<p>So obviously these aren't colleges, but still...</p>
<p>I got accepted to Loomis and Choate and waitlisted at Andover, and I need some advice as to where I should go. </p>
<p>I'm a competitive swimmer, so I'd love to be able to practice year-round. Loomis and Choate both have private club teams that come in and practice at their school pools, which students often train with. This is a huge selling point for me.</p>
<p>Choate and Andover are both typically ranked higher than Loomis, so it might give me an advantage when college comes? Loomis has a special writing course that I'd love to take. Again, I was waitlisted at Andover, so it might not be worth the risk.</p>
<p>I personally preferred the atmosphere at Loomis, as it had a nice family feel to it, while Andover and Choate both felt like universities. (Although this could've been due to my sub-standard tour guide at Choate)</p>
<p>Really appreciate your help. Thanks! :)</p>
<p>In my opinion, Loomis is academically the best of the three right now, largely because of that terrific writing program, but all three are very strong. Far harder to stand out academically at Andover, though, fwiw.</p>
<p>If you know you preferred the atmosphere of Loomis, you already have the answer :). Pick the school that you’ll be happy attending for the next 3/4 years.</p>
<p>I honestly wouldn’t count too much on the Andover waitlist.</p>
<p>Choate is an excellent school. Please PM me if you have any questions…</p>
<p>I was just wondering; how did you find out about Andover? Are you int’l?</p>
<p>@Exordium: If you loved Loomis’s atmosphere the best, then go there! It’s all about the fit, and your interest in the writing programs there is a definite plus! I think you already have it all figured out. ;)</p>
<p>When applying to schools like these, how can you NOT find out about Andover? 
and yep</p>
<p>Thing is, at Choate, the tour guide had only been there for a few months so she was new herself! Also, by some fluke, another family ended up having to accompany us on the tour and they were SO snobby and pretentious! They made everything pretty awkward, so I don’t think that I really got the true Choate atmosphere.</p>
<p>Love the School that Loves You! (In other words - don’t count on coming off the wait list at Andover, and try to decide if Choate or Loomis Chaffee is the right school for you!)</p>
<p>Here’s a link to another thread that might have some helpful info for you:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1470765-choate-vs-loomis.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1470765-choate-vs-loomis.html</a></p>
<p>Andover is very hard academically and it is difficult to continue with your passions once you are here. However, the size of both Andover and Choate is perfect, so I would go with Choate.</p>
<p>Choate!!</p>
<p>It’s amazing in every way.</p>
<p>Loomis has a fairly high day student percentage, and many students take weekends to visit their friends’ families in NY, Hartford, New Haven, etc. - suggest you visit on the weekend, it gets quiet. That may be something you like as an athlete.</p>
<p>i’m really happy at choate. the classes have a bit of a fast pace, but the teachers here are absolutely amazing. they’re always there for extra help. plus, we have snowball fights on snowy days 
i think we have a very tight community and strong bond with the town of wallingford. </p>
<p>since you’re interested in swimming, choate has a great swim team. i usually watch the home meets because i have a lot of friends on the team, and they really are great. i know that the practices are pretty tough, but choate has amazing performance when it comes to swimming.</p>
<p>i know i have a bias since i go to choate and i’ve never been to loomis, but i love choate. definitely come to revisit day!! that helped me decide to come to choate.</p>
<p>Okay, you know what? You seem so torn between these choices that I will tell you now: Go to each school’s Revisit Day! You’ll have a much better understanding of each school.</p>
<p>Moreover, contact current Loomis and Andover students (from the look of this thread, there’s already been a lot of advocating for Choate.) Find out the full story from these students, and then reflect.</p>
<p>Good luck deciding! :)</p>
<p>Listen, Exordium, I was making the exact same decision four years ago (quick disclaimer: I’m a senior at Choate, I love Choate, and I think the whole world should go to Choate…). Originally I chose Choate over Loomis despite the fact that all my friends went to Loomis because I thought it would provide me with more academic opportunities (not college opportunities, but pure interesting classes and whatnot, I hadn’t even thought about college until Junior Winter…) and I honestly just felt more at home at Choate when I was comparing how I felt during the two revisit days. It turns out that that decision was probably one of the best I’ll ever make. I changed my passions literally every year from the arts to sports to now academia. Throughout all of these experiences, every part of Choate encourages that you strive to be literally the best at whatever you do and the faculty will do anything to help you get there and comfort you if you fail. Also, for colleges, although I think it is a little early to be thinking about that, if that plays a part in your decision process, I think Choate is heavily favored vs. Loomis in that regard. Don’t get me wrong, I love Loomis, I have many friends who go there, but it’s more difficult to get into a top notch college from there. Purely anecdotal, but a good friend of mine who shares basically my stats and extracurriculars is going to Lafayette (which is a great school, don’t get me wrong) from Loomis, while I’m deciding right now between an Ivy and basically an Ivy universities (which is how I got onto this website.) That’s just a story so don’t read to much into it, but it is a good way to see how two comprable students do in the college process between Loomis and Choate. Anyway, apologies for the longwinded message, but definitely come to the revisit day, that’s how I based my decision and it turned out pretty well…PM me or ask me at revisit day (I’ll be the guy that’s around far too much) if you have any questions.</p>
<p>My Dad went to Choate, I went to Andover, my son goes to Loomis (& loves it). I think 2prepmom’s characterization of weekends at Loomis is totally inaccurate. There is a greater diversity of alternatives on weekends from Windsor/Hartford with Amtrak than Wallingford. All these schools can be strong for strong students. My Dad hated Choate. I hated Andover. My son loves Loomis. Go check them out and base your decision on your own sense of the school & community, not random voices on the web.</p>
<p>@Exordium</p>
<p>I would keep it simple. If your impression on LC still remains favourable after the revisit, it is your school. </p>
<p>Choate is an excellent school and everyone knows that, but if you think LC is your pick, go there. It’s not a comparison between the top school and the third-tier school. They are all great schools and at the end of the day, you will be the one who goes there, not others. So, the decision should be based on how you feel, not what others are saying.</p>