TBH, and I know I may sound like a broken record by now, but I truly don't see the competitiveness at this point here, in Irvine. Everywhere I go, that's all I hear, Irvine schools are so competitive, it's so hard, so much work, tiger moms etc.
I'm in a K-8 school, with a 6th grader, super-lazy, I'm going to say smart, but normal kid, would just play video games all day, 5-10 minutes of actual homework a day, the rest is mostly projects, kind of like arts and crafts, and he still got all As, but literally with minimal work, and a 4th grader, super advanced, could easily go to 7th grade with her brother, teachers just shrug and admit she's way above her peers, but in Irvine there is no grade acceleration, not even subject acceleration, so just deal with it! It is such an average environment, that I'm completely baffled hearing about all this competition.
And I just keep bringing this up, because it seems that many parents are misinformed, being told how competitive it is here. Maybe it's a marketing tool, to sell more homes, I don't know, or maybe the area outside of Irvine is o much worse, that Irvine seems like it offers a stellar education. Granted, the schools are nice and clean and new(ish), people are nice and down to earth, no bullying, no stuck up kids, good families, extremely diverse. And I love their orchestra program, free daily music lessons. But academics? Hmm.
And if they mean competitive at the high school level, I just took a look at the Uni High website this morning, because I was curious what their course offerings were for next year. They don't even offer AP Physics 2, not to mention AP Physics C. Only AP PHY 1. For a school that touts itself as STEM excellence, I did not expect that. Really, there is no one at Uni who can handle AP Physics C?
And we're not Asian.