bearishgurl, I know all about guarantee admission at a UC. I was guarantee a spot a UCI. Didn’t go there, but but was guarantee a spot there. It all depend on your child’s work ethics. If he/she works hard regardless and perform at his/her 100% potential, then it doesn’t matter as much (except for times when certain AP class get cancelled due to low interest). However, if you kids are the type who would do just enough to be in the top 5%, then he/she might have a rude awakening when s/he enter a UC and found out that s/he has to work 10X harder just to keep up w/ the peers at a prestigious UC (UCB/UCLA/UCSD). It’s very possible that s/he will adapt and work harder, but s/he might be out of their element, since s/he never had to work that hard before to get a B. If you can’t be in the top 5-10% at Torrey Pine HS, then you’re going to be hard press to keep up with your peers at UCB/UCLA/UCSD.
I know valedictorians from not so good HS acing it at UCSD, because they have ALWAYS worked at 100% capacity. So a not so good HS doesn’t hold them back. I also know people who breeze through decent HS (being in the top 5% of their class), only to get a rude awakening when they enter UCSD. They really had to pick up their game. To use a running analogy, it’s much harder to run full speed (the speed your peers run at) when you’ve been strolling for the past 4 years, while your peers have been running/training for the last 4 years. I never say it’s not doable, it’s just that much harder since s/he aren’t familiar w/ that kind of competition.
Me personal, no I do not live in a TPHS attendance area. No, I do not regret it one bit. I live in an area where the schools are ranked 9-10 for elementary, 9 for middle school and 8 for HS. The HS also have a good amount of students going to UC as well. My kids are not even in preschool yet, but like I told sdcellar before, I have no plan to move out of my current house until they graduate college, so I’m perfectly happy with my kids going to my local HS. Since this area is MUCH MUCH cheaper than comparable place in Carmel Valley, I have the luxury to have my wife work part time or stay at home if she like. I personally think that with my wife pushing & tutoring our kids while going to a school that 8/10 as good (on average compare to TPHS) will yield a better result than living in Carmel Valley and requiring both of us to work and leaving it all up to TPHS. I wouldn’t settle/be happy with schools that have API bellow 7 and have low UC attendance rate, but that’s not the case for my local HS.
