<p>Any of your children go to Choate? Any one knows its Icahn scholars program? thanks.</p>
<p>well, i don't, but Saer's applying there and i'm pretty sure she's capable of writing 4000 word essays on Choate (she loves it. love being an understatement), so perhaps you could hunt her down or send her a PM? haha.</p>
<p>Getmethere -- my S is at Choate and I've sent you a pm. Icahn Scholars program awards 10 full tuition 4-year scholarships every year to recipients with very strong academics and also financial need (so it seems its both merit based, but also need based as well), but not sure how one applies or is identified.</p>
<p>I CAN, in fact, write 4000 word essays on Choate. But i'll post it here for the benefit of those lurking, instead of a PM. I'll tell you about the thigns that are important to me as an applicant, though it may not be quite what you were looking for.</p>
<p>The academics are superb, but that's to be expected of any school talked about on this board, so I'll only mention a few things. The classical/romantic language classrooms are full-immersion, meaning nothing but Spanish is spoken in the spanish classroom, nothing but french in the french classroom, etc. Chinese and the other newer, maybe more difficult languages are not full immersion. The arts and humanities department are very discussion based. They don't have a fancy name like Harkness, but that's basically the idea.</p>
<p>Athletics? Wonderful. I've only had real experience with the volleyball team, but teachers are very involved in coaching teams and every coach I've spoken to has been kind and welcoming. Their volleyball program is supremely top-notch, in my opinion. Is your son or daughter applying?</p>
<p>Music and Theatre are very big. An I.M. Pei designed arts center with a huuuge theatre, prop and technical rooms, practice rooms, just what an artist or actor needs. They performed Arsenic and Old Lace the weekend I visited, and the set construction was better than some college and professional production sets I've seen. Well funded, with an Arts Concentration program for those really, really into the arts. They have several student music groups, such as the Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble/Band (?), and then Choir, acapela groups, etc that run year round, mostly for credit.</p>
<p>Their student body is awesome. Very kind and welcoming, I spent a grand total of 3 1/2 hours on campus (saturday showcase, interview, tour) and felt like I could live there for the next 3 years (as I hope to!). My tour guide and I spoke like peers, not a upperclassmen showing a little kid around campus, and she answered my questions thoughtfully and knowledgeably.</p>
<p>The 10th grade dorms are new this year, and though I've heard some nasty things about their 9th grade dorms, I also heard from my tour guide (though don't quote me on this) that they were planning on upgrading the other form's dorms soon. I'll be a new 10th grader, so it wasn't really an issue for me, but the 10th grade girls dorms are fantastic. Clean, well-kept, and large rooms, mostly singles with a few doubles. I saw a double that was larger than my mother's college dorm room. They have big closets!</p>
<p>Some disliked the feeling of separation on campus, with a main road plowing right through the middle of it. I barely noticed it, though the buildings were a little scattered. the pool was no where near the gym (across the street and down some, I think?) and nearer the dorms than to the athletic facilities. The academic buildings were a little oddly scattered, also, but this was barely noticeable. I love the campus all around, even though it was raining horribly and we almost were drowned by the 2-feet deep puddles. My lucky tour guide wore wellies... I only had flats!</p>
<p>All in all, I felt a really cohesive, warm, and comforting campus all around me, one I could see myself living in and learning in and making friends in. I fell in love, and its a feeling that's stayed with me after two more tours of HADES schools and 3 months of speculating and applications worry.</p>
<p>Well, this was only 590 words according to my computer, but I hope it answered some questions about campus life!!</p>