University School

800 South Tucker Drive

Tulsa, OK 74104

14 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK-8
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on February 19, 2024

I'm sorry to say that this school is the kind of school that only the 10% will truly love. The school dumps a load of homework on to my kid leaving them stressed out trying to finish by 10PM on a school night since they have extracurriculars. Even hearing from my kid that one particular year the load of homework some kids had to go talk to someone. On top of that there's so many things happening behind the scenes that makes me wonder if the teachers even do so much as interact with the students. Another thing, I'm not a parent of a kid with any type of learning impairment, but I've seen lots of reviews of kids having ADHD and the teachers not doing so much as batting an eye. I understand it's not maybe something that they "tolerate" , but just reaching out to the parents and child just saying "hey what's going on" will do so much more then they can imagine. Even from the start you're expected to be completely expected to be independent. Most kids are shy and too afraid to reach out to ask for help so when the teachers notice your kid is failing, they send home "Hey work on this with your kid". Yet, for some reason they won't reach out first to the kid to ask if they need help when they clearly do. I wish the teachers could check on the kids really look at what they're doing. Some kids at the school are incredibly rude to others as well as stuck up for no particular reason. I can recall my child telling me about one of their teachers saying how they should be grateful since some kids couldn't go to school that day, (public schools were all closed, but all private schools were open) and after that talk there were two kids in the hall after the talk saying, "Oh no we're so poor" "Wahhh we can't go to school." I'm not sure about your opinion, but no school should be tolerating this behavior it's incredibly scary to hear a kid say something like that. I really could go on and on, but all I can ask is please Uschool do better. There are no nonacademic clubs, no sports teams, barely any events. You ever wonder why there's only 9-14 kids in the 8th grade class? There's your answer.Please let these kids experience school. I loved Uschool, and so many others have too. But if something doesn't change, I'm not sure what will happen. This is all I have to say, Uschool is (or eventually) will be a school you and your child loves, or they'll be begging for change. -Sincerely Your Uschool Parent
Submitted by parent on March 09, 2022

Wonderful teacher to student ratio and extremely challenging curriculum. The teachers are fully engaged and really help these gifted students excel and meet their potential!
Submitted by parent on March 08, 2022

Our child has attended U School for the past several years as a result of TPS school closures from COVID. The school is academically challenging but fair. We find the teachers and leaders to be focused on the well-being of our child from COVID mitigation policies to her social and emotional development. While it's been challenging to become a member of the community during a difficult period of the scho's history in terms of meeting other families and social activities, we are very grateful the school has been open and a safe learning environment for our child.
Submitted by parent on March 08, 2022

University School is a Pre-K through 8th grade School. The curriculum is challenging at all levels. The small class size allows the teachers to get to know the students and how they learn. Two of my kids are students here right now and one graduated last year. They introduce them to learning strategies and build up their confidence so that they can be successful. The teachers are caring and supportive. My oldest daughter finished her middle school from here and she has no issues in high school in fact she found high school so easy because of the high level of academics she was taught at University School.
Submitted by parent on February 01, 2022

My family had a wonderful experience at University School. The teachers were completely dedicated to the growth of our children both academically and socially. The low student faculty ratio provided lots of care and attention. We really appreciate their honesty and commitment to helping our children reach their full potential.
Submitted by parent on September 08, 2021

This school is a great fit for some people, but it wasn't ultimately for us. I would recommend this school only for the truly academically gifted who are willing to put aside most other things to focus on academics. The homework is typically pretty intense (often took hours) and the classwork is rigorous, often involving lots of rote work and staying in from recess when the work wasn't completed in the given timeframe. My child (who was working a full grade level ahead in math) began coming home complaining that she was bad at math and hates math. I worry that the intensity of it all started to affect her understanding of herself as a learner. The school is also very small, which can be a positive and a negative. The community is very tight (and surprisingly not pretentious), but after school club options are limited to things like chess club, computer science club, robotics club, and academic bowl. There are no organized sports or things like track and field day. The school is situated on TU's campus, but there is very little relationship between the school and the university. There are so many possible connections that could be explored there (labs, internships, library, etc), but they are very underdeveloped.I will say that the teachers are for the most part fabulous, and the teacher student ratio is one of the lowest in the city. It does seem, though, that there has been a lot of teacher turnover in recent years, something that seems to be affecting the continuity of the curriculum. One teacher will have you work math problems in a specific way, saying it's going to be "vital" for next year, but then in the next grade, the teachers had students work problems a totally different way. Some teachers seem to get hired at USchool just in time to take advantage of the TU tuition benefit for their college age child, but then they leave after 4 years. On the other hand, there are many teachers who have been there for years and even decades, and they are truly the heart of the school. Additionally, the tuition for the past few years has gone up by about $500 each year. For the amount that the school charges, there are likely better, more well rounded options available in Tulsa.
Submitted by parent on April 02, 2021

My wife is a teacher at University School and parents and students have always admired her dedication. Our daughter went to the school from 3 year olds to 8th grade achieving honor roll a few times and had a great experience. Our son also started in 3 year olds. By the time he was in 1st grade he was having some issues with getting up when he wasn't suppose to and some emotional issues. He was still making A's and B's. We didn't know what was going on, so the 3 directors called us in for a meeting. My wife and I had a therapist attend the meeting as well to figure out what’s going on. The therapist immediately said “those are signs of ADHD”. My wife and I were puzzled, why didn’t we pick up on that? The therapist explained those types of behavior are usually picked up at school before home. We told the directors that we’ll get him tested for ADHD and make sure it’s under control.Even though the directors knew we were going to get him tested they sent a letter of dismissal. We worked hard to prove them wrong and eventually received a 504 plan and continue at school. The directors did not offer any 504 or IEP plan, they disregarded TU’s code of ethics and multiple policies. Our son continued making good grades and the ADHD symptoms were under control.I sent some information to the councilor at the school about these issues with administration and how they handled us finding out our son had ADHD. Here's her exact response: Do Not Ever contact me again. I won’t speak to you about this.I thought councilors were suppose to have empathy and certainly be respectful and professional?I asked my wife who works at the school about the councilor. My wife is a very positive person and keeps to herself, but she didn’t have anything good to say about her and that most teachers don’t like her, she is very hard to work with and says negative things quite often.This is the University of Tulsa’s response:no misconduct was found
Submitted by parent on January 14, 2020

Overall the teachers are good, but the directors are terrible. Also, there aren't any councilors, nurses, sports teams, cafeterias.The teachers are not trained very well to handle typical kids issues. The directors would rather ask the children to leave instead of help them.
Submitted by parent on January 25, 2019

I regret ruining my child’s education and mental health at University School. This school was a complete disappointment in many areas. It is supposed to be a peanut free facility but foods with peanuts were fed to children all the time by mistake and usually parents were not even notified until the next school day after the incident. Two years in a row the teachers did not read the information we provided about my son’s health. At a emergency parent meeting my husband point blank asked them and they said they had not read it. The teachers refused to listen to my son’s health issues or allow his anxiety aids that were recommended by his doctor and counselor. The teachers insisted he had ADHD and said he belongs in a school for children with learning disabilities. My son is diagnosed with processing disorders and anxiety, two things this school claims on their website that the teachers are specially trained in. For months one teacher quit giving my son his medically necessary thyroid medication. We realized something wasn’t right with him and we had to take him to a specialist several times plus he needed extra blood work. All because the teacher decided the medicine made him hyper and didn’t give him it without telling us! Absolutely appalling! This caused upset with his extremely expensive Lyme treatment and other problems. When I confronted the the teacher and the head of the school they were both unapologetic. To this day I believe both of these individuals should be fired over this! Also that same teacher repeatedly was rude and discussed personal information out loud in front of other parents, students, and staff. My seven year old asked to be withdrawn because of bullying and depression! He started to hate school and begged to stay home. The teachers made him stand alone or at their desks to work, which caused other kids in his class to tease and make fun of him. This singling him out only made is anxiety worse even after we told them that and they still did it disregarding what we told them. Two other children as well that year from my son’s class asked to be withdrawn. He has been to two psychiatrists and both said what he experienced at this school will take years to overcome because they caused him to have “long term anxiety and stress disorders”. On a side note both doctors said they have noticed many children needed counseling after withdrawing.
Submitted by parent on April 15, 2018

Excellent. Our twins are boy/girl, and though both gifted, their talents are in very different areas/subjects. Both of their needs have been met by the compassionate and skilled teachers at the U School. This school has been a blessing to our family.
Submitted by parent on February 02, 2018

Fantastic. This school has been a huge part of our lives. I think when you go into University School, you should have an understanding on what to expect, and what they expect from students and families. It will be evident fairly quickly as to whether this is a good fit or not. The teachers at this school, and the administration, have been incredible - honestly, it feels like family.
Submitted by parent on September 11, 2017

I would rate my experience, from 1-10, a 0! They put my kid in a class he wasn't ready for and even went as far as to not even accommodate him by allowing him into their 3yr old program. They blamed everything on the 4yr old child. Disappointed doesn't even touch the surface!
Submitted by parent on February 15, 2014

My son attends University School, and loves it. My wife and I are very disillusioned about government schools. If University School wasn't available, we would home school. We are thankful everyday for the school and the teachers who run the place (and the 5 students to 1 teacher ratio, with specialty teachers for Spanish, Chinese, computers, etc.). My son even gets piano lessons at the school once a week. It's awesome. Best school in Tulsa, perhaps anywhere.
Submitted by parent on December 06, 2012

Best private school in Tulsa !!! I am an expat with children that does not speak English when we came to Tulsa. The teachers and principle are one of the kind and helpfull ! They give full support to our childern, they even got an honour roll for Kumon Math, just few months after they join the school !The kids are awesome (if I can borrow my kids terms), the environment are SUPERB!. It has a very challanging academic program that need collaboration between the children and parents. If you a type of parents that want your kids to learn about responsibility beside having good education. This is your school. The only thing that my kids less like is the amount of homework. Ha ! but who's not ? I am blessed to find a school like this in Tulsa !