San Marino High School

I didn't really like the hypercompetitive atmosphere at this school. A lot of opportunities at this school, esp. student led ones, are unfulfilling or otherwise straight bullshit. There are some gems (in the people and the activities) but they are few and far between.(For what it's worth, I now go to Caltech, but I don't attribute that to my high school experience as a whole.)

As much hype as this school gets , as being some perfect nice rich school, i find it funny that San Marino of all places has a GANG, yea thats right, a GANG presence. For a school in such an affluent area , there is absolultey no excuse to have kids running around pretending they are gangbangers . To be fair, unless you know these people your not really gonna hear much about them, but what do you expect? Every parent in the city would freak if they found out that their kids were classmates with thugs. Its low-key i admit but there is defiantly a gang element at this school, hope that ur kids don't run with this crowd if they attend san marino. Yet despite that fact, the school is till very clean and well kept, as are the majority of the students. The teachers range from decent to excellent so of course thats a positive. Still, the fact that this school tolerates the gang elements makes me sick, its a problem that should have been dealt with a long time ago

Sadly, I must agree with the last reviewer who said that San Marino HS is not what is advertised to be, but for different reasons. So before you spend that 2 million dollars buying a house in the district, know that: the academic offerings of the school are simply substandard for a HS in a district of such affluence. Kids are registering for classes for the next academic year now, and we have discovered among other things that: - there are NO classes offered in computer science/programming - there is NO AP Physics class of any kind offered - no student is allowed to take a second science class, even as an elective - scheduling constraints (partly because all 1000 students from freshman to seniors have lunch during the same period) make it extremely difficult to take a full suite of AP classes during the four years of HS, which has been the standard at top academic high schools across the country for at least 20 years. The academic rigor of the curriculum needs to be improved, and there seems to be an unwillingness among the school administration to be responsive to these issues. The school puts students at a disadvantage for college admissions.

As a current student at San Marino High School, I only have two words for the families looking to register here: STAY AWAY. The teachers used to be great, but as each year goes on, the quality declines. All of our greatest teachers are either gone, or are about to retire. The only reason why we have such a high API is because we are fueled by tutors. My peers are extremely close-minded and I have seen my friends being bullied because he/she was gay/lesbian/transgender (my friend moved out because of this). Most of the student body is loaded with money, so don't be surprised if you see a student dragging his $900 leather backpack across the dirty grounds of the hallways. The environment is not supportive- everyone is whispering behind each other's backs, trying to beat someone else in the college application process. There is also a lot of cheating in the school. A lot of people have moved here recently, citing that our academics are top-notch, but they have been lied to. So please. If you want your child to have the best education possible, stay away from San Marino High School.