Menlo-Atherton High School Reviews

293 reviews

MA has one of the worst high school boy's soccer programs in the area. The program just got rid of a long-time, toxic coach and hired an even worse one.
80+ people try out, 30 get a spot on Varsity. This includes MLS Next and top tier ECNL/NPL players. And yet this team was 1 game away from being relegated in a pretty mediocre league.
The current coach overplays a core group of 15 players. They get hurt and yet he still overplays them when they recover. It also hurts that he starts underclassmen that play for his own non-school affiliated club soccer team. Beyond not playing his best players, he really has no idea what he is doing.
This is the type of program that club soccer coaches warn their players about. If you want to play competitively and potentially in college, stay away.

We had a terrible experience at Menlo Atherton during our son's freshman year.
He struggled with ADHD and the school didn't work with us on a plan to help him, until after the first semester and after we hired a learning specialist to help us with their lack of support.
Communication with families is bad, teachers and administrators take a long time to respond to emails and, at times don't even bother or do it.
We had to call and email several times to clear absences that were unexcused because of a clerk error, while being requested, at the same time, to address them within 5 days, or else...
Stay clear of M-A if your child has neurodiversity, they have no good support, compassion, or time to deal with it. They want students to advocate for themselves, but when they try, they shut them down with rules and bureaucracy.
In addition, the school is not able to protect freshmen from older students who regularly vape/smoke in bathrooms; there have been fights and gun incidents as well.

Really loved this school. I didn't realize how good I had it until I moved away from the Bay Area and heard all the horror stories about other schools. Every teacher I had cared immensely and there's a few I keep up with to this day. They're invested and they're good people.

Review Menlo-Atherton High School

Coming from a very small charter school, the amount of culture and pride present is very impressive, students do a great job cheering each other on at sport events and are very present on campus with events having lots of participation. Some of the buildings could use some upgrading but the newer facilities are great. Diversity is definitely the schools biggest strength, having people from many different backgrounds and a variety of culture clubs who host their own or come together in school events. There is a great variety in the classes available as well, with teachers who are supportive and will go above and beyond to help students excel.

This school is vary will connected, and has alot of clubs to help with that. The clubs are also something that alot of people Injoy

Although there is diversity in the school as a whole, not a lot within classes. In my entire AP career, I have only had one African American classmate in an AP class. There’s a lot of division and sectionalism within the school. Additionally, I don’t feel safe at this school. Most of the time, Admin is more concerned with kids skipping every once in a while than investigating anonymous reports. And I believe that is why so many incidents have occurred where kids brought firearms to school. Some teachers are biased and not good at their jobs, but there are a few good ones that have really made a lasting positive impact on my life. I am grateful for them and their impact on me, and it is definitely worth the incompetent administration and harassment from some students. Speaking of which, there is a lot of harassment that girls experience that I dont have enough characters remaining to go into it. But it makes me and my classmates uncomfortable.

I think that it would be very nice if there was better food available to all students on campus and if they kept this food affordable.

MA has been a great place for personal development in academics and sports. There are loads of great teachers and coaches who care about helping students succeed. Definitely has the most athletic potential in the league.

MA is a large school. Many teachers are overwhelmed. Students are either on AS track or are forgotten.

There are some good teachers and some not so good teachers, just like at any big school. The teachers get better in more advanced classes. Recently the school has been working to “detrack” students to try to address gaps in high school preparedness and success, but these policies also hold back students who want to challenge themselves and take difficult classes. The sports teams and clubs that I have been part of have been really fabulous, and school spirit is excellent.

The academics at MA are good, many students are ahead and take classes that typically are meant for students above their grade level. The environment can be competitive. Many APs are offered and there is a good amount of Honors classes. Majority of the student body participate in sports and extracurriculars. For the most part the teachers are good however there is a problem where some teachers will be awful and although many students will file complaints, MA cannot do much because of the shortage of teachers. MA has a very diverse community where the hispanic population is large.

Our daughter had a very good experience at MA High School. Some teachers were very helpful in helping her with class work and providing guidance for success in particular math and science. Other teachers in AP English were not very specific in providing direction for improvements

I loved most of my teachers while I was at MA. The sports were great and the diversity was a super important aspect for me. One this I disliked were the condition of the bathrooms and some of the classrooms. They were usually pretty outdated. The clubs and leadership at MA are amazing.

My experience with Menlo Atherton has been more or else good some good things about it so far is the teachers are great (the ones I've had so far) and there are so many different things to try out and do that it's kinda overwhelming. I was able to try out the first sport that I've ever don't and that was wrestling it was really fun but really tiring so it wasn't for me but I loved that I had that experience. The councilors are also really great they give you great advice and try to lead you in the right direction they also have free therapist for you to have if you ever need one, I don't have one but my friend does and she absolutely loves her and it's really hard for her to like people especially therapist so it's really great that her therapist is actually helping her. We also have this thing called a zen den we're people can go if they feel overwhelmed or that they just need to leave class for personal reasons it's really great, I have been there myself it's really great, helpful.

Teachers are generally knowledgable and passionate. Administration is a hit or a miss. School is un-photogenic, but it is an educational institution.

My experience in high school was alright. Teachers are great and staff is very helpful. However, the lunch area is not adapted for students to eat, we have a lot of students and it would be great to have more indoor seating. Classrooms are well organized but lockers are unpractical due to the row layout of the school. Go M-A Bears!

This school was not the best. I had some great experiences with most of my teachers that were so kind and caring but the administration was terrible. The administration where extremely disrespectful towards student when they would try to address there concerns with the school. It was like they didn’t know how to run the school at times. There was one point where on a campus of 1400 kids only one bathroom was open because they didn’t want people to be late to class while because they where using the bathroom. Not only did students spend extensive class time looking for the open bathroom but the student were never told.

Review Menlo-Atherton High School

Most of my teachers are very good and they make an effort to make their classes interesting. I usually have at least one teacher who I find difficult to work with but that's just part of life. The community is strong---although the food is abysmal.

Menlo Atherton is very inclusive and diverse. They try very hard to make sure everyone feels part of it.

Menlo Atherton High School is as close as it gets to a private education with all of the luxuries without the cost of a private education.

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