Lowell High School

My eldest daughter is a sophomore at Lowell and is doing quite well. All though she is not at the top of all of her classes, she still has a real sense of accomplishment and pride at succeeding with her often advanced curriculum. She also feels confident that she s being well prepared for college and really looks forward to going. Lastly, although Lowell has a reputation of being hypercompetitive and antisocial the kids are just kids. After the first month it just seems, well, normal. Still, Lowell is not for every student (due to the high demands) and some classes are just not that great, as other posters have mentioned nothings perfect. If your San Francisco student is academically oriented, and you get the Lowell invitation letter in the mail, please follow up and don't be intimidated by rumor!
--Submitted by a parent

Like every school, Lowell has its share of professional, principled, enthusiastic teachers. But recently, there's been a "disconnect" between teachers and students, as seen in the poor morale of the students, widespread cheating, their grades, and STAR scores. In particular, I'm referring to my two daughters' Algebra and Biology classes. Look up Lowell's recent test scores by grade level and subject-It's on the Calif. Dept of Educ. website. The more parents I speak with, the more I realize that they are sending their children for private, expensive, TUTORING to compensate for incompetent or unfair teachers. Keep that in mind when comparing STAR results! -L.Lee
--Submitted by a parent

Lowell is the best high school in Northern California, public or private. There is a lot of misinformation from the haters. It is hard, but college is much easier and no shock. Also, they send 100 kids a year to Cal, 30 to Stanford, 50 to the Ivy League and over 300 to the UC System, out of 660. Also, you'll get respect in college if you go to Lowell, because it's public. If you go to a private school, people will say you just got into Cal or whatever college because your parents are rich and you're priveleged. From Lowell, they'll say you earned it, and you will have. Lowell has higher SAT averages than any private or public school in SF. The teachers are probably just slightly better than average, but all the students are good, they've had 1 pregnancy in the past 30 years and 60% are girls.
--Submitted by a parent