Here's something I don't understand: Why is Univ. High School so good? It's true that Turtle Rock (within the TR circle) is about the most expensive area in Irvine. But the surrounding area is quite old and crappy. True that there's a little more Asian students than other HS's, but there is 10% Economically Disadvantaged Students (on the higher end in Irvine). Usually that indicates not so good acamemic record. But they still keep a soring 908 Academic Performance Index (per US News), way better than other schools, such as Northwood HS (886) with only 4% economically challenged students. How much does the vicinity to UCI is in play here?
Why is Univ. HS so good?
- Thread starter newbbie
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Uni High has a high API score, it's up to you to infer what that means. It doesn't mean it's "good" or "bad", it just means it has a high API score. People that send their kids to Uni put high importance on academic achievement, so they are usually very involved in their children's grades and most likely expect nothing but straight A's and whatever the perfect score is on the SAT now. It's also nice to be surrounded by like minded students that put such a premium on academic success. It's the students that do well, not because Uni High is such a great school.
Ah. Thanks for sharing other opinion. That makes sense - there's more than academic performance to a good HS. But what creteria is there to measure the others? Why US News benchmark "Best" HS's and colleges based on API performance? Also, why would anyone want to live in Irvine if not for the "good" schools - high API. Think about the housing price, tiny space, crowded everywhere... Just curious...
Bones has it correct. Lots of reasons to live in Irvine, although the high API scores of schools plays a big part. Irvine is also very safe. Irvine also caters to Asians (this is the biggest pool of buyers right now, both FCB and traditional buyers), tons or Asian supermarkets, restaurants, bakeries, churches, etc. Nice central location to north OC and south OC. Lots of new housing, some ppl just prefer new housing. Is Irvine overpriced? Well, of course it is, but lots of ppl love it here, I'm one of them. I do wish for more diversity in Irvine, I don't want Irvine to turn into little Asia, but it's probably too late. Hard to change inertia.
locolocal
New member
"But the surrounding area is quite old and crappy. "
I disagree. University Park is the best neighborhood in Irvine. There's more to great living environment than a pretty exterior.
University High probably scores better than the Irvine schools because it's been around longer and their administrators know how to play the game. From what I've heard, they're quicker to transfer the lower performing students to the alternative school or to encourage them to stay home sick on test day.
I disagree. University Park is the best neighborhood in Irvine. There's more to great living environment than a pretty exterior.
University High probably scores better than the Irvine schools because it's been around longer and their administrators know how to play the game. From what I've heard, they're quicker to transfer the lower performing students to the alternative school or to encourage them to stay home sick on test day.
irvinehomeshopper
Well-known member
Over privileged kids are under a lot of pressure to keep up with UNI academic peer pressure. Parents are spending a lot of dough for their kids in year round, all weekend and summer long commercial tutoring programs. Kids are not getting a break except for the 2 weeks of superficial vacation at Disneyworld. The trained monkeys of the academic circus resent their parents later in life for robbing their childhood. When applying for the top colleges these applicants are grouped together with their peers from UNI and have absolutely zero advantages in admission. Admission officers group applicants from the same cities and high schools then analyze test scores and GPA rankings from the schools to choose the few top candidates. The quota is limited to just a few spots for this area. This is why Blacks and Hispanics from the under privileged schools with an average stellar academic standing are chosen leaving many dozens of 4.0 GPA/2300 SAT applicants from UNI in disappointment each year.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mngFlW9yVyA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mngFlW9yVyA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
I can't speak for the UNI of today. However, I went to UNI in the 90s and now I live in Irvine. Never thought I would live in Irvine and never thought I would consider putting my children at UNI after what I went through. College was way easier than high school!
When I was going through high school, it seemed normal that everyone was just as focused as I was on academic achievement. My parents never pushed me to achieve that though. It felt like the environment at the school just encouraged this level of achievement. This is not to say there weren't students that were able to achieve a balance between academics, extracurricular activity, and social life, but certainly that was the exception and not the norm.
Looking back, some of the teachers were amazing and some were mediocre. Students achieved much on their own. In retrospect, it's a mini bubble within the larger bubble of Irvine. It just felt normal to be that way...and until you are exposed to life outside of UNI and Irvine, it's hard to have that perspective as a kid.
When I was going through high school, it seemed normal that everyone was just as focused as I was on academic achievement. My parents never pushed me to achieve that though. It felt like the environment at the school just encouraged this level of achievement. This is not to say there weren't students that were able to achieve a balance between academics, extracurricular activity, and social life, but certainly that was the exception and not the norm.
Looking back, some of the teachers were amazing and some were mediocre. Students achieved much on their own. In retrospect, it's a mini bubble within the larger bubble of Irvine. It just felt normal to be that way...and until you are exposed to life outside of UNI and Irvine, it's hard to have that perspective as a kid.
nosuchreality
Well-known member
There's also several ways students can be excluded from their results being included in the API results.
There are also scale calibration factors and other items. Different targets for different ethnic classifications, etc.
To be honest, it's quite disgusting at the slicing and dicing of stats done.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/documents/infoguide11.pdf
There are also scale calibration factors and other items. Different targets for different ethnic classifications, etc.
To be honest, it's quite disgusting at the slicing and dicing of stats done.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/documents/infoguide11.pdf
lovinlife - I agree with you 100%, college was way easier than high school. While I did not attend Uni High, I did go to a little school in Fullerton called Troy. The IB/Troy Tech program was utterly insane, competing with National Merit Scholars/AP Scholars/Cal Tech kids/MIT kids was just too much for me... I regret not attending the HS in my home district, probably would have ended up at a much better college...