Thursday, April 10th marked the final day of enrollment for accepted students of the incoming freshman class. According to the admission office, the application process this year has yielded a record number of applications—over 1600 students applied to become part of the Choate community. These applicants hailed from forty-three states and forty-one countries. The 148 newly enrolled students, however, come from twenty-six states and twenty countries.

Director of International Admission Mrs. Beth Whitney is extremely pleased with the applicant pool. She comments, “I am excited about the overall quality of the applicant pool and the students who will be joining us next year. As the director of international admission, I am particularly excited about the new countries that will be represented on campus next year, such as Bermuda, Denmark, France, Ghana, Jamaica, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Arab Emirates.”

Director of Admissions Mr. Raymond Diffley reported that there were 950 applications for the class of 2012. On March 10th, the admissions office admitted 200 of the 950 applicants. So far, 148 of the 200 admitted students have been enrolled. As of April 10th, the class of 2012 has ninety-eight boarders and fifty day students. Mr. Diffley is extremely happy about the enrolled students but comments, “There is still a lot of work to be done.” The class of 2012 has not officially been determined. “There are still some spots that have to be filled,” says Diffey. Those spots will be filled with students from the waitlist. Choate’s waitlist does not have a specific number of applicants because it is always changing. Mr. Diffley explains that the waitlist is a group of applicants that are qualified to attend Choate, but unable to fit into the community. This means that there are not enough spots for all of the applicants who are qualified to attend Choate. The students selected from the waitlist will be picked, according to Mr. Diffley, to best “round out the class of 2012.”

Mr. Diffley notes the harsh competition of this year’s applicant pool. He says that this year was the most “geographically diverse and most impressive applicant pool ever.” There are many different aspects that make up a good application—the class of 2012 has been chosen for more than just academic achievements. The admission process starts with different committees reading an application two to three times. The application is then passed through a group reading. These applications are filed into yes, no, and maybe categories. The process is long, strenuous and more difficult than can be explained.

Mr. Diffley made it clear that the admissions office is looking for students that will continue to make Choate Rosemary Hall one of the most prestigious schools in New England. “We are looking for kids with a ‘Choate personality’,” Mr. Diffley noted.

The class of 2012 has a diverse set of statistics. The incoming freshmen come from all around the globe. Mr. Diffley reports, “We have our first student from South Dakota coming next year as a freshman.” According to Mr. Diffley, Choate has also given out 1.7 million dollars in financial aid. Thirty percent of the incoming freshmen will receive a fraction of that financial aid.

A majority of the families of the class of 2012 said they were extremely impressed with the second visits program. Mr. Diffley also noted that the families of the incoming freshmen were impressed with the current freshmen that gave tours. Robbie Pelletier ’11 says, “I had a lot of fun with my tour. It was really exciting to give him an in-depth view of what the Choate life is really like.” T.C. Nixon ’11 comments, “My visitor was a really good kid. After I was done with the tour, he seemed to really have connected with the campus. I have a feeling I will be seeing him around next year.”

As the year comes to a close, the enrollment of the class of 2012 also comes to an end. The application process will start over. Next spring there will be an incoming class of 2013. Mr. Diffley speaks of two sentiments that come to mind after every application process. “The first is how the biggest compliment we receive from visiting families is how impressed they were by the community. The second is how incredibly lucky we have been to draw in this group of kids.”