Chance me for Choate please!

Prep School Admissions Prep School Chances
1

Hiii! I made a chance me a while back for Choate but wanted to make an updated one now that I’m done filling out my application.

I’m applying for freshman year in the Class of 2030. Currently in eighth grade!

DEMOGRAPHICS:

I’m a US citizen, Hispanic/South Asian female. My parents are both immigrants, dad coming from Mexico and mom coming from East Africa.

Currently live in CT about an hour away from Choate. I think I should board but my parents are still debating over it. Put boarding in my inquiry, however.

Budget:

I don’t believe I qualify for any of the scholarships, but I would only need partial financial aid, probably about half as my parents pay for 8 people living in my house and support a lot of non-profits.

Other:

I didn’t submit any test scores, but have all A+’s currently. I believe my GPA is around a 4.3 as it’s hard to get extra credit in my grade.

Currently taking Geometry Honors with a 98-99 in the class.

I also am not related to anybody who’s gone to Choate, but my friends friend who has a full scholarship to Choate has been helping me throughout the application process.

School-related:

-Member of my school’s leaders program, kind of like a student council but we don’t have one.

-Helped found an Environmental Awareness Group where we focus on creating our school eco-friendly.

-2024 Rotary Essay Winner (School)

-Chosen four consecutive years to represent my grade in the spelling bee

-3x student of the month for my grade

-Highest Honor roll all of seventh and eighth grade so far (they don’t do it in sixth or fifth)

-2025 Veterans Day Essay Contest winner, got to read it to a large group of veterans at my school assembly

-Regular helper in all school assemblies

Passion Project: I wrote a book in around 4th grade, got it published in 6th grade. School district is using it as a part of their curriculum in 3rd grade (it’s a low reading level chapter book) and I was interviewed by a couple news sources on it. I am currently writing the sequel.

Sports:

-Dedicated gymnast training 22-ish hours per week

-I was the 2025 Regional Champion in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, placing first in All-Around, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam, and Floor Exercise

-I got invited to the 2025 Regional Banquet (New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, and New York)

-3rd in country on 2024 Balance Beam

-On Top 100 for 2025 Uneven Bars

-Undefeated on Balance Beam in 2024-2025-2026 so far

Arts:

-I’ve been doing piano lessons since Kindergarten, and sent a video of my last three recitals

-I’ve also done recreational dance (contemporary, acro, and modern) and sent a video of my acro solo.

Interview: I’m not really sure if the guy interviewing me was very fond of me, but I think I answered all the questions honestly and thoughtfully. It was a bit awkward as I’d never been interviewed in that setting before. (online) 7/10

Short Answers: I feel pretty confident about these. A big part of my answers was how I want to go to Choate for the diverse community to be able to see through the eyes of many different people with completely different perspectives, also to strengthen my writing skills as an author. 8/10

Essay: 9.5/10: I spent ages writing this essay and poured my heart and soul into its creation. I wrote about how after covid a lot of people my age struggled with discipline, but writing my book helped me gain it, plus different ‘tools’ I use a lot like perseverance, and how finding perseverance helped me get through writer’s block. I tried to be a little humble and wrote less about my book as a physical thing, but more as a story in my mind, if that makes sense. I feel like the ending was a bit redundant…

Math rec: 8/10. This is my first year knowing my math teacher but I am a very active participant in her class. I also think she’s quite a good scribe and sees a lot of my virtues, so hopefully she answered honestly.

English rec: 10/10. My English teacher has already known me for over a year. He is also a really good writer in general, and says I’m one of his all time favorite students (I hope he’s telling the truth)

Third teacher rec: 10/10 (again.) I chose my science teacher, we have a very close bond and I help out in her class a lot as she’s often overworked. She’s one of my all time favorite teachers and I trust that she wrote an honest recommendation. Out of my 3x student of the month awards, she gave me 2 of them (I think)

Principal rec: My counselor is on maternity leave so I got my principal to write my recommendation. I was a bit nervous as we don’t know each other too well, but I sent her a little ‘resume’ to reference. She dedicated time to write the recommendation almost immediately, and seemed very proud of all my commitment to my school. I think an 8 or 9/10

Personal rec: I was debating between doing my piano or gymnastics coach, but ended up going with my gymnastics coach as I referenced the sport more in my application. I’m a bit worried as I’m not sure how strong this recommendation will be as my coach can be a bit bipolar (it was risky.) He’s a great coach though, and he’s helped me get through some really rough times in the sport. I’ve also been doing really good in the gym lately.

Do I seem like a contender for being accepted? Choate is the only boarding school I’d be able to go to as it’s really close to the place I do gymnastics, and one of my friends houses is walking distance from the campus (literally on the same block)

If you have any other questions about me please feel free to ask.

2

You’ve already submitted the application, so I would just relax and see what happens.

Your profile is very strong, so I would think you’d be a very attractive candidate.

Good luck!

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3

Are you only applying to Choate? Because with your skills, I would think that you would apply to other schools like Andover, Exeter, Hotchkiss, Groton, etc.

4

SSAT score ?

If your family does not permit you to board, how well will you & your family tolerate a one hour commute each way to Choate ?

5

Hello! I didn’t end up taking the SSAT. My friend who got in didn’t and told me that it really doesn’t make much of a difference, so hopefully it’s ok.

I actually already drive an hour five days a week to my gymnastic practices, which happen to be in Wallingford. Me and my parents are still debating boarding vs day, but in the end it is my decision so I’m hoping we’ll end up with boarding if I get in.

6

Hello! My parents were skeptical with me applying to different boarding schools, with even Choate pushing my luck. We only ended up applying because of the convenience in location (it’s close to my dad’s work and where I do gymnastics.)

If I get rejected this year, I plan to apply again the next year and may consider applying to other schools if I can persuade my parents into it. Thank you!

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7

I think you should’ve taken it, or they might take it as a sign that you did bad on your ssat and just chose not to send the score

8

If you don’t get in, it won’t be because you are not a good candidate! There are many amazing students applying to Choate and other schools, and there just isn’t space for everyone!

You are a great candidate, and I hope that you had a chance to ask during your interview about how your gymnastics training would fit in with being a boarding student. If you hope to continue training the same number of hours, you would likely need to be exempt from participating in school sports/afternoon activities. Some schools are more ok with this than others, I am not sure about Choate but it is worth having the conversation with them before you decide to attend if you are accepted. My kids both know students at their boarding schools who leave on weekends from time to time to play on club soccer/hockey/lacrosse teams - but these kids all also play on the school teams, and school teams take priority - they only play club on days that they do not have a school game, which means their club coaches also have to be ok with them missing some. Would your gymnastics coach be ok with you missing a meet or a practice when there are all-school mandatory events or classes that you cannot miss? Boarding school is so busy - they really expect you to be fully involved in the community all the time, including nights and weekends. If you really want to go to Choate, you might actually be better off as a day student if you want to continue with the high hours of gymnastics. Even still, your parents should know that you will have frequent weeknight and weekend commitments until 10pm that they would have to pick you up from (rehearsals, study groups, club meetings, group projects, and fun things on weekends all often take place after dinner).

Good luck and keep us posted!

2 Likes
9

This is spot on. They do not like you doing stuff off-campus and as @ssdh25 said, school-based activities take priority.

My kid runs track for a local club and they have practices during the week. She cannot attend and cannot run meets under their name while school is in session. We have a family who are day students at our school and also run for that club who occasionally attend club practices, but can do so only because they don’t have dorm sign-in restrictions to consider. Even without that, this family rarely goes to Club practices because it ends at 8 and there’s an hour drive back to consider before even beginning whatever homework is left to do after getting as much done as she can during the day.

I hope for your sake that Choate has strong gymnastics, because going there will compromise your Club participation during school. Or make your academic performance sub-optimal.

Choate is hard enough without travel and other considerations impacting your experience there, so think hard about it. And also think hard about boarding. It’s significantly accretive to your overall experience of a place like that. One person’s opinion.

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10

I disagree with this for this candidate. Her strengths make the SSAT less relevant.

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11

I know I stated this before, but my friend didn’t as she thought it wasn’t necessary. She ended up getting a full scholarship. And they also have all of my grades anyway… hopefully it doesn’t make much of a difference!

12

Hiii! Thanks for all the help, I’m still trying to figure out how I’d balance gymnastics with everything. My friend contacted the school when she was applying and said her high level gymnastics would makeup for the required Choate athletics. Hopefully everything works out but we’ll see!

13

Choate is test optional and the OP already has good enough grades to validate her academic potential.

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