Choate has an 11-bed infirmary and 24-hour staff. Our son developed appendicitis over College Info Weekend junior year during a blizzard. I got a call on my layover in Chicago to go straight to Children’s Hospital in Hartford where his advisor had taken him after the school doctor’s diagnosis. He had his appendix out late that night. Many CC BS parents kept an online vigil with me that snowy evening. Good times.
Anyway, although we missed a major BS event, he was in good hands all the way. Over his years at Choate, he was in the infirmary enough that they joked about naming a bed after him. Another example–freshman year he had a very bad case of strep that kept him from taking two finals. His advisor managed everything with the doctor and his teachers. We got plenty of calls, plenty of updates, and learned not to worry about him. So, don’t worry new parents. All of these schools have your kids covered.
I don’t have personal experience with mental health support, but Choate is equipped there. You should contact the Health Center to get these questions answered.
The school will initiate contact whenever necessary, but you can expect a check-in call initiated by your student’s advisor during early weeks to let you know how things are going and to answer any questions – in our case, “Is our son still a student there? We dropped him off three weeks ago and haven’t heard a peep. We assume he’s still enrolled?” You will also get very detailed (online) reports from each teacher when term grades are released, and you will be able to set up appointments to meet with teachers over Parents Weekend if you wish. The school uses e-mail to distribute significant information that is not covered in the bulletins and routine school communications you receive. For example, during our son’s time there, hurricane Irene hit and there were a couple of blizzards that Choate thought we might want to know about.
You will be well-informed about school news and calendar events through regular/routine mass emailings. How informed you will be about your kiddo’s day-to-day life is a different story and is up to you and your student. In our case, I just kept an eye on the Wallingford police blotter to make sure I wasn’t missing anything serious.