Fencing at the Top Colleges

Fencing is an NCAA sport offered by many of the highly selective colleges. Overall, 15 of the 61 highly selective colleges offer men’s fencing teams and 21 of the 61 highly selective colleges have women’s fencing teams with a total of 721 fencers across both genders. Fencing is not a widely played sport at colleges in general with only 44 colleges offering fencing as an NCAA sport altogether.

Of the 15 colleges with men’s fencing, 10 of them belong in Division 1 with 209 fencers and 5 of them belong in Division 3 with 108 fencers, totaling 317 fencers altogether in the 2021/2022 season. These 317 fencers are spread between 3 weapons, epee, foil and sabre, with epee and foil generally having more fencers on a team than saber.

Of the 21 colleges with women’s fencing, 14 of them belong in Division 1 with a total of 271 fencers, and the remaining 7 colleges belong in Division 3 with a total of 133 fencers, together making a total of 404 women fencers. These 404 fencers are spread between 3 weapons, epee, foil and sabre, with epee and foil generally having more fencers on a team than saber.

The size of fencing teams vary between the colleges, although the average size of fencing teams in both Division 1 and Division 3 is 34 fencers.

While 80% or 90% of fencers are athlete recruits at the Division 1 colleges reputed to have highly competitive fencing teams like Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, UPenn, Yale and Notre Dame , not every fencer on a fencing team at the other colleges is an athlete recruit. This is especially true amongst the colleges in Division 3 where there are many athletes who “walk on” to the team little to no fencing experience.

The colleges in Division 1 especially will recruit fencers who rank in the top 50 on the weapon specific junior rankings maintained by USA Fencing. The Junior National Rolling Points Standing (more commonly known as the Junior National Points List) is maintained by USA Fencing for each gender and each weapon. The Junior National Points List includes fencers aged between 17 and 19 with many younger fencers also making it onto this list. Fencers compete for athlete recruitment positions based on their position on the Junior National Points List though only those on the List in their high school graduation age cohort are relevant for their athlete recruitment opportunities.

NCAA coaches typically make their recruiting decisions based on a fencer’s rank on their National Points List during the period immediately following the end of the Junior Olympics Fencing Championship in February. In years past, the junior rankings typically listed between 150 and 200 fencers per weapon per gender. However, the Covid19 pandemic wreaked havoc for fencing given that it is an entirely indoor sport and drove away many competitive fencers. As a result, the Junior National Points Lists have all shrunk to between 100 and 130 fencers per weapon.

For potential fencing athlete recruits, this is very good news indeed.

With the highly selective Division 1 colleges vying to recruit somewhere between 1 and 3 fencers each per weapon per gender adding up to about 10 to 30 men fencers for each weapon across the 10 colleges, and 14 to 42 women fencers for each weapon across the 14 colleges for their freshman team of 2023/2024, and the Division 3 colleges potentially trying to recruit another 5 to 10 men fencers per weapon across the 5 colleges and 7 to 14 women fencers weapon across the 7 colleges, those already on the Junior National Points List for their weapon are very well positioned to be recruited whether to a college in Division 1 or in Division 3.

Fencers who will be seniors starting in Fall 2022 will have a much easier time getting athlete recruited than previous years. This advantage may change as life goes back to normal post pandemic and many more fencers decide to return to the competitive track and vie for a national ranking.

Like golf, it is expensive to train and compete to become a top ranked fencer nationally. Costs can range between $30,000 a year to $100,000 a year over a multi year period for a fencer to train, purchase equipment and travel nationally and internationally to fencing competitions. Unlike golf, there are no grants or subsidies available to high school fencers except through the Peter Westbrook Foundation that serves low income fencers in New York City.

Fencing NCAA Rules and Calendar for Athlete Recruitment

How do top colleges in Division 1 select their athlete recruits?

Athlete Recruitment to a Top NCAA Division 3 College

List of Top Colleges with NCAA Fencing

Below is a list of the top colleges that fence and the NCAA Division they belong in.

All data is compiled directly from the colleges’ athletic websites

Fencing at Highly Selective Colleges
		Men's	Women's
	Division	Fencing	Fencing
Barnard College (comb w/ Columbia University)	I	No	Yes
Boston College	I	Yes	Yes
Brown University	I	No	Yes
Columbia University (incl Barnard College)	I	Yes	Yes
Cornell University	I	No	Yes
Duke University	I	Yes	Yes
Harvard University	I	Yes	Yes
Haverford College	III	Yes	Yes
John Hopkins University	III	Yes	Yes
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	III	Yes	Yes
Northwestern University	I	No	Yes
New York University	III	Yes	Yes
Princeton University	I	Yes	Yes
Stanford University	I	Yes	Yes
Tufts University	III	No	Yes
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill	I	Yes	Yes
University of Notre Dame	I	Yes	Yes
University of Pennsylvania	I	Yes	Yes
Vassar College	III	Yes	Yes
Wellesley College	III	No	Yes
Yale University	I	Yes	Yes
Total Fencers		317	404