<p>Hi. Currently I'm an 8th grader in southern California who is applying to various schools, but I am mostly interested in Choate.</p>
<p>Can anyone, meaning the current students, alumni, relatives of students/alumni, or anyone else with information, tell me about life at Choate? How the students interact.. Typical day information.. Classes...</p>
<p>I looked at Choate's website and the packet that arrived home but I didn't really get a detailed understanding of life there.</p>
<p>Any information would be helpful. Thanks :)</p>
<p>I'm not to sure about Choate because I didnt apply, but if I were you, I'd talk to or PM Olivia (olivia567). Shes a current freshman and hopefully in the position you soon will be in :)
~Crickett</p>
<p>Hey, I'm a freshman at Choate so I'll say something here but I want to go to breakfast so I'll talk more later.</p>
<p>Because Choate's a big school, you CAN find people who are similar to you. It may take a while, but the community is very diverse in all ways so it's a given. If you'd like a smaller community where EVERYONE knows everyone (most people here know everyone, even in the upper classes), then you can make your choice about that. But Choate's size makes it a very dynamic place and yet it's still smaller than schools like Andover and Exeter.</p>
<p>In general I'm going to defer to Olivia, since she's a current student and can give you the best sense of what it's like on a day to day basis. However, until she gets back I'll give you my perspective as an alumnus and as a current parent of one of Olivia's classmates.</p>
<p>First, I would echo Olivia's comments about the school being very diverse and large enough that you will find a group (probably a couple of groups) that you fit in with. That was true when I was there and seems to be my son's experience as well. </p>
<p>Academically Choate is pretty demanding and you will have to work hard. It also has honors sections for most of the required courses and those courses seem to be even more challenging, so you may have to get used to no longer being the smartest kid in your class. On the other hand, even if you are particularly bright in a specific area, you probably won't feel like you are being held back by your classmates or frustrated by the pace of the class.</p>
<p>Although you will have to work hard, you will also be able to play hard. The school seems to do a pretty good job of making sure that there are fun things to do over the weekend (movies, plays, dances, etc.) and there are a ton of clubs and extracurricular activities you can become involved with. </p>
<p>Choate also gives you a fair amount of freedom, and unlike some schools, if you have a free period during the day you can go back to your room, hang out with friends or go into into town.</p>
<p>Finally, if you come in as a freshman (3rd Former) you will be in a large dorm with the other third formers in your class. (Memhouse for the boys and Nichols (I think) for the girls). These two dorms are also right next to each other, so even though Choate is one of the larger schools you will probably get to know all of the kids in your grade.</p>
<p>Yeah, a lot of people hang out around Mem (Memorial) steps because that's where ALL freshman guys are, but I usually just hang out with a few groups of people. I don't like hanging out around Mem.</p>
<p>I did walk into town the other day before the Book Vault closed to buy a few books and get a slice of pizza. It was a really nice day too. </p>
<p>I'd say that while the other kids are really bright and talented, you can show off your strengths if you try to. And here's a tip from some upperclassmen as well - when you go to boarding school, only take the Honors or AP classes that you actually love. If you hate Physics, for example, don't do Honors Physics. And you don't have to go into boarding school loading up on courses because that'll just bog you down in the beginning. Work hard at what you love, and keep up in the classes that you aren't great at. </p>
<p>ALL Freshmen guys are in Mem House, and most freshmen girls are in Nichols. Last year, we had a lot of new freshmen girls, so they spilled over to Squire and Pittman as well, and now we have about nine girls in Squire. But each dorm is great in its own way. In Nichols, you're basically with every other girl boarder in your grade, and a lot of people believe that Squire girls develop closer relationships with each other. Then the next year, everyone splits off into sophomore/junior dorms. If you're living in an all-senior dorm when you're a senior, they have designated senior dorms, but a lot of seniors are prefects, so they live in sophomore/junior dorms.</p>
<p>Also, a lot of the non-academic buildings are dorms as well. Archbold, the Admissions building, has 2 floors that are dorms - Library is a dorm - Hill House (the Dining Hall) has 3 dorms connected to it - Pratt (Health Center) also has a guys' dorm - and then there are other dorms on campus that are just used for residences.</p>
<p>well.....i dunno. i mean if you have enough money to go to one you have enough money for drugs and stuff and i just heard it was a party school. but i'm probably totally wrong. my cousin goes to andover and he told me that "party school" was the reputation of Choate so i crossed that one off my list. but i dunno. have you been there? do you like it?</p>
<p>No, Choate isn't a major party school. What do you mean by parties? Like off-campus riots?</p>
<p>Ohh, don't cross it off your list because of hearsay. I really haven't experienced any of that here. Or any confrontation with drugs/alcohol/etc. Obviously those things exist at every boarding school though, but Choate isn't in any way an exaggeration of those types of behaviors. </p>
<p>I haven't seen any of that here and neither have some of my senior friends, but of course there are kids who do that (I'm supposing) and at other boarding schools as well. From my perspective, it's negligible here.</p>
<p>And I second what crickett said - it's hard to have those kinds of parties at boarding school. It's a different thing if you go to a school at home, even a private school, because kids at home have more access to parties.</p>
<p>A kid at my current school and in my grade got kicked out of Choate for stealing and drugs last year. I think he is permanently banned from the campus. So those things do go on there.</p>
<p>i just don't understand people like that. i mean if they're lucky enough to get into one of these schools why on earth would they jepordize that?</p>
<p>1st of all they must be intelligent to get into the school but not intelligent enough to realize they're putting 48,000 dollars of Mommy & Daddy's money at stake to go buy heroin that will inevitably be found. 2nd of all, good luck getting into a good college...</p>
<p>Like Janelle said, your lucky lucky LUCKY to be there! I'd KILL to go to an amazing school!</p>
<p>wow–i would never have considered my school (choate) a party school…in fact, the rules at choate are stricter than those at other boarding schools like st. paul’s and andover. i mean, from my personal experience those kids who do stupid things get caught and then kicked out…the real issue is when you have kids like that and then just don’t kick them out. anyways, choate is an awesome school and i’ve had an amazing time. going to choate was the best decision i’ve made in my entire life.</p>