Oakton High School

Oakton is a fantastic school. When I moved back to Fairfax, it was in the top 100 for Newsweek's rankings but has since fallen out of the listing. Don't know why. It is a challenging school and very competitive which can be stressful for the kids. I think my kids have benefited from the competition. Cafeteria is pretty bad (according to my children) but what school cafeteria isn't? The school is very supportive and builds in plenty of opportunities for the children to excel (i.e. Cougar Time and Collaboration days). Teachers stay late to work with kids after school hours most days. All in all, I am happy that we moved close to the school.
--Submitted by a parent

One word to describe OHS. Cliquey. Jocks and preps are all very numerous and annoying.
--Submitted by a student

My daughter has attended Oakton for 3 1/2 yrs. She is a senior this year. We LOVE OHS! Wonderful, dedicated teachers! Student body is very diverse which has been a positive attribute. OHS offers many activities. I do look forward to remodeling. The school is an old building however the class rooms have recent technology for teaching/ learning. My daughter has many wonderful & well rounded friends.
--Submitted by a parent

Oakton has been a great disappointment to me. First of all, hardly any of the students are motivated and just text or listen to their iPods during class. Even though I am taking all honors and am two years ahead of the normal math sequence, my classes still seem completely elementary and are not stimulating at all. My teachers are subpar and don't really know what they are talking about. They are also condescending and treat their students like they're kindergartners. I tried switching out of a class because the teacher was just unbearable, but the administration and guidance departments are just simply not there. I received no help at all and was told I would have to just deal with it. I am a freshman and luckily applying to several independent schools so I can spend as little time at Oakton as possible.
--Submitted by a student

I'm currently a sophomore at Oakton High School and just moved here from Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. I lived in Vienna 6 years ago so I'm not completely new in the area, however virtually all of my peers were new to me. At first Oakton seemed terrible to me and I assumed that was just because I was new. It's been a month to the day now since I started at Oakton and it has actually gotten worse in my eyes. I've even had several confrontations with students who were acting snotty, arrogant, and condescending, and unwelcoming. Also, I do not believe that the wealth of Oakton's residents contributes too much to the attitudes of students because I was new in Austin just a few years ago in an area less diverse, and more wealthy than Oakton and I didn't encounter this problem.
--Submitted by a student

Im a current student, sophmore, at oakton high school. I agree with most of the other reviews. Oakton is a very competitive and hectic school. Basically, slackers won't survive. The atmosphere is not really relaxed due to the tough, non ten point grading system that we have. Everyone is striving for their absolute best. We, the students, are overly uptight about grades and stressed out. Oakton high school is a very good school academic and sports wise but its really competitive so outsiders, new students, have a hard time catching up and making friends. The cliques are terrible here too. Most people are obsessed with material things such as clothing. (ex: Hollister). I encourage new students to hope for the best and try their hardest to keep up.
--Submitted by a student

I'm a parent of a current Oakton student and have been disappointed in my interactions with the student body, coaches, and staff. Luckily my child is a great athlete and good student; but for the most part, kids just slide through the system. It is supposedly very competitive in both academics and athletics but I think the hype is the higher than average income of the families who feed into the school. For the most part the kids are snotty and cliquey. Too bad.
--Submitted by a parent

I'm a junior at Oakton right now and I just recently moved to Northern Virginia. I must admit that I felt very out of place from the day I walked into the school. Coming from a smaller community, I was quite unprepared for the hectic and overly-competitive atmosphere. I gave Oakton a fair chance, but it was quite disappointing. The atmosphere is very unwelcoming and somewhat aloof and none of the students/staff really made me feel welcome. The school is full of cliques, and many of the kids are snobby and stuck-up. The school is extremely competitive in all aspects: sports, academics, etc. This is probably due to the wealthy community in which these students live. I found the school to be kind of a 'sink or swim' situation. It's hard to make friends and break into the tight circle of cliques. I don't recommend this school to the average student.
--Submitted by a student

Great school and athletic dept. My brother is there now and is doing a great job in preparing for his college experience.

I was really not impressed with Oakton. I felt the atmosphere was very unwelcoming and many of the students are in their tight knit cliques. It was a huge disappointment after all of the positive things I have heard. The leadership is lacking.