From what was shared, there was nothing missing from Allenz’s application or from the applications of the scores of others who were WL. WL implies admissible/qualified/attractive. This should not be hard to understand. We aren’t privy to all of the applications Choate received from domestic/Asian/male/full pay/day-students. It’s possible his application paled compared to the strength of the pool but, most likely, just the number of open slots was against him.
I see where the difference between me and a few other parents is. I think Allenz’s soccer playing is at a high level and others think it is not unique. I guess Choate must have a very deep talent pool in soccer.
@ChoatieMom I understand your point. And you did an excellent job explaining things. I personally benefitted from your posts a lot. At the center of the debate is not how the pool works, but how the AOs (and we all) evaluate everybody’s application. Also when I said “missing” in the context of not being selected, I meant “competitive enough”, just to clear a bit of misunderstanding.
This is like a bracketology debate. What seems to me a lock is a bubble to the AO. The other post of yours offers a glimpse of what the AO might think, which helps. Yet I hope to continue championing Allenz’s case for the sake of all dedicated soccer players.
And that’s the point. We don’t know the strength of the athletic pool this round or how many impact soccer or basketball players Choate needed or had room for. It does not appear that Allenz was recruited, so his strength in sports was not enough for admissions to select him for a spot where sports prowess was not key.
And, you know, it could be the exact opposite. I don’t know how strong Choate’s soccer or basketball programs are. Perhaps they aren’t signature programs, and Allenz’s level of play worked against him somehow. Maybe the school thought he was being recruited elsewhere and decided to protect yield. We’ll never know.
This is NOT my area of expertise, far, far from it, so maybe one of the parents with a recruited athlete could chime in here but, clearly, Allenz’s sports profile was not enough THIS round to tip the scales.
Choatiemom’s bucket labeled “Diversity” is extremely important. I’d say that that may be one of the biggest buckets as I alluded to, including Geodiversity and URM/first gen/low income.
Keep in mind, schools in Connecticult likely have no trouble filling their class with kids from CT. Kids who are applying from further away understandably have a better chance, as those numbers of applicants go down the further away you get.
@ruinedlegend: I’m rooting for Allenz, too. WL stink.
Good luck to you, @Allenz6107.
Seeing all these stats of people rejected or waitlisted at Choate makes me wonder how I even got waitlisted…best of luck to you @Allenz6107
Personally, I think in the OP’s case, it’s a geographical diversity issue (lack thereof). He has perfect stats. 99 percentile SSAT, A student, and top soccer player. Perhaps they have too many soccer players. Surely they have tons of day students from CT. Maybe could have used an academic EC. Time is on your side, @Allenz6107 - if you don’t get in, reapply next year.
Hope it works out!
thanks you everyone for your input!
@ChoatieMom no I was not recruited for soccer, thought the coach did express interest in me playing on varsity. He came to my games and I got to meet him and the team at Choate and talk to some players.
I 100% agree with @sunnyschool in terms of what they said about geodiversity. Also, the standards are a lot higher for an applicant from MA or CT than someone from Montana or Nebraska. I know it’s not necessarily fair, but opportunities to win award, join clubs, go to a competition, etc. are WAY more plentiful in NE. Literally my middle school has “club day” once a month, and you can go to Reading Club, Cooking Club, Knitting Club, or Ping Pong Club. The only “award” that someone can win is to win the spelling bee, and the music program is extremely lacking. My entire K-12 school doesn’t even have any type of “student body president” or anything like that, and neither do any schools in the area! My point is that along with the fact that Allenz6107 is from an overrepresented state, he also comes from a region of the US where schools naturally offer more opportunities to compete, win awards, etc. and therefore their expectations are higher. Maybe they looked at his application and thought, “Ok he has great stats and all of that, but he hasn’t differentiated himself from the applicant pool in any unique ways”.
One more thing: the first time I posted on this thread, I talked about the importance of showing off your personality (whether that be through essay or interview). Today my package from Choate came, and inside was a letter from my AO saying that one of the main reasons that I got in was my interview. It said that as soon as I began to talk, he knew that I was a great fit. This goes to show you: they really do care about finding kids whom they like personality-wise, along with academically, athletically, etc. You don’t have to be a genius to get in! At 14 years old, I still have trouble remembering what goes in the recycling bin, and I constantly find myself messing little things up every day, and I talked about this in my interview! I didn’t get in because I was some genius/athlete/URM/billionaire/whatever, I got in because I was genuine. I know that I’ve kind of gone off on a tangent here (sorry!), but I really really really think it’s important that applicants understand that they don’t have to be test-taking, award-winning, A+ earning machines to get into a great school! :)>- You all have great personalities, show them off! :)>-
Choate will definitely take care of that. Recycling is an EC there.
That may be why you were accepted, Nico. Choate knew you could benefit. 
I would say your biggest “weakness” would be your extracurriculars.(Yours are impressive btw) Your 9 years of soccer, especially how far you have gotten with it are incredible, but that is not the only that will get you there. Your SSAT scores are fantastic, but so are those of many of the kids who do and also don’t get in. If you want to apply to Choate or any other school next year, work on your extracurriculars. Schools these days don’t really care if you’ve been playing a sport for a thousand years or have straight A’s. They want a person with character, who is different. Volunteer and participate in the community. Get a job. Join a weird quirky club. Try something new that you never knew you were passionate about. You never know what you might find along the way. Also send a thank you note and express your interest in the school. Maybe call and ask why you were waitlisted. But Choate is not the end all be all. There are many fantastic public schools too, and you never know what you might discover at yours. You could realize that you don’t want to apply to Choate again because the school that you are at allows you to grow, not only as a student, but also as a person. This is a journey that you just don’t know where you’ll end up in, but if you make the most out of your experience, you will definitely be rewarded.
If you are looking at day schools, I’d start calling other top day schools in the area and see if some still have open seats or rolling admissions. There are so many good high schools in the Wallingford area.
The OP lists “bad recommendations?” as a possible weakness and guesses he received a 6/10 from English and Guidance. If that’s an accurate guess, the best way to address this would be to send Choate something new that demonstrates good character (as suggested above). Possibly another character reference or recommendation? Or reapply next year. There are several good examples on CC of kids who were waitlisted their first try and accepted the following year.
Is Choate going to their waitlist?
@Bantisse I know of two kids who were offered WL spots at Choate - both on or before A10.
@GMC2918 Will Choate offer WL to international students? Will more students be pulled off from the WL? My first choice is Choate and I haven’t been accepted anywhere else.
Unfortunately @Bantisse I can’t answer that for you, because I just don’t know. Both of the kids that I know are domestic applicants for 9th grade - 1 boy and 1 girl. Have you (or your parents) called your AO? Does Choate know that you have no other BS options?