Choate Rosemary Hall

Choate Rosemary Hall is a coeducational boarding and day school at 333 Christian Street in Wallingford, Connecticut, on a 458-acre campus two blocks from the town center. It was formed from Rosemary Hall, founded in 1890, and The Choate School, founded in 1896, and enrolls grades 9 through 12 plus a PG (post-graduate) year. The 2025-26 school profile reports 859 students, 649 boarding and 210 day, drawn from 40 states and territories including the District of Columbia and from 30 countries and regions, with 57 countries of citizenship represented; about 18 percent of students are international.

Choate Rosemary Hall’s catalogue lists more than 300 courses across six departments: arts, English, HPRSS (history, philosophy, religion and social sciences), languages, mathematics and computer science, and science. The school runs on a trimester calendar, courses span one, two or three terms, and students carry five classes per term. Beginning in 2017-18 Choate stopped offering AP courses; what were previously AP designations are now Honors courses, and the college profile lists the Honors and post-AP offerings department by department. Students may still sit AP exams on their own. Eight signature programs give focused paths, among them the Advanced Robotics Concentration, Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, the Capstone Program, the Environmental Immersion Program, the John F. Kennedy ’35 Program in Government and Public Service, and the Science Research Program. Average class size and student-teacher ratio are not published; ask on a visit.

Applications to Choate Rosemary Hall go through Gateway to Prep Schools, with an application fee of $75 for domestic and $125 for international applicants (Gateway to Prep Schools school page), and include the candidate profile, applicant essays, a parent or guardian statement, the principal or counselor recommendation with a transcript report, and recommendations from current English and mathematics teachers. An optional third teacher recommendation and a personal recommendation are accepted. An interview is strongly encouraged and must fall within the current cycle; interviews run from September through February. All admission interviews take place online, and the school does not offer in-person interviews, on campus or otherwise. Each appointment is scheduled for 45 minutes, and applicants are invited by email to sign up after submitting an inquiry form. Standardized testing is not required. Applications and financial aid materials are due January 15, and decisions are released March 10. No acceptance rate is published.

Applicants choose the grade they wish to enter, and Choate allows students to reclassify so that they repeat their current grade. Common reasons include aligning grade level with the student’s maturity, allowing more time to acclimate to campus, and spending more time at school before the college process begins. Repeating a grade does not mean repeating coursework: math and language placement follow placement tests, and other departments evaluate earlier transcripts. Each applicant applies to a single grade.

Choate Rosemary Hall’s published 2026-27 figures are $74,530 for boarding tuition and fees and $57,610 for day. These are the school’s posted rates for that year and do not include flights, insurance or personal expenses. Choate states that it meets 100 percent of demonstrated financial need and that admission and financial aid decisions are made independently of each other.

At Choate Rosemary Hall, optional testing cuts both ways: without a score to anchor the file, transcripts, recommendations, the interview and the essays carry more weight, and essays need specific experience rather than general enthusiasm. Beyond paperwork, be candid about the move. A 14-year-old will be three time zones away, your evening is their bedtime, travel from Orange County usually routes through New York or Boston, and dorm life means managing laundry, sleep and sick days alone. Arrange an adult in the Northeast who can reach campus on short notice. EDUBUS works from Irvine on school selection, SSAT preparation and private school planning, scheduled backward from the school’s published deadline.