<p>If you were an international student entering as a freshman would you go for Milton or Choate? Milton has recently grabbed my attention a bit more and I just want to ensure that I am making the right choice.</p>
<p>I never knew you were international cookie. Nobody else can really answer that question but you. Its what feels right for you.</p>
<p>yup i am :) yea, i know it is my choice to make, just wondering what others thought. i might learn something new about the schools that could tip the scales :)</p>
<p>Milton does slightly better re: college placement, but Choate has a higher percentage of boarding students. Milton has the better location, in my opinion, and does not have any PG students, although it is a kindergarten through grade 12 school. Boarding at Milton is limited to grades 9 through 12. Choate has grades 9 through 12 and has some PG students.</p>
<p>True, but I was speaking to someone at Milton and talking about the college placement thing. They said that because of the location of Milton (Boston, close to Harvard, MIT etc.) a lot of professor's children go there etc. These kids already have an easier college admissions process due to their parents and boarding school just finishes everything off. I am by no means undermining Milton's college counseling etc. but this is something to think about.</p>
<p>Family friend from Taiwan went to Milton and the Johns Hopkins. He is a radiologist now in the DC area. He was very happy there and subsequently was interviewed by Milton alumni medical contacts in the Boston area while interviewing for med school. Howeve, if you prefer a more competitive sports atmosphere with rivalries, parades, etc then Choate may fill the bill. However if this does not matter to you and you like the intellectual, international flavor to be primary, perhaps Milton would suit.</p>
<p>PA: sorry for the typos, my computer is suboptimal</p>
<p>CHOATE. Choate has a significantly larger percentage of boarding students, which I think is an advantage if you are also going to be boarding. This means that the campus isn't going to empty out on weekends. I also think that a school with a higher percentage of boarders just has a different feel than a day school that has some boarders</p>
<p>Also, because Choate is mostly boarding, there will be a significantly higher percentage of international students, if that is something of interest to you.</p>
<p>One other thing you should be aware of at Milton - my understanding is that it is signficantly harder to get into Milton as a day school, and, to some extent, the day students therefore tend to look down on the boarders a little.</p>
<p>In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that I'm biased towards Choate, since I'm an alum. and currently one of my kids is there.</p>
<p>Maybe if we're lucky, itshellenmellon will visit this thread and give you her perspective. She posts on here occasionally and is an international student who's in 9th grade at Choate.</p>
<p>thanks for your input everyone. i think i will pm itshellenmelon as she is in the position i will be if i choose choate.</p>
<p>Milton!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>I have to jump in here with some direct info on Milton.</p>
<p>The elder Smile Pup went to Milton (recently) as a boarder and I can say that his experience in no way reflected the negatives that prpdd mentioned:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>the ratio of day to boarding students was, if anything, a benefit. The campus never emptied out (in fact, it always seemed as if the day students hung around as much as possible on the weekends because that was where the fun was!), but living in a dorm created a little sub-community of boarders who were going through this wonderful (albeit sometimes stressful) experience together. They could come together in some ways that the day students couldn't (for instance, there's a tradition of the boys' dorms serenading the girls' dorms with holiday music before the winter break which, obviously, only the boarders participate in). At the same time, having the day student population there opened up the campus considerably to amazing experiences/opportunities that certainly wouldn't have been there if it was a smaller school or less heterogenous. Smile Pup One always felt welcomed in his dorm, in his classes, and around campus. In fact some of his closest friends were day students. There was none of the "looking down on boarders" atmosphere that prpdd referred to.</p></li>
<li><p>I don't think Smile Pup 1 ever felt a particular division between the international students and the nationals, or locals. Once everyone got to campus, they were all Milton students. I dare say, that will be common to most places (certainly both Choate and Milton) that have a large enough international student population to know what it takes to make students from other countries feel welcome. Milton is a very cosmopolitan place, and you certainly wouldn't feel like an oddball coming from your home country. Again, one of Smile Pup 1's closest friends came from Hong Kong. It took him longer to get to campus, but once there, he was just as integrated into the community as everyone else who had only traveled for three hours by car, or 15 minutes by subway.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Overall, I would say the difference betwen Choate and Milton is very small, but if I had to characterize it, I would say it is the difference between a more traditional New England prep school (Choate) and a more alternative New England prep school (Milton). Of course, our family has no expereince with Choate, so, as prpdd did, I will have to qualify my statement with an alert that I really don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to Choate! And this distinction between the two is along a very narrow spectrum - they're both New England prep schools after all. </p>
<p>I will say without qualification that Milton does not strike me as a traditional environment, and it is certainly filled with incredible kids who achieve amazing things while they are there and go on to achieve more amazing things once they graduate. It is also, therefore, a somewhat intense environment since the students are (almost without exception) extremely high achieving. You have to be the kind of person who isn't brought low by academic pressure/anxiety. But if you can see beyond this week's load to next week's joy, I don't think you would be disappointed with your choice if you chose Milton.</p>
<p>milton has also been increasing the boarding population. also keep in mind the percentage of "local boarders" at choate versus not so local.</p>
<p>this is true, but choate is also planning on increasing their boarding population even higher.</p>
<p>Choate is already constructing a new dorm. I'm not sure when it will open but that will definetly mean more boarders.</p>
<p>Hey,
you're an international student too? haha yay:)
Well I absolutely love choate!
We have lots of boarders compared to milton, and there are plenty of international students here if that matters. They are trying to cut down the number of day students..new dorms are opening in july i believe.
I would say the college placement is about the same because lots of people dont choose to go to ivys..</p>
<p>I've given this a lot of thought and thank you a ll for your very thorough responses. You have certainly given me a lot to think about. I have decided with my family that I will go to Choate :) Good luck to everyone at their new schools!</p>
<p>I'm trying to decide between Choate and Lawrenceville, but also leaning towards Choate. Maybe I'll see you there!</p>
<p>xoxcookie, I'm so happy for you!
I might see you during revisits! </p>
<p>Michael, I had the same decision last year. I chose Choate because I liked the location, people, and the fact that volleyball and tennis are different seasons. When I visited I could see myself going..</p>
<p>and here i am:)</p>
<p>you really can't go wrong, they are both great schools@</p>
<p>Thanks itshelenmelon. Great to know that you're happy there; I really liked it when I went for an interview. Any downside?</p>
<p>Well I guess the one downside is being away from my family...but that's like being at every other school.
I don't know, there definitely are downsides but they are not significant enough to affect my experience here.</p>