<p>I’m a 4-year senior, so I can tell you a few things you may wanna know about the school. Knowledge is power. This is all my experience, but many people I’ve talked to would agree.</p>
<p>-Choate is intensely competitive academically, albeit in an overt way. Overestimate everybody, always be on your guard. I’m serious. You wanna do well, get into the Ivy League (the ultimate goal, no?) or someplace similar, most every move you make needs to be calculated.</p>
<p>-The Choate student body is not particularly attractive personality-wise. Prepare for the not-very-smart New Englanders, the very-smart-but-psychologically-deficient New Englanders, a mix of Asians and Blacks with a few Latinos, and a fairly random mix of kids from west of Pennsylvania. The few decent kids there are come from around the country (and world) though, no specific region. The New Englanders rule this school, and although they’re very socially well-adjusted, good luck fitting in unless you’re amongst the already-initiated. Racial segregation is the norm; blacks with blacks, whites with whites, asians with asians with other groups kind-of bouncing around. Much racial tension exists between the groups, and if you’re uncomfortable with casual use of racial epithets (at least if you’re white), consider this. You’re gonna be very dissapointed with the student body, I can guarantee; just find the few good kids.</p>
<p>-The girls are very attractive (physically), but in a gaudy way. Intersex relations are just another typically bizzare soap opera that students love to obsess over (have fun spending hours every night poring over the facebook and deriding those within). Choate has an incredibly fierce social climate (relegated almost exclusively to whites), and if you wanna keep up, be ready to devote a lot of your time to the endeavor.</p>
<p>-In terms of academics, pretty much every department minus the language one is strong. History, English, more advanced math courses, Economics, all sciences and other humanities are full of incredibly intelligent, competent teachers with varying levels of devotion and expectations. Language is weak in my experience, but you’ll probably have to take it, in which case I reccomend either Chinese (good) or Japanese (better). If anybody wants, I’ll give you specific teacher reccomendations come June. You can’t pick, but if you draw a bad one its pretty easy to switch out in the first couple of weeks. This can make a lot of difference, and you shouldn’t be hesitant about switching in and out of classes. Also, don’t over-commit yourself to a heavy courseload if your a new freshman or sophmore. Even the most intelligent get burned this way.</p>
<p>-I STRONGLY reccomend you play as many interscholastic sports as you can. However, I would advise against Football, simply because we are terrible and its terribly time-consuming. Fall Cross Country or Crew are the best things to do (Crew runs in the Spring as well). You’ll probably need to try out for Crew in the Fall though, so hit the ergometer and see how you fare initially. Probably best not to bother with Basketball unless you think you can make JV/Varsity. Baseball is also another one to think strongly about. Lacrosse is good provided you have some experience. Hockey is good if you love the whole hockey “thing”. Wrestling is garbage, but if that’s your thing, go ahead. Swimming is quite good (I’m told), and intense, so be prepared. Avoid intramurals, avoid other things, at least until you’ve been here awhile. Don’t fall in with the Arts crowd, they’re not particularly interesting and you may be segregating yourself. Unless of course you’re a girl and that’s all you want to do.</p>
<p>My advice?</p>
<p>Go to Andover, Lawrenceville, Taft, Hotchkiss, St. Paul’s (the one I hold the highest regard for based on the words of others), Milton, maybe Groton over Choate. Go to Choate over Exeter (place creeps me out), Deerfield and all schools below that level.</p>
<p>IF you should decide to go to Choate:</p>
<p>If you wanna fit in socially, walk around your dorm and meet people, go to the Dining Hall frequently etc. as soon as you get there. Be glib, very, very glib. If you just wanna exist and focus on your studies, keep your head down somewhat (still go to the Dining Hall frequently) and keep an eye out for the normal kids, they are around. If tobacco use if something that bothers you, deal with it, because it’s heavy (guys dip like its going out of style and a pretty large percentage of both sexes smoke). Alcohol use is moderate, easy to avoid if you want to. Drug use is pretty minimal, doubt you’ll have much trouble unless you’re looking for it. They are strict with drugs though, one strike and you’re out, and its a bad way to go. Academically, the keys are good homework and class participation. Just do your assignments every night, come up with a few good questions (if applicable) and ask them in class. Take notes and be organized. Don’t do this, and you’ll never succeede. I strongly reccomend going to the library when you can. Be VERY AWARE of how strict Choate is about “academic integrity”. Too many otherwise-solid kids get nailed for this, and you don’t wanna become one of them. Get Extra Help when you need it from the teachers who seem willing to give it. Get in a few solid extracurriculars (newspaper is the most reliable), most are bogus though. REQUEST A SINGLE! Having a roommate is nothing but a burden at first, he/she won’t help you fit in and may end up a major nuisance.</p>
<p>The Rule of Thumb:</p>
<p>Don’t believe what other people say, and always look out for #1. This is a cutthroat environment, not really a caring one in any way. But you have the potential to do very well if you always keep your eye on the prize.</p>
<p>Any more questions, let me know. This probably wasn’t that helpful to anyone, but I still figured I’d tell you these things. They definetely would’ve helped me coming in…</p>