<p>Is it a nurturing or a cut throat environment? Is it “cliquey?” Is the food good? Are the instructors available? Will an 80th%ile SSAT student thrive there? Is it excessively academically intense? Is it a “sink or swim” environment?</p>
<p>Where else did your child get in?
The only thing I have heard about Choate is it is strict.
Tis was last year from a parent of a 9th grader.</p>
<p>They have a more structured “hands-on” approach especially to the new 9th graders, which I happen to think is very appropriate. It is definitely not a “sink or swim” environment. The food was reasonably good on revisit days in a grand dining hall. We went to a class. The teacher was great - very knowledgible yet had such great interaction with students. Academically it’s hard to generalize, but like you said the school is not particularly selective (compared with some super selective ones), so it shouldn’t be too intense, but you definitely can get ahead and thrive if you so desire and work hard.</p>
<p>Loomis, NMH, Blair, Kent. We all just loved Kent.</p>
<p>wow, what a curve ball to get at the last minute, with only hours to decide!! best of luck and don’t look back.</p>
<p>I have no idea what we would do if S #1 choice called.
But anyway, PM a current parent, maybe they would be able to answer your questions.
There was a post about current parents receintly.</p>
<p>Where was this port, hockeymomofthree?</p>
<p>Pan1956, has your family ruled out any schools as a definite “no”?</p>
<p>Boarderkid, yes we have. We are down to two with a few hours to decide.</p>
<p>Dont know what the title of the post was, Ill try to search for it. BRB</p>
<p>What schools are the ones you’re thinking about? I can’t find the post earlier in this thread…</p>
<p>Choate and…?</p>
<p>Resource list of current bs parents and students
Dont know how to link but this was the name of the thread.</p>
<p>Well your kind of running out of time. At this point I would search “Choate” and have you and your son read everything you can.</p>
<p>Another Choate thread: titled simply enough:
Choate </p>
<p>begun by:
taeyoung1025 </p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>Choate parent here. They do a great job of getting the freshmen slowly acclimated to the rigors of prep school work. The level of homework was not at all overwhelming in the fall. It does increase over the winter and into the spring. Teachers are always available for extra help. They are “strict” in the sense that there is a LOT of supervision. The kids are very friendly, it doesn’t seem “cliquey” at all. Is your child into sports or the arts?</p>
<p>Loomis, NMH, Blair, Kent, OR CHOATE??</p>
<p>Choate is the decision amigo. Hey JFK went there …AND my father!!!
I would choose Choate!!</p>
<p>pan1956 - Is it feasible to get you and your child to Choate early tomorrow AM and look around before you give an answer?</p>
<p>We are about 2000 miles away. So, no. But thank you for the suggestion.</p>
<p>Dang! I guess that wouldn’t work. Good luck with the decision. Good schools to choose from so I’m sure whatever you decide will work out great.</p>
<p>It was only with a HEAVY HEART that we declined my son’s offer from Choate this morning. I hope someone is delighted with what was his spot. It will be KENTKENTKENT. In the last reckoning, what it came down to was my son’s level of comfort with the school. We put all notions of name, prestige, college matriculation aside. </p>
<p>And as an aside, the last few months on cc with all of you have been wonderful! Had I known about this vast bank of expertise, experience and accumulated wisdom before we applied, I would have made some different choices at the outset. THANK YOU ALL!!!</p>
<p>Congratulations, though it sounds like your kid would do well anywhere he went.</p>