<p>@kungpao - I saw a few days ago that you received your LL. Congratulations.</p>
<p>@Mongolia - welcome to CC, and good luck with your college search process and with your fencing. Kungpao’s observations are accurate. I agree; compete locally all you can, and go to a few NACs and SN for the experience as well as the opportunity to get to meet some of the collegiate fencers and coaches. Try to qualify for Junior Olympics; they’re a lot of fun and “everybody” is there. Also, NAC “E” might be good for you. I think it’s in Dallas this year, in March. With both D2 and D3 at the same NAC you’d get a lot of skill appropriate fencing in one trip.</p>
<p>As for fencing in college, I’d group the schools in some rough categories. There are the top academic schools with strong fencing: Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Stanford; the strong fencing schools with weaker academics: Penn St., Ohio St.; very strong academic schools with weaker fencing: Cornell (women’ fencing only) Brown, Vassar, Haverford. There is a lot of overlap within these rough groupings, and a few schools that are harder for me to categorize under these terms, like Duke, Northwestern, and Notre Dame.</p>
<p>Bottom line, though, you don’t need to be on the national points list to get coach’s support at some of these schools. The key is to identify the right schools that match your academic and athletic abilities and take it from there. If you give me an idea of your academic credentials and other things you’re looking for in a school I’ll be happy to try to help you.</p>