Colleges & Universities with USA Fencing College Clubs Ranked by Test Scores, Admission & Graduation Rates and Earnings of Alumni @ 11-29-2017

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.