Xavier College Preparatory High School

4710 North 5th Street

Phoenix, AZ 85012

17 Reviews

School District
Grade

9-12
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by other on September 18, 2023

Xavier is a good school. But it is certainly not the right school for everyone. It tailors to one type of student--the one that is only a student and doesn't have other after-school activities. Yes, many students at Xavier participate in school sports or clubs and activities. But the homework load is so great that the struggle to stay on top of every assignment only intensifies for the average student who engages in other activities besides school. Xavier wants you to somehow be wholly focused on your average 3+ hours of homework each night and maintain a high GPA, while also being a "well-rounded" human who participates in sports, clubs, service, etc. There are no breaks at Xavier. Its curriculum and expectations are much too rigorous. While many argue that the school supposedly "makes college easier", why would you want to kill yourself over the painstaking amount of studying, classwork, and homework that a student experiences at this school? It is not worth it. I only attended Xavier for one year, but that year told me all I had to know about the school. I had terrible experiences with many teachers, including one who seemed so entirely opposed to answering questions, at least in a moderately respectful and helpful way. Other teachers, instead, chose to teach as little as they could, but assign endless homework and give impossible tests. Xavier is acutely traditional, led in large part by old nuns. They manage to "advocate for women" and preach that the school is the best place for young women to "achieve excellence", yet enact countless sexist policies and repeat sexist practices. High school should be the place of, yes, learning to work hard, but it should also be a place of fun new experiences and memories. The only memories of Xavier that stand out to me are the tears I had far too many nights a week, the consistent fear that I wouldn't have time to complete all of my homework on time or to study, and the constant anxiety that I faced every single week that I attended this school. I advise you to please take caution if you are considering Xavier.
Submitted by parent on November 17, 2022

The academic rigor at Xavier is lacking. The feeder schools are sub-par, which feeds into pushing dual enrollment instead of AP because the students are not at that academic level. Xavier pushes dual enrollment to make more money and don’t put enough emphasis on AP classes. The entire school currently has 4 AP Biology students. In public school of the same size you will have 2 full classes of AP Bio students. If you are looking for academic rigor you are better off with a public school that has a strong AP or IB program.
Submitted by parent on June 03, 2022

Every school has positives and negatives that must be weighed when making a decision. The negatives of this school are the cost, strict Catholic ideology and some teacher quality. Yes this is a Catholic school, but if your student does not align with the ideology, they must be aware that they may have to keep their opposing beliefs quiet. There are certain known teachers, especially in the required religion classes, that will not allow discussion of ideas in opposition to the Catholic church and may even lower your grade for voicing said views. My daughter quickly learned which teachers were open to debate which weren't. To the ones opposed, she simply parroted back the Catholic mantra and did fine. Ironically, the two priests that were at the school during her 4 years were both welcoming, kind and listened to her opposing views and treated her with respect. Some teachers are not of the quality you would expect given the cost of this school. The administration needs to do a better job of hiring and retaining better teachers. Now the positive. The environment at the school is positive, with the girls and administrators championing the accomplishments of the students. At such a large school, it is easy to find a group of like minded peers, and those friendships become very strong. Especially without boys there on a daily basis. The friend groups really become a support community. The extra curricular and sports offerings at the school are top notch and there is definitely something for everyone.
Submitted by parent on February 12, 2022

I think the negative reviewers are not seeing the bigger picture. My sister graduated and went on to Pepperdine which she graduated with honors because it was easy compared to high school. She got her masters in teaching and then went to Georgetown Law. She learned how to deal with every type of person and she was on top of her studies because you have to be to make it at XCP. If you want your daughter to get the best education, learn to critically think, and do whatever she wants in life, this school is for you because they know how to teach the girls how to deal with LIFE. My daughter is a freshman this year and was overwhelmed at first. She went to a challenging catholic school who prepared her for the academics. What surprised her was how much punishment there is for small infractions. Every story she told me, whether it happened to her or someone else, I could see how it would help her deal with life’s challenges in the long run. Life isn’t fair! This school teaches you to follow the rules and use your brain. My daughter got detention the first month of school for a uniform violation and hasn’t had an issue since. We aren’t a rich family. My daughter is on financial aid and I don’t feel we are treated differently at all. It only covered the first semester, so now I’m 2 months behind and I haven’t received one harassing phone call. The administration has always been very kind to me when I need to go into the office. If you have high expectations for your daughter then this is the best school for her. If you don’t, and can’t see the bigger picture, then look elsewhere. I can’t think of another Az high school that I would want my daughter to attend. My brother went to NDP because it was closer to home and his experience was nothing like my sister. Drugs run rampant at NDP which is why they have to randomly drug test their students. My daughter said she hasn’t seen anything like that at XCP.
Submitted by parent on August 19, 2020

0/10. Send your kids somewhere else, please.
Submitted by parent on April 20, 2018

Xavier has lost it's purpose! They are so concerned about feminism that there is no focus on love of self, love of others or loving God....it's all about winning. Winning sports titles, getting scholarships and going to elite colleges. College preparatory should also be about LIFE Preparatory! These young women are only learning about how to get into college -- I want my daughter to learn about how to live in college and beyond! The stress Xavier puts on the girls is unreal! Busywork, rules, ridiculous and petty punishments....the joy is gone form the campus.
Submitted by parent on January 23, 2018

Send your daughters somewhere else! Phoenix country Day, Notre Dame Academy, definitely somewhere else. This school is not worth it; it’s all hype !
Submitted by parent on October 07, 2017

My first daughter graduated from XCP in 2015. She received an excellent education and was accepted to all the colleges she applied to. She participated in many activities at XCP including being a student ambassador She feels that the honors college where she currently attends is easier then XCP. I was very impressed how XCP empowered her and empowers young women to be successful and future leaders.My second daughter is now attending XCP and is having a great experience. XCP has a lot to offer and I would highly recommend it.
Submitted by parent on August 15, 2017

Empowers girls to be the best they can possibly be! Xavier pushes them to excel.
Submitted by parent on January 18, 2017

I have two daughters who went to XCP. If you are wealthy or poor, this is a great school and the staff will treat you kindly. The nuns go out of their way to talk to the wealthy parents. One of my daughter's friends was from a wealthy family. One of the nuns would approach her group to ask her how she was doing and ignore all of the other "middle class" girls. Wealthy parents can afford the school and can have friends donate to AZ Scholarship so their kids can go to the school for free. If you're poor, the tuition is free. Middle class? You get nothing. We spent about $3,000 a month sending two kids here at a time and did not qualify for financial assistance. That's fine, but stop asking me to donate when you never once gave us a discount. We were fortunate to be able to afford the tuition most of the time, but there were a few times when we were late on a payment. The harassing phone calls were horrible, but the way they humiliate the kids if their parents are a little behind is absolutely not Christian. Kind of ironic! Some teachers are great, but often my kids complained that the teachers just presented Powerpoints which were readily available online from Google. The level of classes available was not rigorous. If your kid ends up in a challenging college, they will find that their XCP education had lots of holes. If you want the more rigorous classes, you need to go next door to BCP. Sad that they save the rigorous curriculum for the boys next door. What century are we in? Sports are more important than academics.
Submitted by other on May 23, 2015

I just graduated from Xavier and I can tell you I disliked the school my entire 4 years there. If I could have left I would have. The school taught me nothing. Absolutely nothing yet I had 4-5 hours of homework a night. This school is made to cater to children with rich parents who can drop anything at a drop of a dime not kids with working parents. I am not catholic and though this is a catholic school, the way they taught religion was repulsive. The teachers were terrible. I have about 3 teachers I actually liked over the entire 4 years. The teachers were horrendous and made girls cry. 95 percent of the students were carbon copies. Caucasian, blonde, athletic and rich. Only now are they starting to add more minorities but when I was a freshman there were hardly any. Save yourself the money, your children their tears, and send your kids somewhere else.
Submitted by student on January 23, 2015

Some of the student reviews complain that this school does not provide a good education or that its too easy. However, I believe that a girl's experience of Xavier relies at least somewhat on their decisions and what they make of their time at school overall. I am currently a freshman and I was not disappointed at the difficulty of the classes. I think that this may be because a good portion of my classes are honors or advanced placement. At the middle school which I used to attend, I had a 4.0 GPA and I was bored in all of my classes. Now I am consistently engaged in class and I have a feeling of fulfillment after I complete the several hours worth of homework which I was assigned. I can say without hesitation that all of my teachers seem to care about the students and how they are doing both academically and socially. I have neither had any problems with bullying, nor do I know anyone who has been bullied.
Submitted by parent on January 17, 2015

This is an excellent school! We have one child there and one who graduated last year who is thriving in college due to what she learned at this school! I highly recommend this school!
Submitted by parent on December 09, 2014

This school weighs heavily the amount of money a parent can donate. Their children do have advantages over others. The principal has been there 50 years and while stability is a good thing, things are stuck in a rut. She doesn't even have an email address that parents can send emails to. Everything has to go through her secretary and often times things are "lost." Look at the reviews below, things are getting worse as the years go by. There are many disappointing reviews in the most recent years. If you are considering Xavier, I would ask to see their attendance records. I know that for my daughter's class, they started out with about 325 and maybe 250 graduated (i think the actual number was lower). That's over a 25% loss in enrollment. To me that signifies a big problem. If you have a child who is struggling do not assume that because you are at a religious school that anything will be done to help them. This includes severe bullying etc. Parent involvement is very high. Most of the families are wonderful, it is a shame that the school's leadership doesn't support these girls as they should. Brophy is a great example of positive leadership.
Submitted by student on February 23, 2014

I have always believed that academics are most important. If you want a better social life or better athletics this would be a school for you. However, Xavier is not good at challenging students and making them thrive academically. Girls go here when they want to be popular or be recruited for sports, not because they want to go to a top name school and learn. If you want an easy A with no challenge; this is your school. If you want to learn and have to work hard; go somewhere else!
Submitted by other on September 06, 2013

If you say it's the worst school, then don't go there. You complain that they are harsh if you're not Catholic. The School is called a Roman Catholic High School for a reason. Almost everyone there is Catholic. If your not Catholic, then learn to read and don't go to a Catholic school. It's as simple as that.
Submitted by student on June 26, 2012

I went into Xavier expecting the most amazing school, how wrong I was. I am a 4.0 GPA student and I found the academics were nothing special, I actually believe I got stupider in some of my classes because of how uninteresting the teachers make it. These disinterested teachers kept their bored students occupied with mindless busy work. The teachers were probably the most cold and wicked people I have ever met. Yes, I said wicked, a number of the teachers would make students cry every day. The discipline was unfair and harsh. The faculty have no idea what it is like to to be a teenage girl and they feel the only way to deal with misbehavior is endless detentions. If you are not Catholic, get ready for it to be shoved down your throat. Unless you agree with every single thing that the Catholic Church says or does, keep your mouth shut. No First Amendment rights here. Xavier only relies on their reputation, which is long gone. Save your money and go anywhere else.