Torrey Pines High School

AWFUL. My son has attended both Canyon Crest and Torrey Pines. At TP the non-AP classes are literally a joke. My son had just a few teachers that I would consider "teachers". The rest were just collecting a paycheck. The classes consisted assigning book reading (she could have done that at home) watching movies and more often than not over an hour of time with literally nothing going on. I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Check for yourself. Manufacture a reason to be on campus and then walk by your kids' classroom a couple times. I'm incredulous. These kids don't stand a chance in the hyper-competitive flat world they'll live in. IN CONTRAST CCA was pretty good. There was actually instruction going on in all the classes. I don't know where a lot of these reviews are coming from but this school is seriously flawed and needs to be completely re-examined. I like to think I'm a focus-on-the-positives person and I can't remember the last bad review I gave but this education from a supposedly "top tier" school is truly appalling. LOOK for yourself. TP is resting on its laurels. Kids are succeeding in spite of the place.

My child is now in her third (junior) year at TPHS. She picked TPHS in part because several good friends were going there and in part because it is walking distance from our home. Two+ years later I am very glad this was her choice. The education she is getting is top notch. Her teachers have very high expectations for students which her mostly very motivated fellow students enjoy meeting. Both academic and sports achievement are celebrated. In several different classes she has been asked to do collaborative projects in which she has learned to work with teams of students with diverse capacities and skills learning management and negotiation skills that I did not learn until my thirties. Her walking helps her develop independence and a community orientation and is good for the environment. I also like that her sports training is done far from freeway (particle and chemical) pollution.

This is one of the schools that have alot of variety. Because of this the teachers cannot discipline or answer students' questions very well. There is never a sense of honor nor a sense of what it feels to be moral and great. Additionally the students are provided with so much menial work that they become deficient at self-awareness. Furthermore the teachers mainly try to provide care for the lower levelled students. For example a teacher took 30 minutes lecturing the importance of homework. Our children are already in high school. They already should know this and it's very scary that this is happening. Furthermore some people may argue that the school has many Ivy Leagues and good students.That's because they do their own work. Any belief that the school can help them in any extracurriculars very deeply is a fallacy.

As an alum of TP I still am filled with TP pride. Top notch academics athletics and extracurriculars combined with the motivation and drive of a significant portion of the student body makes TP one of the top high schools in the nation. The only thing that will hold your child back at this school is his or her motivation as essentially all the resources available to them are at their fingertips. I attend an Ivy League university and TP did an amazing job to both academically and socially prepare me. In fact I can say with 100% certainty that many of my TP teachers provided better teaching than my professors at college and some of my courses from TP (particularly in science and math) were more challenging and in-depth than comparable courses at my Ivy League institutition. TP was excellent preparation for college and the real world.

Great school with great teachers. Highly competitive; will get you into an Ivy League college if you do well here. Principal is open to all fair and consistant. Would recommend this school to anyone with super high standards.

I have been a parent at Torrey PInes for 6 years and it is the 'grand dame' of all public high schools in San Diego County. We moved to the area so our children could attend this high school.

The thing about Torrey Pines is that it is in one of the wealthiest (if not the weathiest) areas of San Diego county. Therefore a lot of the students here have parents who have poured money into their education including private tutors and college counselers. This does make the academics very competetive for students who would be in the top 5% at other schools. This is the only thing that I have found that I do not like at TP though. There are so many school-sponsored extracurricular activities to get involved in as well as a ton of clubs. There is a place for everybody as long as you find your niche. There is just a certain pride that comes with going to TP that other schools don't have and I am definetly proud to say that I'm a Falcon!

Torrey Pines really focuses on its high-achieving students. It pours many many resources into AP and honors classes to the detriment of the average student who wants a high-quality yet not overly intense schedule. It is plainly obvious that TPHS funnels all of its best teachers to its advanced courses leaving the average and sub-par teachers to college-prep classes. So bottom line if you are an average student you will get the short end of stick from Torrey Pines.

Honestly I don't think that TP does cater to the highly motivated students. Smart kids do well because they're smart motivated and come from good families. No matter who you are it's impossible to get in to see your counselor...as to the review below A students don't get in right away. But neither does anyone-- it's just a very unfriendly cutthroat competitive place and it's incredibly easy (no matter who you are) to get lost.

Torrey Pines caters to highly motivated students that are doing really well. If this is your child then it is a good choice. But if your child is simply average then they will be lost in the scuffle of making sure the best and brightest continue to get ahead. My child a very average kid received A B & C s and graduated with a B average. Why then after taking placement testing at a JUNIOR College were they placed in bonehead math and English? My other observation is that my kids either NEVER got to see their counselor or were finally given an audience with the pope after 2-3 weeks. Again the A students get in right away.

i think that torrey pines offers something for everyone- exellent average and bad students. For those interested in particular subjects there are teachers who are buffs in their field and can establish meaningful relationships with you. the teachers are of course varied in their skill like any high school. overall i think the strength of this scholol is that it allows you to deterimine your own path and supports you.

I feel that something needs to be done about the homework load. Has anyone ever heard of balance? There are only so many hours in a day. We students are going to be burnt out before we hit college! Give us a break. We can still learn with less homework. How about the choices or options with homework and then you pay the consequences as far as a bad grade if you do not know your stuff? Or does that look bad for the school's reputation if everything is not perfecto as far as scores? In a nutshell we need to get away from concentrating on test scores and start thinking about the overall success confidence and happiness of each and every individual student in this school.

TPHS is a good school in most aspects. The principal's a nice guy who respects his students and in return they respect him. For the most part teachers are good but there are a few who aren't helpful or are disrespectful towards students. There are racial tensions at this school.

This is a good school with a good sports program and performong arts.

Combine top-notch academics with an array of extracurriculars (including nationally/state-ranked Newspaper/Sports/LitMag/Yearbook/Theatre/etc.) and you have TP. Some parents complain about the intimidatingly large amount of gifted/talented students but as an almost alumna of the school I can honestly say that the competition TP provided was one of the best aspects of the school as competition allows for one to 1. become better acclimated to the real world and 2. strive to achieve at a higher level (for the record the competition is certainly not cut-throat). Yes TP is a big school and there wont be anyone to hold your child's hand but i feel this really helped me as i was able to develop my independence/self-motivation (very important/necessary qualities!). golden rule with a bit of effort everything at TP is within your reach (academics/extracurriculars/social/etc). don't forget to balance work and play though! )

The academics on average are quite good but I have definitely experienced a number of less than adequate teachers including some that don't teach. School is highly successful with great test scores but much of that can be attributed to the economic and educational backgrounds of the students' families. Extracurriculars are great with a huge selection and the sports teams are some of the best in the state. Parents are highly involved which also contributes to the school's success. Torrey Pines definitely has its share of problems though. It's highly clique-ish with a very wealthy privileged student body. Large student enrollment means large classes and a lack of connection and the recent open enrollment in honors classes means that intelligent motivated students are stuck in classes with students that are not ready for the curriculum and tend to slow down the pace. Definitely a great school for some terrible for others.

Student success is largely due to parent involvement and extra support provided by tutors etc. at least half of the teachers would rank poor.

Excellen selection of AP courses. Competive cliquish student community. Large and very successful parent foundation.

Very good school. Parents are very involved. The school has great after school programs

The kids seem to like the teachers so some slack off but most respond really well. Its a great school academically. The sports are amazing (football especially is brilliant). Overall I think this is as good a school as any and 9 times out of 10 substantially better!