Reviews of University High School (School)

Nicholas Anthony

This school is awesome

Haze Ross

To put it blunty this school is disgusting. Its administration constantly bullies staff and many honor roll students feel that the school s not do enough to support them. They say it is almost like the administrators are working against them. Terrible school if I gave it any more than one star I feel I would be doing the students a social injustice.

Talia Miller

maquistos.. maskeetoes? mesquitos? yuh either way they bite me to the much wen im at scool cuz it succs... zeero stars

Nicholas Anthony

This school is awesome

Haze Ross

To put it blunty this school is disgusting. Its administration constantly bullies staff and many honor roll students feel that the school s not do enough to support them. They say it is almost like the administrators are working against them. Terrible school if I gave it any more than one star I feel I would be doing the students a social injustice.

Charles Brown III

This school is hard but it is worth it. it takes a lot of guts to be at a school like this and i'm proud to be apart of the UHS History.

Carter Jessup

I've gone to this school for a while now and these other reviews are based on no facts pretty weird. I'm glad I came to this school and the majority agree with me.

Nancy Gomez

Coming to UHS has been one of the greatest choices I could have made in my whole life. Everyone since I started coming is super nice and even though I am only a freshman, we have been coming together into a family. One thing I like about this school is that it is small and teachers are open to help you with any problem you need. All my teachers have been extremely nice to me and the work they give us is not impossible. It all depends on you, and if you are willing to work hard. I believe this school to be unique because we are all Understanding, Honorable, and Studious. I appreciate this school, everything it offers me, and definitely recommend it. Also the dances, events, spirit week, phoenix bowl, and the rules this school has are amazing, there is not really a dress code at all and there is always time to have fun.

Talia Miller

maquistos.. maskeetoes? mesquitos? yuh either way they bite me to the much wen im at scool cuz it succs... zeero stars

Andres Rugama

I like UHS. I would go here for another 4 years if I could.

Khuram Anwar

nice looking high school in the Fresno State campus

yung visionz

UHS is a place where young Men and Women in the world can accomplish their dreams

Eliza King

I am the parent of a UHS student. I am deeply concerned with the quality of the education my student in receiving. I have contacted the school several times over the course of the year and been given the standard, "You have made the right choice sending your child here" line each time. Frankly, I am at my wit's end with the administration and staff. Here is the reality: 1. The school has no infrastructure in place for students that are struggling with the course work, specifically Musicianship and Physics. Latin has tutoring, but it is insufficient in many cases. The response from the school is that a student can work with their peers. The issue there is that their peers are overworked and juggling impossible schedules. We hired tutors ( expensive on top of the $700/yr tuition) in multiple subjects, but have found that the classroom teaching is so far off book that our tutors cannot help. In Physics, we were told that there would be tutoring, but it has been cancelled more often than not. 2. We were told during the mandatory information sessions (which I recorded) that the students could utilize the Fresno State tutoring if they needed help. This is not true. Fresno State's tutoring is only available if the student is enrolled in a corresponding Fresno State Class. There is no recourse for help other than paying for outside tutoring in many of the subjects. 3. The work load is excessive. The students do on average 3-4 hours of homework per night. Bear in mind that there are many nights where the work requirement is 5+ additional hours outside of school. This is not my child procrastinating on projects- this is the reality of UHS and when it is questioned, the standard response of, "You have made the right choice sending your child here" is applied. We just received the 'summer homework' packets from several of my student's teachers. The required Latin II class has scheduled 20 + quizzes over the summer- if these are not completed with a minimum of 85% on the first day, the student starts the year with a zero. Firstly, students need a break from homework and school. This is not opinion- this is based off numerous studies performed by researchers around the globe. The Journal of Experimental Education published a study in 2013 suggests, "Students who did more hours of homework experienced greater behavioral engagement in school but also more academic stress, physical health problems, and lack of balance in their lives." The American Psychological Society published 'Adolescents’ Homework Performance in Mathematics and Science: Personal Factors and Teaching Practices,' the findings of which concluded that "The optimum duration of homework was found to be 1 hr a day. " Secondly- who teaches them the course material over the summer? In the Latin II info packet, the students are told it's highly recommended that they purchase a textbook and watch 5 videos to "...reteach core concepts from Latin I. " Other fun quotes include, "Students need to take ownership of their education and use these review tools in order to better understand Latin." Should my child struggle with this material over the summer- how will my child be helped? Who takes the ownership of educating these kids? This was not revealed to the parents of prospective students. I never agreed for my child to be teaching herself Latin/Math/English over the summer. Summer reading is fine. Some review is fair- whole course work? This is an extraordinary amount of work with no recourse if the student's struggle with the information. 4. The quality of the music courses is low. If the students has advanced knowledge of music, they will find the Musicianship class comprehensible. If your student (like my child) comes with the UHS basic requirements of 2 years of music- they will be left behind. The students are NOT taught to read music. They are not given any kind of lessons in their instrument- this is a school where music is on the syllabus, but not applied to the other curriculum which is at odds with how the administration sells their programming.

Julianna Caruthers

Mixed feelings, (see update) Definitely prepared my child for a challenging future! The words straight out of my childs mouth were, "When you go to school here it's like everything you were ever told you were good at your whole life was just b******t and everything you've loved and worked hard for you'll never accomplish because you're really just not good enough." this scares me so bad. They place way too much stress on the students and don't give enough chances for redemption through extracurriculars like drama and choir. Before high school my daughter had leading roles with large monologues in performances in drama and was involved in music and loved it. Within the first year she dreaded going to school everyday. I worry about other children there as well and the possibility of the suicide rate going up due to the stress they put on the children for their academic performance. If your child is as gifted as mine, they can handle the stress and disappointment. It will pay off in the future. My child is handled it okay but had to seek counseling at times. The school had caused a lot of heartache for her but she's strong. I just worry about other children. So if you just want to stress your child out during the hardest time of their life then this is the school for you. Updated; Now she is going to college and she said she can't believe she hated herself for the past 4 years only to be this blessed as she pointed to her transcripts which shows her entering college with 48 units. She was thrilled. Most of her required courses are out of the way and she can focus on her major. That puts her way ahead of the other students. She also tells me how much easier it is in comparison to University High School. The Washington Post was not kidding when they said University High School was the most challenging School in the nation. I'm just glad that she realized what a blessing it was and that all her hard work and perseverance has paid off. In the 4 years at UHS she never had the opportunity to showcase her talents but is doing awesome at CSUMB, is now a paid intern for the program she's majoring in, is working at the Apple store and had a great part in Grease last spring! I am very proud of the independent young adult my daughter has become and I'm sure UHS played a big role in that!

Michaela J

The work is hard, but not impossible.

JJ Sutton

I think that all of the negative reviews of this school are outdated and unfair. We are one of the most accepting environments in Fresno, where students of all sexualities and gender identities are encouraged to be themselves. We have an active Gender and Sexual Diversity club, which I am a part of. Our dress code is one of the most lax, and it is in no way gender biased. Nor is our school in any way conservative or Christian. We do have a LIFE club, and that's about it. Differences are treasured here, and I've had many of my not-so-academic friends tell me that they only stay at UHS because of the supporting environment. I'd like to clarify that in no way is there any tuition required to attend University, instead the administration simply requests for a substantial donation at the beginning of the year, in lieu of sending home endless cookie dough and magazine sales. The donation is 100% optional. This school is hard. There's no denying that. But there are places to go to get help: we have excellent student counselors, our Latin tutoring program has become much more efficient and available to students. As for the music issue, this school is not a place to learn to read music. There is a prerequisite, that students have had two years of playing an instrument and, therefore, it is assumed that they do not need to learn their instrument or how to read music. And our Musicianship I and II teacher, Dr. Jones, understands how new these concepts can still be to people. He has no set due date on assignments, allows all notes on any test, gives many extra credit opportunities, starts from the very beginning of music theory, and is always there to help. He was awarded Educator of the Week by KSEE24 for goodness sakes. The claim about no drama or choir as an outlet is baseless. We are required to have at least one performing group and that can certainly be choir. Additionally, we have two productions a semester, and, while there is certainly a higher level of dramatic performance, freshmen have been cast in leading roles multiple times. All of our teachers are professional, dedicated, and certainly not disheveled in any way. And our administration is anything but unresponsive. As I mentioned before, our student counselors are excellent and should be able to help with any concerns. Take it from a student, who has lived in this environment for 2.5 years. Your child can't live as a perfect little angel forever. They're gonna learn that there are other good kids in this world eventually. They can learn that now, or they can learn that when you send them off to college. Trust me. You want them to learn it here, at a place where they'll be respected, supported, and pushed to become even better. This place takes work, but it's worth it.

John Mannon

Skylar Neese once said the front of the high school looked just like Auschwitz

Eric Evans

this school sucks

Josh K.

The amount of work that this school puts on you may seem daunting. However, you do learn how to manage your time so you are able to get your schoolwork done on time each night. This is especially good because this is a skill that will last you for the rest of your life. As a current student at Fresno State, I can say that UHS helped me out A LOT. First of all, this school is difficult because it is a pre-college high school. This in turn made studying for college easier. Also, this school enrolls you in college-like, and college, courses. By doing so, I was able to skip out on A LOT of GE courses and save money since I already had the units for those courses. All in all, this school was wonderful to attend and the best 4 years of life.

John Mannon

Skylar Neese once said the front of the high school looked just like Auschwitz

Eric Evans

this school sucks

Celina Basant

Open campus and very well maintained.

Peyton Cooke

(Translated by Google) Cover (Original) Hoes

Celina Basant

Open campus and very well maintained.

Peyton Cooke

(Translated by Google) Cover (Original) Hoes

Ali Alimi

This school, while extremely challenging, is made to ready students for college with required college level courses, and such. Along with extremely nice teachers. Besides the teachers in this school, the students are much more welcoming than that of other schools I have seen and experienced.