Northwood High School

4515 Portola Parkway

School District

Irvine Unified
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:26
Type

public

School Map for Irvine Unified School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on October 06, 2024

There's a lot we've really loved about NHS. Our older son attended several years ago and now our daughter is there as well. I feel that both of our kids had good teachers (some better than others, as is typically at a high school), but overall, Northwood provides a good high school experience. We've been very disappointed this time around in the theater department as there are certain students who are favored by the staff (and who also happen to pay to take lessons outside of school with certain staff members), and those kids repeatedly get leads in plays and musicals even though there are plenty of talented kids who would also benefit from being able to put lead roles on their college resumes. I often wonder how much money the parents of these few students donate to the school to support the drama program.Beyond that, the administration at the school has been wonderfully supportive and encourages students to get involved in programs and make connections with other students and staff members. The school offers so many different sports, activities and clubs that students have a variety of options and ways to get involved. Overall, we've been happy with the education both our kids received at Northwood!
Submitted by parent on June 06, 2024

My child is thriving at Northwood. He is doing well academically and has a great group of friends. Northwood has done an excellent job at creating a school community. In response to the negative reviews, Northwood is not perfect but no where is. There are many opportunities to be involved in whatever your child's interest is. My child is enjoying his high school experience and I highly recommend the school!
Submitted by parent on March 10, 2024

best school ever my son went. he was very happy
Submitted by parent on August 04, 2022

Both of my kids graduated NHS and both have went on to thrive in college. My daughter is going to medical school next year. My son just finished summer internship at NASA and will continue on year round while attending college.NHS has more than prepared them and I am very happy and grateful to live in this great community where it’s family focused and success oriented.
Submitted by parent on December 12, 2021

My child had to endure horrible four years in this over graded school. It is extremely partial in treatment. Teachers are indifferent, unhelpful. Counselors are useless. They tried to break spirit of my child but did not succeed. So no, I highly do not recommend this school.
Submitted by other on July 31, 2020

If you want a normal high school life, don't attend Northwood. It will drive you crazy with the non-sense system. You won't be happy if you attend there.
Submitted by other on January 22, 2020

I loved my time at Northwood and it prepared me for college with out a doubt. There were teachers I did not like, but they still got me to where I wanted to be. There is so much you can do to get involved in either a program or a club that really makes or breaks a person’s high school experience. All in all I think Northwood did a great job shaping me for 4 years before I went to college.
Submitted by parent on April 10, 2019

Terrible. Very biased teachers with strong favoritism.
Submitted by parent on December 01, 2018

Excellent. Northwood requires a lot of time and effort from its students and teachers. And most students and teachers make the effort. The opportunities to learn are plentiful. You must make the effort to take advantage of the opportunities.
Submitted by parent on July 28, 2018

Terrible school .Rude staff,unprofessional coaches and teachers .Never go back
Submitted by parent on July 24, 2018

This school will be amazing if your student is in the top 10% of every subject. If your student is say, an average learner, good luck getting any support. This school caters to the top 10% - that's it. So, if you're amazing at everything and already know everything... this is the school for you! If your an "average" teenager needing to learn new material and prepare for college, I wish you the best of luck because it will be a challenge here. I will say, the school is beautiful. It's clean, safe, and up to date with most technologies.
Submitted by student on October 22, 2017

My experience here has been good, I'm doing well in the classes, have made a few friends, and am apart of the marching band. For someone transferring from an independent studies program into a fully public school for their Junior year, it has been excellent. I do notice however that students at the school do talk publicly about illegal activites and cheating often, even though all the teachers do denounce cheating quite often, and make sure to let students know that if they are caught cheating, it would be worse than getting a 58% on a test. Also being a conservative on campus, I feel like voicing my opinions could get me into trouble, so I haven't done so. Other than that, I think it's great.
Submitted by student on June 15, 2016

Ok, it's safe and clean because it's in Irvine. And the teachers are nice. But it goes downhill from there.Get ready for competition and workload that rival Singapore. This is a school of perfectionists fixated on Ivy Leagues, 4.5 GPAs, perfect SAT scores, Debate Champions, chess masters, violin prodigies, and the Math Olympiad. Still in Algebra One as a Freshman or planning to go to community college? You will be stigmatized. People are impractical--they can't swallow their pride. They'll take out big loans to go to Columbia University and major in low-paid, liberal arts majors, thinking that all that matters is the name and that their PhD in journalism will be worth fortunes just because it's from Columbia. Nope. Financial Experts agree that an Accounting graduate from an average school, say Cal State Fullerton, will earn way more than a Sociology grad from Harvard (not to mention have less debt and a higher GPA). Alas, the ellitists are "above" Cal States. For all the Ivy League bluster, expect to go to college a semester behind kids from other schools, especially if you're in STEM. Unlike places such as Mission Viejo or Aliso Niguel High, They don't offer any practical APs here, like Calc-based Physics, Microeconomics, and AP English Lang. Also, unlike Mission Viejo or Aliso Niguel, they don't let any freshman or sophomores take any APs except for Music Theory, Art History, and Statistics. Which means you'll have to cram more APs junior and senior year than kids from other schools. And the system is so all-or-nothing. There's no regular Pre-Calc; all the B students in Algebra 2 have to take an extra year of math. There's no AP Calc AB, just Calc BC; all the B students in Honors Pre-Calc just can't take Calc at all. Then, to even get a chance to get into AP English Lit (the only course here that clears College Writing), you have to get a B in insanely challenging Honors Euro Lit. Less opportunities, more work, and less learning.Finally, if you're a Conservative Christian, you will be stigmatized. This is probably the most liberal high school in the OC south of the 55 Freeway.Parents, think twice for your kids. There's so many schools like Mission Viejo High that offer a safe, clean, conservative environment where your kids can relax more AND do better in college. Northwood's not worth it!
Submitted by student on May 05, 2016

Never have I gone to a school where the administration has been disrespectful to me on multiple accounts. Never have I been to a school where the teachers do not teach yet blame you for your not understanding. Never have I been to a school where a teacher has laughed in my face during a vulnerable moment. Northwood staff is incredibly disrespectful and takes no account/responsibility for anything. I'm a new student to Northwood this year and absolutely hate it! I'm an all honors/ap student with good grades, I've never ever had problems with any school I've ever gone to except for this school.
Submitted by student on August 19, 2015

I'm a sophomore here and so far I've liked it. If you get involved in school, whether it be clubs, or student government, or sports, you'll enjoy your time much more and feel more connected to the school. Our pep rallies are fun and the dances are too, especially homecoming. The people are nice, and while some think they may be snobby most are pretty chill and genuine. Like every school, there's going to be both good and bad people. The campus is beautiful. Better than any other campus in Irvine, and I'm not just saying that because I go here. People always bag on our athletics, but most of our teams win league and our football beat irvine this year so we're getting there lol. However, the academics here are hard, and competition is very high. Everyone is taking the hardest classes they can and doing the best they can to ace them. So you have to stay on top of that. Other than that, it's a great school with a good environment. I've found that the only people who dislike it are the people who aren't involved and only show up for their required classes. Some teachers are bad, but most are okay and want you to succeed. There are so many events, clubs, and programs that it would be stupid to not take advantage of it!
Submitted by student on May 07, 2015

I am a sophomore at Northwood. If you are planning on transferring into the district or moving into the area which Northwood is in, I would advise you not to. Irvine in general is a very competitive place and Northwood truly embodies this competitiveness. I moved here from a small town in the fifth grade and learned quickly that this was going to be a very hard adjustment. When I reached highschool I suffered tremendously. A majority of the teachers here at Northwood simply do not teach, instead they will hand you a worksheet and make you work on it and understand the material. There are a few gifted students will go to some of the top universities but a majority of us are left hoping to get into a UC. Had I stayed in my old school I would have easily become a 4.0 student with ability to go to any college I want. With that being said, Northwood will decrease your chances of getting into a good college but will help you tremendously when you get to college. Hope this helps!
Submitted by student on January 27, 2015

Ok, so you might have heard about how Northwood's sports "suck" or everyone here is "snobby" but the reality is that the students who write these reviews are not taking advantage of the great clubs, fine arts, academics, and sports Northwood has to offer. I am a junior and I'm in one year-round sport, 5 college-prep level classes, one Honors class, and 4 clubs. Northwood's teachers truly care about the students and although the academics may be challenging, the teachers are available for you to ask questions after class or during tutorial (tutorial is a 40 minute study-hall like period every Tuesday and Thursday where we can go ask questions or finish homework or study for tests). Our sports at Northwood go to CIF regularly. Also, our fine arts programs such as choral music, instrumental music, and drama are above average and our school has won 6 Grammys. I do not understand how students who actually try to get good grades at Northwood could hate it so much when almost all of the students are genuinely nice.
Submitted by student on January 04, 2015

I chose Northwood mainly because of the API scores but that was surely a BIG MISTAKE. This school doesn't know what a quality education means. For every class, all tests are multiple choice on a scantron sheet, and there are no analytical or critical thinking problems. Therefore Northwood academics is purely about memorisation, and you don't actually learn. Also, the school only cares about test results. Getting an A on a project you worked hard on won't alter your grade, because the school doesn't bother to evaluate whether you really DO understand the material or how creative you are. In addition, many teachers don't know how to teach. They assign multiple chapters to read and make a full test (not a quiz) out of it the next class, without going over the material even once. So if you have questions, there is no chance to ask them and you must face the test with uncertainties. Parents, you must know that the 10/10 rating is merely based on test scores. High API scores does NOT mean that a school is excellent, and vice versa. If you agree that memorisation is not the right way to go, avoid Northwood and consider schools that actually motivate and teach students, such as Woodbridge.
Submitted by student on September 18, 2014

Let's get this straight - it's a great school if you are fine with having some of the worst athletics in the state, okay with being considered "below average" in academics if your not in geometry as a freshman, or okay with being in a school of snobby kids who think they are so much better than you, when they are really not. Back to athletics. This school is a joke athletically, all sports, especially football. The coaches think they are professional league coaches, and so do the athletes. Every now and then there are a few good athletes that come out of this school but they are definitely few and far between. There are a couple really good teachers, but the problem is the teachers are either really good or really bad. Then the academic levels. Basically every College Prep class here would be AP or Honors in any other school, and the amount of nightly homework and projects is downright ridiculous. There is also the anchors which are completely stupid, and useless. Like I said earlier, all the students here are snobby and spoiled and think they deserve everything, it's really hard to respect any of them when they don't give you the same respect, same goes for most of the teachers.
Submitted by student on February 03, 2014

I am a sophomore, and I believe the school's teachers are alright, but their class policy sucks because if you are in a classroom that has a bad teacher and class, you HAVE to stay in it for the rest of the year which to me, is a devastating effect on my grades and GPA.