College Fencing Programs

[Thor the Mighty]

You underestimate the availability of competitive fencing.

hmmmm you're right, i do, because im new and i dont know jack about whats out there. thats what i was asking!!!!!!

[seak]

There's a lot of fencing out there even at then non NCAA level as an earlier poster said read the threads on USACFC's and realize that that is still only a small percentage of collegiate clubs

[KD5MDK]

Again, in Texas you can expect at least 3 A4 Epee events a year, and up to 6 or so a strong candidates, plus lots of smaller local events. For example, recent one club tourney was an A1 epee event, with 20 fencers, 8 of whom were As.

[Fencing Mom]

Since he is the one who is "coachable," and he is the one who is passionate about fencing, and he is the one who gets good grades. . . let me respectfully ask, shouldn't he be the one posting on this site and researching colleges? Yeah, I know you will be paying for it, but if fencing and academics are as important to him as you say, then he will do a better job of finding the right school than you will.

I have two kids in good and (sigh) expensive colleges. One is a fencer, one's not. A college education is a big ticket financial item and fencing can cost lots of money, so of course you have the final say on spending. But decisions on where to study, what kind of school is best, and how much time and energy should be spent on fencing are really personal decisions - your son's personal decision, not yours. If he is the one doing the research and thinking about what prominence fencing should hold in his education, then he will take his decision-making responsibility seriously.

Trust your kid to get the information and make the decision. It's his life.

[SMSEpee]

Since he is the one who is "coachable," and he is the one who is passionate about fencing, and he is the one who gets good grades. . . let me respectfully ask, shouldn't he be the one posting on this site and researching colleges? Yeah, I know you will be paying for it, but if fencing and academics are as important to him as you say, then he will do a better job of finding the right school than you will.

I have two kids in good and (sigh) expensive colleges. One is a fencer, one's not. A college education is a big ticket financial item and fencing can cost lots of money, so of course you have the final say on spending. But decisions on where to study, what kind of school is best, and how much time and energy should be spent on fencing are really personal decisions - your son's personal decision, not yours. If he is the one doing the research and thinking about what prominence fencing should hold in his education, then he will take his decision-making responsibility seriously.

Trust your kid to get the information and make the decision. It's his life.

So your two BOYS did all their college research, FA packages, applications and acceptances without any help from you? No reminders, no words of encouragement, nothing? Wow! My hat's off to ya woman! (in all fairness, I knew someone would put up a post like this-justdidn't think it would take this long! LOL)

It is so hard to put into a single post or two all the conversations, history and little nuances that make up a family.

Trust me, when it comes down to it, it's his show. When my child asks for input, I came to a source that I know would provide me with personal insight on college club fencing. Oops, I know, bad parenting to have produced a child that thinks their parents might know a thing or two.

"Family" is a team sport in our house-I just can't describe how we do things in one post, but I know we're not turning out a dependant, lazy child whose parents decide everything for him and do all the work.

I have a feeling that if you knew us at all, that post never would have entered your head. Of course, one sees what they want to see in any post because there are no tonal inflections of the voice, no body language, nothing but the words. Alas, I am not a professional writer and cannot infuse my posts with such things as to make it all crystal clear.

Respectfully submitted, of course, by another Fencing Mom, Fencing Wife and Fencer.

[SMSEpee]

How about actually reading what she wrote before being a complete ass?

Ummm, sorry I offended you so early in the day. Shoulda just used that 'private message button, eh?"

When Fencing Mom's post appeared, 'respectfully asking' why my family operates in a different manner than her family, then telling me what I 'should' be doing and what he should be doing,etc. I assumed that she let her kids do all the research, make all the decisions and run the whole show. Sounds like she had nothing to do with it.

And on the 'reading what she wrote' thread-check out these lines in MY post:

"It is so hard to put into a single post or two all the conversations, history and little nuances that make up a family....I just can't describe how we do things in one post, but I know we're not turning out a dependant, lazy child whose parents decide everything for him and do all the work."

I thought those statements said it all. I certainly didn't start this thread to be a commentary on our family and parenting skills, or lack thereof.

And thanks for calling me a 'complete ass', I hate to do anything half-assed!

[Peach]

Dnftt.

[U.M.Amherst.Sabre95]

For what it's worth, I'd recommend either UMass-Amherst (club program) or Brown (NCAA program). Both schools field competitive programs, have excellent head coaches/instructors (Atilio Tass at Brown, Taro Yamashista at UMass), and include some very good people both in terms of their team members and alumni: long on personality and character (and believe me, both teams have some characters), but short on ego or attitude.

That's not to suggest there aren't other schools that might be as good, if not a better fit, but I'm reasonably familiar with the two schools I've mentioned (having fenced for UMass from 1991-1995), and have a pretty fair read on the quality of them.

Cheers,

Evan

[Fencing Mom]

So your two BOYS did all their college research, FA packages, applications and acceptances without any help from you? No reminders, no words of encouragement, nothing? Wow! My hat's off to ya woman! Respectfully submitted, of course, by another Fencing Mom, Fencing Wife and Fencer.

I didn't say my kids did their applications, acceptances and FA packages with no help from me. I did say that they did research and ultimately the final decision by themselves.

And based on your signature, you're a fencer. So why did you assume my kids are boys?

[smurfette]

Yes! Fencing moms' catfight. Good times.

[SMSEpee]

Yes! Fencing moms' catfight. Good times.

Bring out ya epee!

[SMSEpee]

So why did you assume my kids are boys?

LOL-this is getting to be too much!!!!

I assumed (since you were telling me to trust my son to narrow down a huge list by himself and decide by himself) you had raised two sons who actually sat down and did an in-depth research program and didn't go for the first shiny pretty college he saw.....(guys are such raccoons!)

I have been through this my own self. I was in charge of finding my own college, FA, everything (before computers!).....although I'm extremely lucky with the way things worked out, my mind is boggled with what I might have done...of course this was back in the day when all you had to do was be breathing and able to sign the application.

It's a whole new game out there, and there are no second chances.

Peace?
FM2

[bjacobs]

If you want a useful answer about what fencing program is best for your son, there are two questions you need to answer:

the first is which is more important to him, getting to actually step onto the strip at meets, or being around the highest quality of fencers and coaches.

the second is how good he actually is. Being told he is "coachable" doesn't say very much, and what it does imply isn't necessarily that hopeful. So does your son compete nationally? How does he do?

If your son isn't a strong fencer right now, it is not especially likely he'll get to do much at certain schools. However, if they are accepting of walk on training partners, he may get the chance to work with excellent fencers, which will surely improve his game. Just don't expect him to be getting many lessons with the head coach if he's not a starter or alternate.

I don't mean to be discouraging, just realistic. It's very important he's clear about his goals and the actual level of his abilities if he's to make the best decision for himself. I've had the experience of spending most of four years as an alternate at a top team (Columbia/Barnard), and know both the frustration of not being one of the stronger team members and the benefits of having strong team mates. If I'd been more interested in having a starting spot and less in the particular school I chose, I'd have done much better going somewhere else.

[Wingate85]

Ben has it right. Do not chose a school based on an athletic program. Once you decide on a particular school and that school happens to have a varsity or club fencing program contact the coach and ask for an honest opinion on your prospects of becoming a starter. Another way of doing it is to check out the program's roster or to see how that program performed at the NCAAs (ncaa.org). In general you have very little chance in attaining a starting spot at Columbia, Princeton, Harvard, Penn State, ND, Ohio State or NW (women) unless you have had extensive experience fencing nationally or on the international Junior circuit.

Hope this helps.

[Craig]

U Maryland-relatives close by, a plus for me! Duke-on his short list already.
Cal-we'll check it out, he's already interested in Stanford. He's interested in looking at Penn, and Ohio St. All such different schools!

All I knew when I was going into college was that I didn't want to be an engineer and that I wanted to fence. Most of my club mates went to Penn State, but when I visited there it was just too cold.

I narrowed my choices to colleges in the southeast that had fencing programs. That pretty much put it to UNC and Duke. Both are very good schools and I went on site visits to both and felt like UNC's campus was a better fit for me, so that became my first choice.

My advice to your son is to research the schools, find and talk to the coaches at Nationals or a national event, go through the NCAA clearinghouse and go on site visits to the top schools on his list to make sure he feels comfortable on the campus.

Craig

[hello?]

THe first question is does he HAVE to fence...Otherwise, yes, look at schools he likes best first and THEN see if they happen to have fencing programs. My daughter knew she had to be at a school where either the city or the school provided fencing. Otherwise, she would not have been happy. So she only looked at schools with fencing programs -- there are plenty of variables within that, so chances are that there will be a fencing school that fits his academic/social/urban/suburban/rural/big/small tastes... However, it is a risk to pick anything based solely on a sport: you could have an injury the first semester and not fence again -- or fall out of love with the sport entirely and without warning (of my daughter's friends who fenced together and left for college the same year she did -- some were considerably better than she was then -- not a single one still fences two years later)....The second question has already been mentioned: be part of a strong team as an alternate (or, worse still, as the team 'manager') where you will fence better people or be a starter at a weaker team. It all depends on his own goals. My daughter could have fenced more at other schools with weaker teams...but she loves her school and her team anyway. And, coincidentally, her friends who left fencing were all starters at their respective schools...

[Prateek73]

Check out Penn State


not hard to get into...1/3rd SATs and 2/3rds GPA. Assuming he didn't do horrible on his SATs, he should get in and take advantage of our excellent facilities

[keropie]

Check out Penn State


not hard to get into...1/3rd SATs and 2/3rds GPA. Assuming he didn't do horrible on his SATs, he should get in and take advantage of our excellent facilities

Of course, it is gray 363 days out of the year, and unless you are an elite fencer, you won't be on the traveling squard of their NCAA team. They do, however, have a what looks to be a good and active club, and their coaching staff is (unsurprisingly) very good. But I'll echo what others have said, choosing a school based on fencing is probably not the way to go (imo). And if he does, make sure he knows what he's getting into (i.e, he probably won't be on the team).

[Prateek73]

Of course, it is gray 363 days out of the year, and unless you are an elite fencer, you won't be on the traveling squard of their NCAA team. They do, however, have a what looks to be a good and active club, and their coaching staff is (unsurprisingly) very good.

I'll give you that; the weather sucks.

I'm in the fencing club right now (no way in hell would I ever make varsity...those guys have been fencing since they were 2 and I only started this semester) and let me tell you for paying only 30 dollars/semester for dues, you are getting your money's worth over and over and over again.


But, as others have said, don't choose a school solely based on fencing

[skahead0]

Going through this same situation last year, I have a little bit of advice. First off, academics should definately come first, especially if your child is a good student. Sadly, there's no such thing as professional fencing in the US, so find a good school first, even if they're reach schools, and check out whether you like them. While visiting, definately contact their coaches, some are nicer, (and needier) than others, but all will probably be willing to help you in admissions. In Ivies for example, there is no recruitment per se, but when a student fits the admission criteria and all else is equal to another possible admitted student, the coach's request will be honored. Since there are so many qualified applicants, this helps quite a lot, as many people have been complaining only athletes and minorities get in nowadays.
After he has chosen some schools he likes, i also reccomend talking to some students on the teams. Different teams have very different methods of operation. One might have practice as a team every day, others might ask students ot go to clubs off campus to get in their practice. Some may focus on improving indivuals, others may focus on the team doing the best it can. Find out if the team hangs out, the kids on the team here are some of my best friends, we all hang out a lot. One of my friends from another school says their team never hangs out. The only way you can find out is by asking.