There is anecdotal evidence that collegiate club fencing has grown rapidly over the past decade or so, while the proportion of NCAA colleges and universities sponsoring men’s and women’s varsity fencing teams continues to decline. Club fencing provides an excellent opportunity for many college-bound students whose chosen school does not have a varsity fencing team. Many of the clubs have stronger fencing teams than some of the NCAA Division I, II and III varsity programs!

With so many postsecondary options, it’s important that all prospective college level fencers have the information they need to make the best decision possible. Academic interests, selectivity, type of fencing program and affordability are just some of the factors to take into consideration. For those who look even further ahead to their post-college lives, the earnings of alumni can also be a factor in the overall decision.

To find out which schools with non-varsity fencing clubs produce the highest-earning alumni and have the lowest admission rates, we used the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard, which provides a variety of data on thousands of colleges, including the median earnings of federally aided students 10 years after enrolling and the average annual cost of attending. The database also includes admission rates, test scores, graduation rates and average annual costs.

The following table provides important 2015-2016 data for all, but one of the collegiate fencing clubs affiliated with USA Fencing, the latest year for which data is available. Data is not available for the U.S. Naval Academy. The data in College Scorecard only pertains to colleges with students that are federal financial aid recipients, so this rules out the U.S. Naval Academy. Each of the variables can be ranked by clicking on a heading. A similar table will be released before year end for all NCAA fencing schools. The definitions of the terms used in the table are provided at the bottom of the post. Colleges & Universities with USA Fencing College Clubs Ranked by Test Scores, Admission & Graduation Rates and Earnings of Alumni College Admission Rate SAT - Critical Reading SAT-Math SAT-Writing ACT Average Annual Cost Graduation Rate Salary After Attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute 48.6% n/a n/a n/a n/a $37,002 85.0% $82,600 Carnegie Mellon University 23.7% 650-740 710-800 670-760 31-34 $34,857 88.0% $81,800 Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus 32.2% 630-730 680-770 640-730 30-33 $11,574 83.2% $75,800 Dartmouth College 11.0% 660-780 670-780 670-780 30-34 $29,986 94.7% $70,000 Case Western Reserve University 36.3% 620-720 680-770 620-720 30-33 $27,949 80.9% $69,900 George Washington University 46.5% 590-690 600-700 600-690 27-31 $33,637 81.3% $67,100 Drexel University 74.7% 530-630 565-680 n/a 25-30 $37,747 67.7% $66,600 Washington University in St Louis 16.7% 690-760 710-790 690-770 32-34 $32,873 93.8% $66,300 Northwestern University 13.0% 690-760 710-800 680-770 31-34 $28,155 93.0% $65,900 Vanderbilt University 11.7% 710-790 720-800 690-770 32-35 $18,144 92.4% $64,500 California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo 31.3% 550-650 580-690 n/a 26-31 $17,661 75.4% $63,100 University of California-Berkeley 16.9% 610-740 640-770 630-760 30-34 $13,262 91.1% $61,800 University of Maryland-College Park 44.9% 590-690 620-730 n/a n/a $15,634 85.6% $61,700 University of Virginia-Main Campus 29.8% 620-720 630-740 620-720 29-33 $19,430 93.7% $60,700 Rochester Institute of Technology 57.3% 540-660 580-680 520-630 26-31 $26,410 65.1% $60,600 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 73.4% 540-640 560-680 530-630 n/a $20,172 83.0% $60,500 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 26.3% 630-730 660-770 640-730 29-33 $14,521 90.5% $60,100 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 65.6% 570-680 700-790 590-690 26-31 $18,143 84.7% $57,600 University of Rochester 33.8% n/a n/a n/a n/a $24,972 86.0% $57,500 College of William and Mary 34.5% 630-730 630-730 620-720 28-32 $18,300 90.3% $55,400 Stony Brook University 41.0% 550-660 600-720 540-660 26-31 $13,717 68.5% $55,100 University of Delaware 66.6% 540-640 550-660 530-640 24-29 $15,992 78.9% $55,100 Purdue University-Main Campus 59.0% 520-630 560-700 510-630 25-31 $13,516 73.7% $55,000 The University of Texas at Austin 39.2% 570-690 600-720 560-690 26-32 $17,742 80.1% $54,900 University of Wisconsin-Madison 57.6% 560-660 630-750 590-690 27-31 $19,378 84.3% $54,200 University of Maryland-Baltimore County 59.4% 540-640 570-670 530-630 24-29 $18,827 62.2% $54,100 University of Florida 47.5% 580-670 590-680 570-670 27-31 $12,022 87.0% $53,100 University of California-Santa Barbara 32.6% 530-660 560-700 510-630 26-31 $14,767 81.1% $52,500 Michigan State University 66.3% 450-580 530-680 460-580 23-28 $16,788 78.0% $51,500 The University of Texas at Dallas 61.5% 560-670 600-700 520-650 25-31 $12,940 68.4% $51,100 DePaul University 72.0% n/a n/a n/a n/a $28,434 72.0% $51,000 Clemson University 51.3% 560-660 590-690 n/a 27-31 $15,885 81.6% $50,900 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus 53.9% 580-660 600-690 570-670 26-31 $27,917 81.8% $50,700 University of Iowa 80.7% 460-630 540-690 n/a 23-28 $14,085 71.0% $50,200 North Carolina State University at Raleigh 50.4% 570-650 590-680 540-630 26-31 $14,988 75.1% $49,300 Texas Tech University 63.1% 510-600 520-620 470-570 23-27 $16,804 59.5% $49,300 Iowa State University 87.2% 460-620 500-640 n/a 22-28 $13,997 70.1% $48,600 Temple University 55.7% n/a n/a n/a n/a $20,670 69.9% $48,600 Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus 51.3% 530-630 560-670 540-640 25-29 $29,226 85.9% $48,500 University of Georgia 52.9% 570-660 580-670 560-660 26-30 $12,023 84.9% $48,500 Denison University 47.9% n/a n/a n/a n/a $24,257 80.8% $48,400 University of Colorado Boulder 79.6% 530-640 540-660 n/a 24-30 $21,806 70.6% $48,100 University of New Hampshire-Main Campus 78.6% 500-600 500-610 490-590 22-27 $24,013 77.7% $47,700 University of California-Riverside 55.6% 490-600 490-610 510-630 23-28 $11,779 71.2% $47,300 University of Wyoming 95.7% 480-615 490-620 n/a 22-27 $11,813 54.7% $46,200 Indiana University-Bloomington 78.0% 520-630 540-660 510-620 24-30 $15,349 77.4% $46,100 University of Arizona 76.4% n/a n/a n/a n/a $16,099 60.6% $45,800 Arizona State University-Tempe 82.9% 510-630 520-640 n/a 23-28 $11,337 64.5% $45,400 University of Vermont 70.9% 550-650 550-640 540-650 25-30 $17,414 76.2% $45,200 Florida State University 55.9% 560-640 560-640 560-640 25-29 $15,664 79.3% $44,900 Northern Illinois University 50.4% 450-530 450-550 410-520 19-25 $19,259 50.0% $43,900 Ohio State University-Main Campus 49.4% 560-670 610-720 560-660 27-31 $18,099 83.3% $43,700 The University of Tennessee-Knoxville 76.3% 520-630 530-630 n/a 24-30 $18,138 69.8% $43,400 University of Central Florida 48.6% 540-630 540-640 510-610 24-28 $14,221 70.1% $43,300 University of North Texas 70.2% 490-600 500-600 n/a 21-26 $12,784 51.0% $43,300 University of South Carolina-Columbia 64.5% 550-640 560-650 n/a 25-30 $18,555 72.7% $43,000 Portland State University 85.7% 470-590 460-570 440-560 19-25 $14,323 42.0% $42,900 University of South Florida-Main Campus 44.6% 530-630 540-640 510-600 24-28 $11,232 67.8% $41,800 University of Mississippi 78.7% 490-600 500-600 n/a 21-28 $14,284 61.2% $41,100 Mississippi State University 65.2% 480-620 480-640 n/a 21-29 $16,035 60.2% $40,300 Oberlin College 28.8% 640-740 620-710 630-730 29-32 $32,061 87.7% $40,200 Ohio University-Main Campus 74.4% 490-600 500-610 470-590 22-26 $20,826 66.9% $39,900 Ball State University 60.5% 510-600 500-590 490-580 20-24 $15,201 59.5% $39,400 Indiana University of Pennsylvania-Main Campus 88.3% 430-530 430-530 410-520 17-22 $18,221 54.1% $39,000 University of Alaska Fairbanks 73.1% 480-610 480-610 450-570 18-26 $9,942 30.1% $37,100 Middle Tennessee State University 72.6% 480-630 450-610 n/a 19-25 $11,381 45.0% $37,000 Murray State University 90.6% 480-590 470-570 n/a 20-26 $9,808 50.3% $35,700 Colorado Mesa University 83.1% 430-540 430-540 n/a 17-23 $16,507 34.0% $35,400 Eastern Kentucky University 70.6% 430-550 430-550 420-545 19-25 $11,647 41.4% $34,800 Youngstown State University 71.1% 400-530 410-530 n/a 18-24 $11,691 31.5% $34,000 Western Kentucky University 92.7% 430-580 440-570 n/a 19-26 $10,948 43.0% $33,800 College of the Desert n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a $8,313 n/a $29,500 Kennesaw State University 58.6% 510-590 500-590 470-570 21-25 $17,675 41.9% n/a United States Naval Academy n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Source: U.S. Department of Education: College Scorecard Data, V1.10.5.

The admission rates range from 11% for Dartmouth College, NH to 95.7% for the University of Wyoming, WY. Of the 72 schools with salary information, 31 or 43% have higher than average salaries compared to the entire group of 31 schools. The average salary is $50,963 which compares favorably to the average of $33,800 for all schools in College Scorecard. The salary ranges from a high of $82,600 in the case of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA to a low of $29,500 for College of the Desert, CA.

Definitions

Admission Rate: Is defined as the number of admitted undergraduates divided by the number of undergraduates who applied.

Test Scores: At schools that report their test scores, 50 percent had scores within this range. Of the remaining 50 percent, half were above the range and half were below. Not all schools require test scores. Students who were admitted and enrolled typically had standardized test scores in these ranges.

Average Annual Cost: The average annual net price for federal financial aid recipients, after aid from the school, state, or federal government. For public schools, this is only the average cost for in-state students. Readers can compare the average annual cost of a college with the national average of all colleges which is currently $16,300.

Graduation Rate: The graduation rate within 150 percent of the expected time to completion (typically six years for schools that award predominantly four-year degrees and three years for schools that award predominantly two-year degrees). These rates are only for full-time students enrolled for the first time. Readers can compare the graduation rate of a college with the national average which is currently 42%.

Salary After Attending: The median earnings of former students who received federal financial aid, at 10 years after entering the school. Readers can compare the salary after attending a college with the national average of $34,100.