Pine Crest School

I was a lifer at PC, attending the school for 14 years. From my earliest days there, the school has taught me to set my goals high in addition to the skills and confidence needed to achieve them. Critical thinking is stressed starting in lower school, and character education begins early on. PC builds mature, well-rounded individuals. In middle and upper school, the academics are rigorous and not for everyone. PC is a college preparatory school in the true sense of the term - they are not simply getting you into college, but preparing you to succeed in college and beyond. Attending a top tier college, I have seen many struggle with the workload and rigor; I have felt more than prepared for everything I have encountered in college as have my other friends from PC. Many teachers hold PhD degrees and/or taught at the college level, yet they choose to teach PC kids because they know the students here have the drive and curiosity to devote themselves to whatever the academic subject, fine art, or sport is. The sense of community at the school is my fondest memory - I have made lifetime friends with not only students but also faculty and administrators.

I think this school is bad school why waste all your money on a school that does nothing for your child when you could go to Rickards Honors Academy. In the Honors Academy your child could earn lots and lots of credits for high school and college.

I'M YOUR AVERAGE JOE PARENT.As a parent,I have come to the realization that there are pros and cons about every school.Let's start with the bad.Yes as mentioned in some reviews,there are tons of kids driving much nicer cars than their teachers.Who cares,keep your kid HUMBLE at home.Parents RAISE kids,not SCHOOLS.Yes, it is not diversed enough.The real world doesn't look like that.Get your kid involved in activities outside school.Yes,they care very much about how many of their kids go to top schools.Isn't how greatness is measured in academics? I hear sensless comments such as they care too much about college placement.If you don't care about what college your kid ends up attending,choose the worse public school in your area then. The curriculum is tough.In their introduction,the school clearly specifies that it is for ABOVE AVERAGE IQ students.Some mention that they have money to waste on new buildings.It's true,but unfortunately rich people mostly donate to those who already have a lot and Pinecrest rely heavily on them.The donors want to see the school looking flawless. The school does an amazing job preparing kids for college,but I strongly agree that it's not for every kid.
--Submitted by a parent

The campus is beautiful. The curriculum appears to be very good. The teachers are hit or miss. Our chiild told us that her current lower school teacher threatened her to stop crying or our child would not see the parents later in the day during a special visit. The teacher never asked our child why? This is unacceptable. This very well may not be the exact language used, but this is the understanding of a very young child. Based on this event as well as other mishaps, this rating is very low considering the prestige of this school. We will try to remedy this situation. If our child continues to go to Pinecrest and our opinion changes, I will update or post another rating in the future.
--Submitted by a parent

These reviews seem to be very inaccurate, and I truly doubt any of these people know what Pine Crest is really like. Yes, we have a new Upper School building- for a good reason. The old one was too small to fit the large amount of new students in high school. The new buildings are made to be convenient to students, not for show. As for the workload, I myself never spent more than two hours on homework, and that's on really busy days. Most students say they only have one hour of homework every night, which they're free to finish during their free period. Not everyone at Pine Crest is the same, as the person with the newest review seems to be implying. Many students are on financial aid, and do not live the wealthy lifestyle that person is describing. Money is not what gets your way into Pine Crest; scores are. Even the richest kid on earth wouldn't be able to get in if he was failing before. The kids never have an excuse to do badly. Teachers offer extra help nearly every day of the week. They are very willing to help a student if they have trouble. I love Pine Crest and I can't find any faults with the school. I would recommend it to any parent.

This school is an extension of the Coral RIdge Country Club, where most families have memberships. Pine Crest is just part of the package, along with the 7-series Beemer, the botoxed trophy wife/mother, the gold Rolex, etc. College placement has slipped dramatically as Pine Crest's academic reputation among top colleges and universities has gond down the tube. Students individuality is NOT tolerated; students are molded like a piece of clay to be Pine Crest clones. I'm thankful we only enrolled our son for one year and then got him out.......into Virginia Shuman Young Elementary. Within the first three months, six of his former classmates parents contacted us to see whether we could help them get their kids admitted to VSY. Five of these familes were put off that their money couldn't get them in and thought that writing a check to VSY could make a difference. That pretty much sums up what Pine Crest is all about.
--Submitted by a parent

As a parent who may move to the South Florida area, I am interested in Pine Crest. However, after reading many reviews written by students or former students, I am a bit dismayed by the grammatical errors so many are exhibiting. I have heard many complaints about constant pressure and a heavy workload. Study after study has shown that more homework does not equate to better learning. Can anyone tell me how many hours middle and high-school students are expected to study after being in school all day? I am starting to wonder if a public school in a good part of town might be the better option.
--Submitted by a parent

It's been a decade since I graduated from Pine Crest and I still have mixed feelings about it. I always wondered if I would have been happier somewhere else. While it's true that they send a lot of kids to top colleges, many fall through the cracks at PC because they're not "Harvard bound". I rarely felt anyone had my best interest at heart, or would be receptive to a problem because I was middle of the pack in most areas. When you look at the financial problems Florida's public schools are having, the fact that Pine Crest is replacing 20 year old buildings to construct a new Upper School shows how out of touch they are with the real world. College placement is excellent, but predictably too much focus is on getting into a top rated school instead of finding the best fit. If your kid isn't a basketball dunking math prodigy, I think they'd be happier somewhere else.

The sincere passion that the teachers and administraion have for the students here at Pine Crest is beyond words. This IS what a every school strives to achieve. I had no idea that a school could even be like this...it was like seeing the light for the first time. Very happy here...I highly recommend this school.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter is a "lifer". She is graduating from high school next week from Pine Crest and started in pre-K. Yes, it is tough. She has worked hard but has made wonderful friends and had a great experience there. She recently told me "thanks for sending me to Pine Crest". She has developed fabulous organizational and study skills. She is better at this than most graduate students. The school is BEAUTIFUL and has fantastic facilities. And it consistently gets students into the top colleges in the US. She has friends who will be attending Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, Penn, Stanford and other top schools and my daughter will also be attending a top 20 college. Downsides are that it is expensive and elite. The kids drive nicer cars than the teachers. But they do work hard to get the kids to recognize their privileged status and realize this confers a responsibility too.
--Submitted by a parent