Upper Merion High School

First of all, the laptop lawsuit was not Upper Merion, but Lower Merion. Secondly, as a graduate of Upper Merion and a current college student, I only realized how lucky I was to have gone to UM after I left. It is a great district and the majority of the teachers are dedicated and knowledgable. Yes, the college counselors could have been more helpful, but students need to take initiative on their own, and in my opinion to criticize the district for students not going to Ivy League schools is ridiculous. Not to mention the fact that more than one student in the top of my class are now at Ivy League schools. My perspective may be skewed since I took all honors//AP classes, but compared to many of my current peers at college, I feel I am much more well prepared in many academic areas than they are, and I have Upper Merion to thank for that.
--Submitted by a student

Not a good school and the whole webcam law suit was neccessary they spied on me and my cousin. My cousin is a student there and he had his laptop at my house and they tapped into my network. I will never recommend any child go to this school. They even took pictures of me and tried to ruin my reputation. gong to twin valley high school which he loves. So i urge everyone to pull there kids out of here if they can. I will also never trust this school with laptops ever. The Principal is also not responsible for bullying.

As an alumni of this high school and current college student I am incredibly disappointed by how the school is being run. I took all AP classes and graduated in the top 10 of my class and felt incredibly unprepared for college when I started my freshman year. From my experience, the teachers did not care about their students and most students were never challenged. The school does not keep track of student success in college. As long as students get into state institutions like west chester and millersville, the school is satisfied. In years past, valedictorians and salutatorians have gone on to state schools unlike surrounding schools which send several top students to ivy league institutions. This level of complacency is unacceptable. Most of my friends who started college have dropped out and are now working minimum wage jobs. Sure, Upper Merion sends students to college but, what is the quality of the University that they are being sent to? The school is more worried about giving students computers and making technology the center of curriculum than they are about the students succeeding in college and beyond.

Get out of Upper Merion before you get to High School. In my sophomore year I began the application process to West Point. My counselor said 'Give it a try.' He went on to give me no help whatsoever in the application process and would not give me any direction or 'guidance.' As a previous poster noted, there is little drive by administration to send students to any exceptional schools. They are fine with students going to state schools. They believe that if they have done this then they have done their jobs. I was incredibly disappointed with the lack of administration accountability during my time at UM.
--Submitted by a student

To see a community of caring, leadership and a great amount of dedication to their students success is found in Upper Merion Area School District, this is their passion. I am proud to be a part of such a great district.
--Submitted by a parent

This is an excellent school. I would not send my child anywhere else!!!
--Submitted by a parent

As a parent I couldn't ask for them to do anything more for my children. Great teachers and coaches.
--Submitted by a parent

Let's be honest... Upper Merion isn't as good as other public schools in the surrounding. They not only lack in academics, but as well as in the athletic and extracurriculars department. High schoolers recieve terrible college counseling; don't expect individualized attention. AP/honors classes are plentiful, but everyone can get in if parents meet with the school; consequently, the classes are a joke. The athletes have so much potential, but the coaches don't know what they're doing. A good number of students are 'unsavory' to say the least (example: drugs in the bathrooms) and it seems like teachers just choose to turn a blind eye. Of course, there's certainly worse schools out there but for the amount of taxes you pay, it's not worth it. If you're looking at buying a house here, I'd advise you to look someplace else or send your child to a private school.
--Submitted by a student

I am a recent Upper Merion graduate, overall UM offers many more AP courses than the schools that some of my college friends went to which can be beneficial. Many of the teachers are very good at what they do and are always happy to help their students. One issue I had at UM was when I was looking for a college. My counselor I was assigned to was less than helpful with this making it difficult for me to get the information I needed sent to the different schools. However since I did much of my college search on my own it wasn't a big issue. The only other problem I had was that they count a '0 period' before school band/orchestra meeting as course credit. This forced me out of the top 20 in my class even though my grades were better because they had more 'credits.'
--Submitted by a student

They offer good sounding classes, though you cannot schedule due to limited availability. Beware we were only able to get half of the computer classes our son wanted and you do not find out until right before the semester. Example: We turned a 4 year course semester guide 9th grade semester 1 Basic Web Design, We scheduled Advanced Web Design for semester 2. we did not find out until a few weeks before the second semester that he was not able to take Advanced Web design. We were unable to schedule him for that class in 10th grade either. Have had other sceduling problems with C++, Creative Writing, math, science and SAT prep classes.
--Submitted by a parent