Graphic by Katherine Chong ’25
There is a reason that Choate allows new students to take only five classes. At such an academically rigorous school, taking five subjects is already a heavy workload. On top of that, students join sports teams, clubs, ensembles, and other extracurriculars as they become acclimated to the school’s demands. Often, these demands and the pressures of attending a school like Choate cause students to take up a sixth class.
This academic rigor is ubiquitous on campus. Choate students feel a constant pressure to participate in everything they can. This culture promotes community engagement and intellectual curiosity, but there is no denying that it comes at a hefty cost: students are overworked.
During my first term at Choate, I took five courses, played JV Field Hockey, and joined several clubs. Although this was a decent start for a new student, I never felt like I was doing enough. Instead of focusing on the small achievements I had made throughout the term, I was constantly pressuring myself to sign up for more. I was always asking upperclassmen about electives or clubs that they were in and thinking about participating myself. It was a mixture of interest and excitement, but I also felt an obligation to meet Choate’s ever-accelerating standard of rigor.
While I don’t think Choate intentionally encourages students to overwork themselves, students nonetheless sense an unspoken standard of what is “doing enough” — that is, a standard impossible to meet. And so, despite the challenging time commitment of taking six classes, the majority of students still register, whether to explore something new, deepen their understanding of a subject, or, yes, boost their transcript.
On the other hand, sometimes students have no choice but to take six classes. Choate has seemingly endless credit requirements, and to fulfill them students can be required to add additional courses. In this way, the rigor that students feel appears written into the curriculum at Choate, permeating the academic culture with stress and competitiveness.
While taking six classes allows students to take full advantage of Choate’s thorough and expansive course catalogue, the lifestyle that taking a sixth course results in — of pulling all-nighters for homework or drinking way too much coffee and still nodding off in class — is not sustainable. The struggle behind a 4.0 GPA can easily go unacknowledged, while enrollment in tough courses and glowing term reports are flaunted. So, next time, before you decide to sign up for that sixth class, think about whether or not you’re sacrificing your mental health to reach an unattainable expectation of Choate rigor.
