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Choate Rosemary Hall is a co-educational boarding and day school for students in grades 9-PG. With an acceptance rate of just 16%, it’s important to make sure your application essays stand out. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!
You have 815 characters for each response, which only comes out to about 130 to 160 words. So, brevity will be your friend, and procrastination, as always, your enemy!
Choate wants to accept intellectually curious applicants, so why not use this as an opportunity to rant and rave about your favorite subject or learning experience? Maybe you find all things under the sea to be absolutely fascinating, so your favorite part of the school day is sitting down for second period “Marine Biology” to learn about the most dangerous creatures in the deep dark sea (and their preferred prey, of course). Or maybe you are super interested in creative writing, so you took a workshop over the summer to learn more about the craft. What made the experience so rewarding for you?
When was the last time you were completely captured by a subject or lesson? When were you extremely motivated to solve a problem or create something new? What was the last fact or skill you learned that fully employed your imagination? The bottom line here is to discuss examples of what truly fascinates you, while also reflecting on what these examples say about your personality traits, interests, or learning style.
We at CEA love prompts like these; they’re open-ended and allow you to express yourself in a unique way. Maybe you’d start your day by whipping up a batch of gourmet chocolate chip pancakes for your family, skip clean-up (it is your perfect day, after all), and head to the basketball court to meet your friends for a pickup game. Perhaps your perfect day includes fixing up old cars with your dad, Spanish lessons with your abuela, or a yoga session with your friends from dance! The key to writing a memorable response to this prompt is simple: be authentic. Don’t try to impress admissions officers with what you think they want to hear; instead be true to yourself (including some simple joys in life), and your personality is likely to shine through.
There’s no better way to showcase your interest in Choate than to do your research and make a case for why it is the perfect match for you (and vice versa)! Start by exploring the Choate website and/or attending a school tour. Take notes regarding what stands out to you, interests you, makes you feel excited about the prospect of attending. Be sure to tell admissions something new that they won’t already know from reading other parts of your application! You’d be wise not to re-trace old academic territory that you already covered in your first essay—and be sure to go beyond the basic facts and figures listed on the school website. Reflect on why you’re interested in attending, and then show admissions that you’ve thought about what a Choate education and experience would mean to you.
Have you achieved any new accolades since you completed the Candidate Profile? Maybe you made the Honor Roll, got your first job bussing tables, or won a contest for songwriting. Perhaps you published your first poem in a youth literary magazine or built your first iOS app using the coding skills you developed in school. Rather than list your accomplishments, try to see if you can present them in a story format, as if you’re catching up with an old friend on the latest events in your life.
