<p>Hey guys. I’ve been lurking for some time now and I have a couple of questions to ask.</p>
<p>I’m coming in as a new sophomore this year and I was wondering:</p>
<p>** Do most kids join the laundry service?</p>
<p>Is it difficult for new sophomores to fit in since groups have already been established as freshman?</p>
<p>Are there really strong cliques at Choate? Like, are the popular kids rude and the jocks mean? Or are the groups defined, but everyone is very respectful and nice to each other.</p>
<p>Is there hazing? (i know it’s a ridiculous question)</p>
<p>If I’m taking Physics next year, do I have to read a Physics related summer reading book if I want to read a science one? Or could I read a biology or chemistry related book? **</p>
<p>Thanks! I have more, but I can’t think of them off the top of my head</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I’d say a large amount of people get laundry service. I personally don’t have it because my parents thought it was slightly ridiculous: “You can do your own laundry!”. So I did my own laundry this past year and it really wasn’t very difficult. For me a sunday afternoon every two weeks wasn’t a hassle. You can bring homework and etc. But if you really feel like you don’t want to, don’t feel weird about getting it. Same goes if you want to do it yourself. </p></li>
<li><p>I was a new sophomore and while it took some time, I found my niche socially. I wouldn’t really say that I’m in a group. I’m sort of that wayward traveler that dabbles with everyone. Basically if you’re friendly and you’re nice, I’m your friend. I definitely have a smaller amount of “best” friends but nevertheless I’m happy. I’m really trying to avoid making generalizations about the social life at Choate. Its multi-faceted. In general don’t worry about “fitting in”. There will be other new sophomores that you will “be new” with. Choate people are nice. But as I said before it is still a high school and sometimes people’s feelings get hurt. Just don’t over think the social aspect too much. The best thing you can do is dive into the work and go with the flow. </p></li>
<li><p>To reiterate there are not strong cliques at Choate in my opinion. In fact I think a good word that characterizes the majority of students at Choate is “floater”. We’re floaters, we weave in and out of circles. The natural divisions of students exist. I’m not going to get into defining these groups/divisions because it doesn’t really matter. Just be yourself, you’ll find your niche like I did. I’m super happy, I have friends that I can laugh with, go out with and study with. Its hard to say that there are “popular kids” I would say that there are popular individuals but I really don’t think there is one definitive group of “popular kids”. In this way I don’t think Choate is a typical high school. It isn’t like television. As much as we love Mean Girls I don’t think you could walk into the dining hall and see those tables. In case you don’t get the reference here is the scene: [Mean</a> Girls cafeteria tribes - YouTube](<a href=“Mean Girls cafeteria tribes - YouTube”>Mean Girls cafeteria tribes - YouTube). In fact the most noticeable division at least for my grade this past year was based on gender. You never saw boys sitting with girls. But I hear that that will change this year. In all, just don’t worry. I promise it will all work out just fine. There’s a tone of respect firmly established. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hazing: I’ve never experienced hazing. Its against school rules. </p>
<p>If you will be taking Physics next year, you don’t have to worry. I went into Physics this past year without any prior knowledge of the subject and came out great. Make sure you take good notes and utilize extra help time with your teacher if you aren’t getting concepts. Biggest lesson I learned this year: Make sure you understand everything that is happening in class…and if you don’t fix it (by going to see your teacher).</p>
<p>@pinksunset, What did you hear about changing the girl/boy interaction? Since your school is so close to town do you often walk into town. Where is the fav. place to go in town? What is your fav. thing to do on campus?</p>
<p>The boy girl interaction in our grade (i am in pinksunset’s grade at choate) this past year was not non existent, it was just a factor of who people would sit with. Girls and boys were still very good friends this year but usually, do to a common trend at Choate, junior year brings both genders closer together for whatever reason. Maybe it is because we are getting older and feel more comfortable, who knows! Also, we all mostly will have known each other for 3 years at this point so people begin to form very close relationships that have been formulating over the past 2 years.
2) Wallingford is a popular daily activity and students almost always have time to go to town if they want/ need to. On weekends its clearly much easier to walk into town since we have more time but I know personally I will go into town with a few friends during the 9:00-9:30 pm study break during the week. Popular places in town include: Mr. D’s, Half Moon, Cafe Ra, Archies, Wentworths and apparently there is a new frozen yoghurt place in town now! Mr. D’s is an adorable candy and ice cream shop on Main Street. A Choate family owns the store so you will always feel welcome! Mrs. Defusco and Mr. Defusco (Hence Mr. D’s) know everyone’s name and always make a point to say hi to everyone that walks into the shop! They have really good cupcakes as well which are extremely popular to buy as gifts or just for yourself Half Moon is right next door to Mr. D’s and is an Italian cafe which has the best food in Wallingford. They have everything from salads, pasta dishes, meat dishes and coffee. Penne a la vodka is a Choate favorite. Cafe Ra is closer to the new dorms (Soho/Noho) and offers typical cafe foods. This is a popular stop if you don’t have much time. Archies is across the street from Half Moon and Mr. D’s and is a typical american restaurant. They serve burgers, chicken wings, salads, etc. I have yet to see the new frozen yoghurt place but I can assume that it is going to become very popular. Also there is a good thai place close to wentworths that is popular for take out. Other places that are a bit farther out but still in walking distance include: Walmart, the diner, starbucks, panera, a bagel shop that i don’t remember the name of, the movie theater and a pizza place right next door.
My personal favorite thing to do on campus is get a group of people together with candy from Mr. D’s and all pile into someones dorm room or common room and watch movies and just hang out. Choate is so academically and athletically rigorous that we need to take breaks whenever we can! Other things include riding bikes around town (if you have a bike or you borrow someones) or just spending time outside on the cross country course where you feel like you are in a different world apart from Choate. There are many great spots on the course to just read a book or do homework/ sleep. Those will be up to you to find when you arrive at Choate. For starters though, ask how to get to Mt. Doom and the water tower! This is a very popular spot on campus!</p>
<p>hope this helped and feel free to ask any more questions!!</p>
<p>@yellow22 Wow, we must be twinz. You literally took the words out of my mouth. Boys are friends with girls. Boys just didn’t sit with girls or vice versa very often. Don’t forget about the waterfall, lol mater.</p>
<p>@muf, Everything that yellow22 said. I like the Mr. D’s candy dorm movie sessions. But really the best moments at Choate are the small moments you have with friends. Laughing at SAC dances or going into town. </p>
<p>@iSmart I would suggest waiting to get binders because they are available in the school store/wal-mart and you won’t really know what you’ll need for classes until you start. For my physics class we were required to have a medium sized three ring binder with tabs. For math, english and my language I used notebooks and folders. But some may prefer binders in these classes. For history, most all of the work I did was electronic, we were allowed to keep our laptops in class. But different teachers require and allow different things. So my advice is to wait and see for school supplies. If you want to buy things now, buy your favorite pens that you can’t live without or something like that. There are resources for you to utilize once you know what you need.</p>
<p>@Ismart—I’ll be a new sophmore too! I’M SO EXCITED!!! </p>
<p>@pinksunset–When do we find out what dorm we’re living in? What do we do in the first days? Is there an orientation? Do advisors change ever year, or do you have the same one throughout? When are JV tryouts? </p>
<p>In terms of winter dress pretty much everyone wears corduroy pants, a dress/ shirt with thick tights, etc. Honestly it gets to cold that you wear what you have to to stay warm. I recommend getting a pair of Chilli Pepper leggings to wear under pants because they will keep you very warm. Wear a lot of layers ( t-shirt, nice shirt, sweater, jacket) and have a good pair of shoes with lots of traction when we start getting ice. You will slip, it’s inevitable. The science center bridge early morning even with salt is still FILLED with people falling so be careful and take the side walks at all costs.
For the dorm situation you will know quite soon. At the end of August CHIP will be ready to go for the school year. On the home page you’ll click view my academic information and then click student profile. You’ll see your dorm and advisor there. In terms of getting into Soho/ Noho it depends. Last year a fair amount of new sophomores were placed into the new dorms but also a lot were placed in Arch and McCook since Pittman had no new students. Now that Squire is a sophomore dorm you have the possibility of being placed there. It all depends! I know most of the new juniors are being put in Arch so you have a good chance of not being put there (even though it’s a really nice dorm) and being put it either Soho, squire or McCook. Btw- this is if you are a girl. If youre a boy tell me so I can tell you the boy dorm situation for new sophomores haha.</p>
<p>Sorry, this sounds really nooby, but what are Chilli Pepper leggings?
Would you say UGGS are okay for winter shoes? (I’m from a tropical country so I have no idea what the winter will be like)</p>
<p>Haha and yes I am a girl! I really hope I’m in Soho. hehe</p>
<p>Regarding new schedules, CHIP says we get it in mid-august(around now), but we got this email telling us that we wouldn’t get them till the end of the month. Or is that email only for returning students? </p>
<p>@tarsier - I’m not a choate student, but having battled NE winters my whole life I can say that Uggs would be an okay choice for warmth, however they don’t have the best traction. I personally go for something with significantly more traction, like Bean boots (made by LL Bean) solely because I’m clumsy and have a high tendency of slipping on ice!</p>
<p>But my question was how many people are in each grade? How many new sophomores are there?</p>
<p>Just google chili pepper leggings and they will come up. Uggs are fine because they will keep you warm but not many people wear them nor do they have any traction. Choate is incredibly icy in the winter and you will need traction unless you enjoy slipping! </p>
<p>Last year (sophomore) there were 70 new students which added to the freshman class of about 167. I believe there are 158 freshmen this year. We are getting 18 new juniors as well making our class 284. The seniors have about 300 due to PG’s who are considered seniors. The school will have just under 900 students this year. Surprisingly though, if you are an underclassman you will know who most if not all people are in the grades above you.
In regards to schedules, if you got the email if applies to you. They will be out sometime next week or the week of the 1st probably.
Cell service is great! Except for some of the dorms, you can get service anywhere; remember though that teachers can take your phones for a bit if they see you texting or calling in academic buildings, the dining hall or walking around campus.</p>
<p>No, you cannot use your phone while walking around campus during the academic day or teachers will call you out on it. After the academic day, teachers are leas strict but never inside any buildings besides dorms may you use your phone. People still do use them (I know I do sometimes) but I have had my phone taken away before. Just look to see who is around!</p>
Half Moon is right next door to Mr. D’s and is an Italian cafe which has the best food in Wallingford. They have everything from salads, pasta dishes, meat dishes and coffee. Penne a la vodka is a Choate favorite. Cafe Ra is closer to the new dorms (Soho/Noho) and offers typical cafe foods. This is a popular stop if you don’t have much time. Archies is across the street from Half Moon and Mr. D’s and is a typical american restaurant. They serve burgers, chicken wings, salads, etc. I have yet to see the new frozen yoghurt place but I can assume that it is going to become very popular. Also there is a good thai place close to wentworths that is popular for take out. Other places that are a bit farther out but still in walking distance include: Walmart, the diner, starbucks, panera, a bagel shop that i don’t remember the name of, the movie theater and a pizza place right next door.