Monta Vista High School

The whole community is safe and education quality is good for high school students who want to focus on studying.

As an alum, I will say that Monta Vista prepared me academically for college. However, if you love your kids at all, and want them to become happy, well-adjusted adults, then don't send them here.This advice extends especially to BIPOC, female, queer, and/or neurodivergent students. You will be discriminated against. In cases of sexual harassment/assault, the school did absolutely nothing. In an incident where students were found to be making a "kill list" of Black students' names, the school did little. Any "efforts" in response are lip service - students often deride them, and teachers grumble about having to teach anti-discrimination lessons. Besides, they mask the fact that the administration does NOTHING in terms of real action responding to these issues. AP CS Principles, a class that is not "hardcore" coding, was dismissed as a class for "girls and gay guys," which contributed to its perennially low enrollment. Slurs, such as the N-word and R-word, were used frequently by students, and when reprimanded for using the R-word, students called "stupid" things/people "autistic." Students told stories about boys growing their hair long and applying (and being admitted) to college while pretending to be transgender as heroes. Assuming that because Monta Vista's population is not majority white (it's 80% Asian) that it will be friendly to students of color is the most inaccurate assumption you can make - and I say this being Asian myself. I have witnessed racism here against every race. Monta Vista (and Cupertino in general) is, by far, the most discriminatory environment I've ever gone to school in.Additionally, Monta Vista is a hypercompetitive environment, which has adverse effects on mental health. I've spoken to other alumni, and everyone seems to agree that our experiences there have sparked emotional trauma. Students were mocked for grades below an A-, taking fewer APs, going to anything less than an "elite" university, and not being "on the grind" all the time. I was once mocked for getting 8 hours of sleep (rather than < 4). Once again, the school only paid lip service to the idea of mental health, making lessons and holding workshops, but they were mocked, as you would expect at a school where visiting your counselor makes you "weak." To this day, I still struggle with overcoming this mentality.Overall, you can't call Monta Vista a good school. The SAT scores aren't the whole story. Don't send your kids here - they'll thank you for it.

Teachers here don't teach. They follow FLIP model, where they ask students to watch video posted by youtubers online (not teaching videos by MV teachers) and come to class and then the students solve problems in class while teachers are on their phones. may be 7% of teachers are here because they love teaching. yep, students teach themselves. Teachers just grade and get paid.Staff just doesn't care. today was a great display of their neglect. They made students take 75 minute long AMC test sitting on hardwood floor. this school can't even provide tables and chairs to students taking test. Teacher in charge of it just doesn't care. what a shame what a shame

I'm a junior this year, but from my past two years and asking other people just in general, it's not an ideal high school if you're looking for the high school experience, but if you want to challenge yourself past your limits and are prepared to put school in front of friendships, go ahead. I personally don't care about being the top of my class or going to a UC (which is rare here), so I'm often made fun of because I'm not super thrilled about college or get all a's. People will jump at the opportunity to make fun of others who aren't as "smart" as them in their mind. It's quite sad what the mv environment has done to it's students, as so many of the kids who are working hard are depressed and anxious (I'm not kidding, so many of the kids go to therapy or need to go but their parents wont allow it) and it makes me so sad because all of the kids here deserve a break from the constant pressure that's being put on them, but may sadly never get a break until they're past college.

I would never want to go to this school and I wish I had not. Yes I would wish 4 years at Monta Vista on my worst enemy and their entire family. This school would be a good fit if you are extremely serious about school or don't want a fun high school experience. It's more of a training camp for students to become competitive, but also snobby for no good reason. Majority of the students at this school look down on certain colleges, especially students going to community college or even other high schools, even though they end up transferring to the exact same colleges in the end anyway.