious. How likely would it be to receive a fencing scholarship as a transfer student?

if you're not likly to be on a national team sometime soon, the chances of you getting an athletic scholarship for fencing are very very low. there's somewhat of a better chance of you getting extra money tacked on because a fencing coach said "we really want that person, make it worth their while"........ but not a drastically significantly higher chance.

the div 1 schools that you hear lots about- you're unlikly to get lots of competitive experience........

the div 1 schools like MIT and most of the div 3 schools are a mixed bag--- it depends on what they need because of who's leaving. of course, for the better club teams, it's the same thing.


DEFINATLY talk to coaches, DEFINATLY check ncaa regs first, and more importantly, talk to the fencers at each school.

VISIT schools, the first visit can be when school's not in session, although it shouldn't be. but when it gets down to "i'm either going here or there, i'm not sure".... do an overnight, and talk to as many people as possible, especially the people the admissions office don't throw upon you.

umass could use a bit of women's sabre right about now

[mrbiggs]

This is hopefully my final question.

Is it a good idea to look for schools that, even if they don't have actual teams or clubs, have fencing clubs nearby? Boston, for example, I know has several very good clubs, as does NYC. Is it really possible to be a good fencer on your own in addition to college?

[telkanuru]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

I'm in this situation, more or less, myself.

How good do you have to be to fence in Div 1, div 2, div 3? I'm going to be applying to MIT, which has a Div1 team, so how good do I have to be to get on, for example, that team?

For epee, MIT currently has a very strong team. Actually, they have a very strong team for all 3 weapons. They have an absolutely fantastic coach. I don't know who is graduating when, but it won't hurt my win/loss ratio when Chang/Korb go...

relevant link, noodle style

Credit where credit is due, Army beat us out this year at club nationals. However, we were 2 time champs, and everyone was out to get us. No, seriously, they were.

Of course, I'm going to say UMass kicks your ***, but we're still working on the NCAA thing. Our men's team next year will be awsome, however.

[telkanuru]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

This is hopefully my final question.

Is it a good idea to look for schools that, even if they don't have actual teams or clubs, have fencing clubs nearby? Boston, for example, I know has several very good clubs, as does NYC. Is it really possible to be a good fencer on your own in addition to college?

Heh, one of the items on my "must have" list for college in addition to "good engineering dept." was "good fencing team". It was my decision factor over WPI/RPI (that and the $25,000 tuition difference). If fencing is something you love, why half-*** it?

However, with the goodly number of decent clubs in the Boston/NYC areas, it will be tricky but not impossible. Heck, I still make the 4 hour trip to and from PdF whenever I can from UMass...

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

This is hopefully my final question.

Is it a good idea to look for schools that, even if they don't have actual teams or clubs, have fencing clubs nearby? Boston, for example, I know has several very good clubs, as does NYC. Is it really possible to be a good fencer on your own in addition to college?

academics has to be your first priority when it comes to schools.

i have a friend who really had her heart set on brown, for a variety of reasons, and didn't get in, and didn't have a good backup school chosen, and ended up picking a school mostly due to their fencing team---- and ended up miserable there because it was a bad match in almost every possible way---- and ended up transfering to a school without fencing.

If you're not going to be happy there if they don't have fencing, you're not going to be happy there just 'cuz they do.

of course, if you go to a really academically intense institution that doesn't have fencing (or doesn't have fencing of the caliber you'd like), it can be difficult to make the time. making the time to fence on campus three times a week and off campus once a week (somewhere that's only about 10 minutes away from campus) means that i get at least 14 hours of sleep less a week than Telk does.

i mean, definatly don't rule off schools just because they don't have fencing--- i applied to several schools that have no fencing that i know of...... at worst, you can start a fencing team, but it IS a factor when it comes to choosing between places that have accepted you.

[AndrewH]

I fence for Rutgers, we're Div I. At pretty much any Div I school, they have a tryout system. At Rutgers we have a small team, so our tryouts are basically top 4 in each weapon makes the team, everyone else goes home. Other schools have a much larger team, but use a tryout system to determine who will start for each meet. So you obviously need competetive experience.

I can't say if you'd make an NCAA team with 2 1/2 years experience or not, because that doesnt say anything. You need lots of competetive experience, and you need results. Obviously, pick the school you want to go to based on academics. If you don;t make the team, you're still going to school there. But if you decide on a school with an NCAA team, go talk to the coach. As long as you know what you're doing, he'd be fine with you coming to practice in the beginning of the year to see what your level is. And when tryouts come around, if you have what it takes, you'll make the team. Even if you're doubtful, go for it because you really never know what'll happen.

[glowstix]

Originally Posted by MyrddinsPrecint

of course, if you go to a really academically intense institution that doesn't have fencing (or doesn't have fencing of the caliber you'd like), it can be difficult to make the time. making the time to fence on campus three times a week and off campus once a week (somewhere that's only about 10 minutes away from campus) means that i get at least 14 hours of sleep less a week than Telk does.

you don't want to be doing that...trust me. he's in a better situation. in my case, i chose a school, THEN started fencing, fell in love and am now i'm dying to get out of this town because my fencing needs aren't served; i've outgrown this place in terms of fencing.

i say strike a balance between fencing and academics...remember the point of college is to have fun and learn how to learn; its the best 4 years of your life and you only get one real chance. what you learn in school AND your GPA doesn't mean as much as you think. get the degree and get good fencing!!

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by glowstix

you don't want to be doing that...trust me. he's in a better situation.

Smith is pretty well off (fencing-wise) for a club team---

of course, Smith is an intense place, where everyone gives up something---- some people give up doing well in academics.... some people give up having friends........ some people give up their sport of choice......

i gave up sleep.


don't worry, i sleep more than all the undergraduates at MIT combined, so it's ok.

(i average 6 hours of sleep a night, going to bed between 1 and 3, but usually 2, and waking up at 8 every morning. next semester i'll be waking up
for 8. not much fun)



my feeling is that i'm paying Smith WAY too much money to not get my money's worth, and when i'm sleeping, i'm simply not doing that to my full ability. i should be utilizing the school's internet connection, the academic buildings, eating several times per meal............ and just generally be awake as many hours of the day as possible......


or maybe it's just that with the time i spend fencing and my really quite astonishingly bad ADD, i simply can't get my work done before 2 or 3 or 4 AM.......