How's your high school?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Hey everyone, so basically what makes your high school unique I just want to see how other people view their high schools and here are some questions... so.</p>

<p>a) how many students go to your school
b) what's good/ what do you like about your school?
c) whats bad/ what you dislike about your school?
d) Do you feel like your school has enough opp?
e) if you had the option would you choose to change schools??</p>

<p>and anything else you'd like to add</p>

<p>My answers. </p>

<p>a)My school has 4000 students; </p>

<p>b)I like the fact that despite the size te students really do like eachother and everyone is like a family, I like the fact that sports bring the school together, and I LOVE the teachers and the guidance Dept.</p>

<p>c) I don't like the fact that because of the area the school is in ( a lot of violence and gang activity) people press judgement before even stepping foot in the building. I don't like one of the AP's because she seems to not understand the dynamic of the school and is on a power trip.</p>

<p>d)My school is FILLED with opprotunities for everyone! We offer all but 5 AP courses, Ther is a nursing suite for those who want to pursue a career as a nurse- this program also has the 180 hour internship, my school has a daycare for the community and the students who want to be in childcare run it ( with a teacher's supervision of course), there is an autobody shop where those in the community can come to have minor repairs done ( dents, paint jobs, oil change) There is a cosmeotology suite (aka salon) were the students and community can come and get their eyebrows, nails, hair done at a discounted price, theres the kitchen where the students are taught by a chef theres also welding and cabinet making as well as other stuff like a Mac Lab for those interested in journalism- this is where they film the morning news for our school... all of these houses allo for kids to go to places and see the jobs donein action as well as giving certificates for most at the end of the year.</p>

<p>e) despite the reputation that follows my school, I wouldn't change it or my experience for anything else.</p>

2

<p>My school has 480 students.</p>

<p>I love the small close knit feeling of everybody here. And that’s it.</p>

<p>I hate the low expectations of many of my classmates. Many of them don’t want to earn anything past their bachelor’s at a state school. Also, I hate not having the ability to take APs.</p>

<p>I feel that my school does offer enough opportunities to get involved for being in one of the worst counties in NC. There are many clubs, the normal sports, a nationally acclaimed marching band. There are plenty of places to volunteer, but it takes some digging and snooping to find places. Lots of opportunity to get involved in education and healthcare.</p>

<p>I actually want to leave for a better school an hour away that is known for many Intel STS winners and its impact on the state of NC. I actually finished applying last week and am anticipating results in April.</p>

<p>Sent from my ADR6350 using CC App</p>

3

<p>kinda identity revealing but my posts are already revealing so why not</p>

<p>1) 3000?
2) the atmosphere, the clean campus, the diversity, my counselor…
3) teacher incompetence
4) many opps but i feel like there could be more :stuck_out_tongue:
5) NOT AT ALL :slight_smile: i’m satisfied. though many people at my school whine about their grades and say they want to change (but they never do lulz). so i guess i would add “whiny ****ing kids” to #3</p>

4

<p>a) Less than 400.
b) Highly advanced, lots of free time to participate in other activities.
c) Really, really competitive.
d) More opportunities than I could have imagined.
e) Nope, I had to apply to get into this school. xD</p>

5

<p>a) 2200
b) the building is alright, some of my teachers are really good, I like that the students at my school don’t try at all and so it was really easy for me to make top ten and they give out free caps and gowns if you get over a 26 on the ACT. Zero competition whatsoever.
c) the people suck. I honestly just feel like I’m in a larger version of middle school. People don’t know how to walk in the halls and slam doors in your face all the time. There’s a daycare at my school too-- for the children of students. Also all the “college fairs” my school has had consist of booths from the community college and local university. So fairly low expectations for everyone. And due to lack of student interest there are a lot of clubs and classes I can’t be in since they require a certain number of people to form. And that blows.
d) Not at all. I wish there was more to do. I feel so disadvantaged compared to some CC’ers that I read about who have a buttload to do all the time, involving things that my school doesn’t even offer.
e) Yes. Preferably to a school that isn’t in this city because the other three are just as bad.</p>

6

<p>a) ~2400 students
b) Some of the teachers are pretty good. The people aren’t stuck up.
c) The overwhelming majority of the students don’t care about school at all. There are a lot of questionable people at my school; there are a lot of fights and pregnant girls. For this reason, a lot of the faculty treat us all like criminals. Some of the teachers don’t care about the students at all, and the administration does little to get rid of these teachers. There is too much emphasis placed on sports, and the arts receive little funding.
d) In terms of ECs, I think there are quite a few opportunities. And there are a lot of choices for electives. There needs to be more AP classes IMO (We can only take one AP classes before our junior year)
e) Probably, but there aren’t any schools within a half hour drive that are significantly better than my school.</p>

7

<p>a) about 500
b) pretty easy as a senior, dont get in trouble for cutting class, not too hard to catch up on material.
c) alot of the people have just gotten boring/annoying. 30 mins for lunch, the fact that it is school/
d) ehhh yeah, just the right amount i think
e) not now that I am a senior. anyway, i don’t want to go to an all guys school which is where i would have to go if i changed.</p>

8

<p>a) 2100-ish
b) Our football team (!!!), fine arts program and the clubs. Foreign language teachers are excellent and I will miss them dearly.
c) Everything else! The math and English teachers don’t care about the students whatsoever (or possibly it’s just the ones I’ve had). The counselors also couldn’t care less about the students – that is, unless you approach them. Then they’ll pretend to care just so the students will leave them alone. Students who are involved in our clubs are fake, to put it nicely. Too many pregnant girls, drugs and violence.
d) There could be more.
e) Yes yes and yes. I attempted to many many times, but I’m graduating in a few months, so.</p>

9

<p>a) About 1400
b) The education’s good. We’re one of the top public schools in the state (if not the top). What I really love are the music programs. Some teachers are also very good. Its a safe clean school too. Pretty much nothing bad goes down.<br>
c) Our school doesn’t offer very many APs and no IBs. You can’t even take an AP until junior year! Sometimes the administration’s too uptight and they treat students too much like children at times.<br>
d) Plenty of EC opportunities but not in the Honors/AP area.<br>
e) No way! My parents moved to this area so my brother and I could attend the top public school in the state. Unless I went private, I would never change.</p>

10

<p>a) 500 students total (about 120 in my class)</p>

<p>b) It’s a very close-knit community. There are many opportunities to get to know everyone, students and professors alike. Because we are not a large school, class sizes are capped at 25. Most of my upper-level classes this year have ~18 people. This allows lots of academic discussion and classroom debates :)</p>

<p>c) Class sizes are tiny, sometimes intimidatingly so! If you’re absent, it’s easy for the professor to recognize that (especially in discussion classes where there are generally 10-15 students).</p>

<p>d) No :frowning: Unfortunately, because we are such a small school, everything is limited. The few clubs we have are mostly competition-based (FBLA, Sci Oly, National History Day, etc).</p>

<p>e) Never! Even though we have limited extracurricular options, the school overall is excellent. Because the school is small, each student receives lots of attention from professors and counselors and other admin. Being in a small community does foster some cutthroat competition at the top, but I would never trade that for the classroom attention and small class sizes we do have.</p>

11

<p>a) Around 1,700. </p>

<p>b) The teachers I’ve had so far are great at explaining their subject of expertise. None of them are too strict or too laid back. The counselors (mine, at least) are also very helpful. </p>

<p>c) Some of the kids really get on my nerves. Especially the profound redneck population that make up around 15-20% of the total student body. These are the kind of people who wear NASCAR and Monster Energy Drink shirts all the time and spit every chance they get just so they can appear “cool” (which they don’t). Most of them drop out and become farmers for the rest of their lives, though. </p>

<p>d) Eh, not to me. There are quite a few AP/Honors classes, but no IBs, and only “average” clubs are offered (Spanish Club, Science Olympiad, NHS, ect.).</p>

<p>e) In my general area, no. But I wouldn’t hesitate to go to those 5-star suburban high schools just an hour north of where I live.</p>

12

<p>a) I technically go to two schools. A magnet school for the gifted that my district operates and a home school, both with around 1200 students.</p>

<p>b) My home high school is inner city and the average student who attends it scores 18.2 on the ACT. Because of this, I spend most of my day at the magnet school, where they have 24 AP classes, as well as a fast track to graduate high school in two years, while fulfilling all the credit requirements for my state university, and the full IB diploma. The teachers there are great and the students are too. My state takes the ITBS test and you must have scored in the 99th percentile of our state to be admitted, so the students are very dedicated and intelligent. The students, I would say, are the best part. It has students from 30 high schools in my area.</p>

<p>c) This will mainly talk about my home high school. It has no honors classes, advanced classes, or AP classes and the few classes that I’ve had to take there, I learned nothing in because of the students. The teachers cannot control them and the class always breaks down into us doing homework at home or failing the class, with most students taking the latter option. </p>

<p>d) My home high school, no, but the gifted magnet school does for sure. IB diploma/24 APs/accelerated classes/honors, I think the opportunities are plentiful. In addition to that, the magnet school has many extracurricular activities (academic in nature) that are very successful, thanks to the high rigor of the classes there bringing core strengths to the team, such as reading and math skills.</p>

<p>e) If I had the option, I would never attend my home school, but technically to keep attending the magnet school, I have to take at least one class there. In my area, there aren’t any other schools I would rather attend.</p>

13

<p>a) how many students go to your school
750ish
b) what’s good/ what do you like about your school?
Enough smart kids, challenging courses, good teachers (if you take the right courses)
c) whats bad/ what you dislike about your school?
Too small, bad sports teams, not enough opportunities for clubs, not enough class offerings
d) Do you feel like your school has enough opp?
Not at all. We have like 15 clubs, and none for what I’m interested in
e) if you had the option would you choose to change schools??
Yeah. The school a town over is larger, has more opportunities, better sports teams, and more courses without compromising quality of classes</p>

14

<p>a)Maybe around 500 at most
b)Mostly nerds
c)Its HARD and ghetto
d)Yeah all AP academics and college advising for under privilege kids
e)Everyday I wake up knowing I could change if I wanted to. I don’t want to though</p>

15

<p>a) We have about 1000 students I think, we’ve shrunk a bit since I was a freshman.
b) I like that I’ve basically had all of my AP/honors courses with the same kids since freshman year, and we all know each other pretty well as a group. I like that we have good sports teams, and a couple brilliant teachers, if you’re lucky enough to get them.
c) We also have a lot of incredibly bad teachers. I had the same teacher for freshman year geography, and sophomore year modern world history, and she geniunely thought that Tokyo was in China. And she’d point at a map and tell us that east Africa was actually west. Our math teachers are pretty shocking, as are most of the English teachers. Also, because it’s small and a feeder school for many of the local Catholic elementary schools, I’ve known a lot of these kids for a long time, so we’re all kind of sick of each other.
d) Ehh, it’s okay. Academic-wise, we have one AP before junior year (Euro), and not a massive amount after that… 8 total, I think? And one of them, AP Chem, you can only take during a zero period class, so you have to come to school early. Apart from AP Bio, that’s our only science AP, so we’re kind of struggling there. We also don’t have any AP/honors foreign languages. Extra curricular wise, we’re decent. Like I said, we have some great sports teams, but some of them are really competitive to get on. We have speech/debate, Model UN (that’s really selective though and you can only get in if you had the moderator as a teacher freshman year), and a bunch of clubs related to religion and service.
e) Maybe, I feel incredibly sheltered and closed in, but I have had a relatively good experience and some amazing teachers who really helped to shape my passions. This is the only private high school in my area though, and the public one I’d be in isn’t that great.</p>

16

<p>a) how many students go to your school</p>

<p>250, 6-12.</p>

<p>b) what’s good/ what do you like about your school?</p>

<p>The kids there are absolutely some of the most kind, compassionate young people I’ve met. There’s such a strong community and so much acceptance that it’s certainly one of the safest school environments I can possibly think of. Kids are really embraced by the faculty and treated as individuals. There’s a sense that the school belongs to the kids, too. I love the opportunity to take classes at a college right next to us. The service opportunities are incredible and the size means you get a lot of individual attention and a lot of chances to try new things you might not have pursued at a different school. The college counseling department is amazing and the school has a very heavy emphasis on the arts. You’re not just a number.</p>

<p>c) whats bad/ what you dislike about your school?</p>

<p>No leveled classes drives me nuts. The school tries hard to appeal to the two ends of the spectrum there (really bright kids ------ really challenged kids) and I think sometimes it’s further to the challenged side than is really healthy or stimulating for the bright kids. The Spanish department is useless. They don’t give us Veteran’s Day off and some other holiday because someone wrote a letter saying they disagreed with it. The student body tends to wind up one degree of romantic separation from everyone else in their class by senior year, which is icky and everyone knows it (I date outside, thank God). </p>

<p>d) Do you feel like your school has enough opp?</p>

<p>Yes! My school has amazing opportunities. </p>

<p>e) if you had the option would you choose to change schools??</p>

<p>Absolutely not. My school definitely changed my life for the better. It’s not perfect but it’s exactly where I want to be.</p>

17

<p>a) how many students go to your school</p>

<p>~1600</p>

<p>b) what’s good/ what do you like about your school?</p>

<p>A lot of the teachers are VERY knowledgeable and good at teaching. I feel like students in my school are far more prepared for college work than students from nearby schools. Plus, lot of my school’s faculty have attended prestigious universities (we even have a teacher who is also a professor at Princeton) before so they can offer students a lot of help for college apps. </p>

<p>There are also a pretty good amount of really chill people, so there are plenty of kids to hang out and be friends with. </p>

<p>c) whats bad/ what you dislike about your school?</p>

<p>My school has crazy grade deflation, and this really screws most of us (minus the super-overachievers who are pretty numerous) over. In some AP classes, only one to three people are able to get As. However, over 50% of students in most AP classes get 5s on the AP exam, so my teachers definitely do their job well in preparing us for the exams. Weirdest thing is, even with my school’s grade deflation, there are still some geniuses who manage to get 4.0 GPAs. These are the types of kids who got 2200s on the SAT in middle school.</p>

<p>In terms of the students, my school’s very cliquey. Also, while my school has a large population of overachievers, there are also a ton of dumb kids who are obnoxious and do drugs every day. </p>

<p>Lately, the rules have been getting pretty strict. For example, in study hall, the teachers don’t let us leave our designated spot. It’s so ridiculous that they guard the entrances to prevent people from getting out and take attendance 4 times to make sure that no one’s cutting. Sometimes I feel like I’d have more freedom in a prison than in my school. </p>

<p>d) Do you feel like your school has enough opp?</p>

<p>Yeah. It offers 21 AP classes, tons of clubs/organizations, a competent guidance department, and more. </p>

<p>e) if you had the option would you choose to change schools??</p>

<p>Sometimes, I wish I went to a less competitive school. While I learned a lot from my HS’ strong curriculum, I feel like I could have far better chances of getting into college if I went to a less competitive school. Right now, I’m guessing I’m in the top 25% of my school. However, if I went to a nearby school that’s average in strength, I’d probably be at least in the top 5%.</p>

18

<p>a) how many students go to your school</p>

<p>1200 for grades 7-12, so about 200 per grade.</p>

<p>b) what’s good/ what do you like about your school?</p>

<p>Most teachers are incredible, and there are fascinating electives offered in senior year. We have really smart kids (you have to do very well on a test to get in) and pretty much everyone is focused on academics. No one is ever teased/deemed an outcast for studying and getting good grades. A lot of people are unique, and we don’t really have a “popular” clique, so people are generally liked for who they are and how interesting they are instead of for their money/clothing/etc. I think there’s a strong community because everyone’s just trying to survive together, so frequently people are uploading study guides for each other or answering questions for each other or editing papers for each other – it’s usually a very supportive atmosphere. We also have a great theater program, and our English department in general is fantastic.</p>

<p>c) whats bad/ what you dislike about your school?</p>

<p>Sometimes I wish I wasn’t in a grade with what feels like 199 overachievers. There are kids here who are incredibly intelligent, and although there’s not much competition as such, it’s hard not to compare yourself. There are some awful teachers, and there are teachers who are way harder than others – for example, the average in my friend’s junior English class is an A, while the average in my class is a B- (and these are all smart, hard-working kids). And there is SOOOOO much work.</p>

<p>d) Do you feel like your school has enough opp?</p>

<p>Yeah – we don’t offer that many APs (or at least not in the humanities), but that’s because we don’t believe in them, and seniors get to take a schedule that’s entirely electives/outside internships/teaching internships. We send a huge percentage of students to top colleges, and there are a lot of extracurriculars available, although sometimes there’s not enough time to do them. The only thing really limiting opportunities is the fact that you’re competing with other well-qualified kids for college admissions.</p>

<p>e) if you had the option would you choose to change schools??</p>

<p>No. I would’ve gone to a magnet school, and this is one of the only ones with a strong humanities program and without a huge student body. Similar schools don’t have as strong or as interesting a community.</p>

19

<p>a) ~2000 for grades 9-12</p>

<p>b) that it’s basically an extremely good school. we’re one of the best in the state, so i do feel like i’m getting a very good education. we also have some amazing teachers that i really would say are life changing.</p>

<p>c) SO competitive. some kids have a suicide pact if they don’t get into HYPSM… also, often very little understanding of/interest in the “outside world” since we are mostly middle class and white/asian. not diverse at all. school often leans too math-science-y</p>

<p>d) oh god yes, sometimes too much haha. at my school, if you want to succeed (ie, go to a “good” college) you absolutely will be able to. </p>

<p>e) hmm, sometimes i think about that. we lived in europe for a bit, and i also went to school in virginia, so i have seen the other options. i kind of wish we’d stayed in spain, but i do think my school’s pretty good. my parents also considered sending me to the “alternative” charter school, which would have been cool but VERY different (it’s challenging, but they don’t give grades etc). but at my school i’ve met some really amazing people and it’s been quite an experience, so no, i don’t think i would have transferred. most likely.</p>

20

<p>a) how many students go to your school
b) what’s good/ what do you like about your school?
c) whats bad/ what you dislike about your school?
d) Do you feel like your school has enough opp?
e) if you had the option would you choose to change schools??</p>

<p>a) ~800, about 200 per class.</p>

<p>b) Classes sizes are generally small; better opportunity to form good connections with teachers and receive more attention.</p>

<p>c) School is too small, wish the class size was much bigger. Also hate the limited academic extracurricular activities. Only one is academic league. Would’ve liked quiz bowl, science bowl, mu alpha theta, etc. </p>

<p>d) No.</p>

<p>e) Depends on what school. If I was entering 9th grade, then yes, but after, then no.</p>