Hi! Im applying to Choate in 2023-2024. I’m in 8th grade and applying to 9th. I’m full Chinese so i’m worried that might affect my chances. I currently go to one of the best middle schools in my state.
I do ballet but its only lessons and performances but not competitive. I also do figure skating which is about the same, not competitive and only lessons. I like to garden and plant vegetables and I cook in most of my free time. Should I do more volunteer work and extracurriculars?
For school sports I do cross country, swimming, and softball but honestly i’m not amazing at any of them.
I’m in geometry this year (8th) and i skipped a year of science so I’m taking biology. I’m doing a
MathCounts competition in a few months and I’m also part of the newspaper and SID club. I might join debate, too. I’m very interested in science and english but not math or history but I still have a high grade in all my subjects. This is my 2nd year taking latin.
Right now it’s still around the start of the school year so I don’t have many grades but last year I had an average of about 96 or 97. Im studying and preparing for the ssat right now and I might take it pretty soon. I’m paying full, no financial aid. What are my odds?
Hi - I am not sure that anyone can answer what are your chances as that would just be people’s opinions. I think is more about the same conversation that is happening on several different pages. First, there is not really enough to go on. Schools look at the full package. So your 1st quarter grades (prior grades) and scores will play a role in that story. You do some activities now, what are you passionate about? How do you demonstrate that you have pursued your passions? What have been the lessons learned or obstacles along the way? Schools are not looking for a laundry list of activities and certainly not ones that have not had meaning. If you want to do some of the items you listed, do them because your heart takes you in that direction, not because you are trying to check a box. Many applicants are champion debaters and done years of community service. And that is ok, it does not mean you need to, but what makes you stand out in a sea of extremely qualified applicants. It just might be a matter of thinking about why you want to go to BS and craft your unique story and journey. Authenticity always rings true. Next why Choate? Are you applying to other schools?
Omg thank you so much this is so helpful and informative you have no idea. I’ll take some time to think about everything you said, thank you so much you are so so so helpful!!
Choate’s acceptance rate is in the mid-teens, and most applicants are qualified, as you certainly are. Full pay raises your odds a bit, so perhaps your likelihood of admission is about 20%. (Others would disagree, of course.) Therefore, you need to think about other high schools, too!
If I were you talk about the gardening… they don’t see that every day IMO. That relates to their environmental studies program. Do some digging on the website to find out more about the program. Also, if you can, talk about how the act of gardening and caring for the earth has had an effect on you personally. Has it changed you in some way? are you more empathetic? patient? you get the picture. I’d ride the gardening wave. Just my 2¢. Good luck!
Right now i’m going to a k-12 school so it’s fine if I don’t get in, I’m just trying to see if I can get a better one Thank you so much for your answer!
Subtly, demonstrate that Choate will enable you to be successful such that you will be able to contribute back to Choate in a meaningful way after you graduate.
I’ve heard that the Ivies prefer candidates that they believe will benefit their respective schools in meaningful ways throughout the course of the applicant’s career.
This could be with generous financial donations, achievement of political power, attainment of status in the entertainment world and funding scholarships to future students or boosting a school’s infrastructure.
Ask yourself how you can contribute to Choate now and in the future and how Choate can significantly enhance your life and perhaps others (if you go into public service).
One example of how you could help Choate:
Study the relationship between Choate and Wallingford. Many Wallingford citizens believe that Choate should contribute more to the Wallingford Community financially or in kind since Choate doesn’t pay property taxes.
Maybe, you can offer an “out of the box” solution to improve the relationship? Something more than Choate donating park benches to enhance downtown Wallingford.
This (specifically the latter two paragraphs) is actually really helpful for me! I actually came up with an idea to solve a seperate issue relating to Choate, but the more the better. Thank you!
BTW, I wouldn’t consider this comment to have been made in poor taste.
If I can give my opinion: while these schools are robust and often charitable educators, they are always first and foremost businesses. Money is a key component for any boarding school - it’s key in day-to-day function, affording quality tools for education, financial aid, notwithstanding the fact there is a significant correlation between the size of a school’s endowment and their “prestige” or reputation. A school’s direct pursuit for the acquisition of money or reputation (reputation, because it still indirectly leads to money anyway through more application fees) should be regarded as simply the basic, instinctual nature of such an organization, and one to take into account during the admissions process.
Well, ChatGPT often reads like and mimics the writing style of the NY Times and other high end publications so I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily a bad thing
The writing style of the New York Times is professional journalism, and each article written to fit the mould of a NYT piece. That’s why they all seem similar in style. You should not be using a writing style similar to professional journalism for your personal statement essays.
Also, I wasn’t really trying in terms of writing in regards to that comment, merely trying to express an idea. So yeah, my actual essays will probably be a polar opposite to the above.
Ok cool. Just wanted to let you know because a lot of underclassmen and middle schoolers think it’s good to sound like an academic research paper (including me 2 years ago). And regarding your actual points, yes, schools have a goal of increasing their perceived prestige and endowment size, but that’s not the main objective, and they do not operate even remotely similar to corporations.
your idea for improving Choate’s community by solving their problems with Wallingford residents may be interpreted as creativity, but won’t be seriously considered as something that will benefit them. They pay administrators to manage community relations.