Costa Mesa High School: Full Guide

Location: Costa Mesa, CA

Are you a student or parent at Costa Mesa High School? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?

We've written the best guide to Costa Mesa High available. Here we'll cover:

Breakdowns of student ethnicity, gender, and family income
How safe Costa Mesa High is to attend
SAT/ACT/AP scores earned by Costa Mesa High students
Which AP/IB classes you can take at Costa Mesa High
Every sports team you can join at Costa Mesa High

Let's get started!

Basic Information

Costa Mesa High School is a public school, supporting grades 7 to 12 . It's located in Costa Mesa, CA in Orange County.

Based on its location, Costa Mesa High is classified as a school in a midsized city. Here's the location on a map:

Contact Information

Mailing address:

Costa Mesa High School
2985 Bear St., Bldg. A
Costa Mesa, CA 92626-4300

Phone number: 7144248700

Costa Mesa High School homepage: http://cmhs.nmusd.us/

Principal: Guy Olquin
Email the principal: [email protected]

Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at Costa Mesa High School is 1763 students, making it a large high school, in the top 25% of all California high schools by size.

Attending Costa Mesa High will feel like attending a small college. You'll have a few hundred students in your class, enough to provide an interesting set of activities, sports, and classes to try. But compared to the largest high schools in California, the student body size won't be overwhelming.

Growth in Student Body Size

Is Costa Mesa High School growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.

From our calculations, the enrollment at Costa Mesa High has increased over the past few years. We calculate this by comparing enrollment in grades 9 to 12.

	Male Students	Female Students	All Students
9^th grade	169	149	318
10^th grade	154	135	289
11^th grade	129	129	258
12^th grade	131	127	258

As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 60 students larger than the senior class. This suggests that the school is growing in size and taking on more students.

There are a few reasons this could be happening. The city of Costa Mesa could be growing in population, thus sending more students into Costa Mesa High. Alternatively, Costa Mesa High could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.

Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at Costa Mesa High School?

From our statistics, Costa Mesa High has a 52:48 split between male and female students in the high school grades.

Costa Mesa High has a balanced male-female ratio that's largely representative of the general population in Orange County. Since the student body is roughly half and half, it should feel like there are equal numbers of boys and girls in your classes.

This usually means that Costa Mesa High doesn't strongly select for either males or females, unlike other schools that have a large majority of males or females.

Ethnicity Breakdown

What's the racial diversity at Costa Mesa High School? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?

From our statistics, Costa Mesa High has a somewhat homogenous student body, with the majority of students identifying as one ethnicity, but not representing over 70% of the student body. Most schools in California fit this profile, so Costa Mesa High isn't out of the ordinary. Most students attending class with you will be of the predominant ethnicity, but there will be meaningful diversity from other races.

The majority of students at Costa Mesa High are Hispanic. In California, Hispanic students make up the majority of all students at 51.5%, and are thus the most common ethnicity. Predominantly Hispanic schools are the most common type of homogenous school, and Costa Mesa High fits within this category.

	Percentage	Number
American Indian/Alaska Native	0.2%	4
Asian	7.9%	140
Hispanic	63.9%	1128
Black	1.7%	31
White	23.6%	417
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander	1.4%	25
Two or more races	1.0%	18

High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of Costa Mesa. If you'd like to see how other nearby schools look in diversity, just google "[name of school] prepscholar" to find our guide to that specific school.

Income Level of Costa Mesa High Families

What are the family incomes of students at Costa Mesa High School? To determine this, we look at the number of students who qualify for free or reduced lunches, a classification by the US federal government.

To qualify for a reduced price meal, family income needs to be below 185% of the federal poverty guidelines. For a family of 4, this means an income of around $45,000 or below.

To qualify for a free meal, family income needs to be below 130% of the federal poverty guidelines. For a family of 4, this means an income of around $32,000 or below.

The lower the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced price meals, the higher the income levels are likely to be.

At Costa Mesa High, 10.4% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 62.2% qualify for free lunches.

This means Costa Mesa High has a moderate percentage of students at or near poverty. About half of all schools in California show this level of poverty or greater. The income level of families in Costa Mesa is likely to be relatively low.

	Number	Percent
Reduced-price lunches	184	10.4%
Free lunches	1097	62.2%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches	482	27.3%

As with ethnicity, this likely reflects the surrounding community in Costa Mesa and doesn't speak much about the school itself.

Costa Mesa High is in the middle 50% of schools by income level. Generally, higher income level schools are better-funded and have a higher quality range of classes and activities. Costa Mesa High is likely in the middle of the pack in this regard and will give you a good set of options to try.

If you have any interests that Costa Mesa High doesn't cover, look to your local community for activities, or to the Internet for self-study AP classes.

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School Safety

How safe is Costa Mesa High School to attend? Can you expect a lot of conflict as a student here?

To study this, we look at disciplinary data for two types of incidents at Costa Mesa High: referrals to law enforcement (when incidents are reported to police), and arrests.

These are the most serious disciplinary actions available to school administration and are more severe than suspensions or expulsions. Suspensions are often discretionary and can be given just for being disruptive in class. In contrast, law enforcement referrals and arrests often indicate incidents that put the safety of other Costa Mesa High students at risk.

In the school year of 2011-2012, there were 0 referrals to law enforcement, and 0 school-related arrests. This is out of a total enrollment of 1697 students.

To put this into perspective, most California schools (59% of them) reported 0 law enforcement referrals and arrests.

Compare this school with other high schools in the same school district, using the following table:

Newport-mesa Unified School District Safety

School Name	Total Arrests	Enrollment
Corona Del Mar High	2	2440
Estancia High	0	1311
Back Bay High	0	121
Newport Harbor High	0	2503
Monte Vista High	0	1834
Early College High	0	234

Academic Performance

Now we get to a major aspect of assessing a high school: academic performance. How good of an education will you get at Costa Mesa High School? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?

We've compiled everything we could find about Costa Mesa High's academics here.

Graduation Rate

To start off, an important benchmark of academic achievement is graduation rate. For all students who start high school at Costa Mesa High, the state of California wants as many students to graduate as possible, since a high school diploma can mean a big difference in getting a job.

At Costa Mesa High, 91% (of 274) Costa Mesa High students graduated within four years of starting high school.

Here's how this stacks up to other schools. The California state government has defined 90% as a target rate. The state average is around 80-85%.

Costa Mesa High is in the 73rd percentile of all public high schools in California for graduation rate. This is above average. Generally, a graduation rate of above 90% is considered good and well above average, and below 75% is well below average.

Note: This data comes from a few years back, but the trends are likely to stay the same, since schools don't get significantly better or worse within a short period of time.

Standardized Testing

Next, we'll look at another major piece of high school academics: standardized testing performance for Costa Mesa High School students. These are tests that are administered to large populations of students for comparison purposes.

Let’s start by taking a look at the data for nationally administered standardized tests.

SAT Scores

As you probably know, the SAT is a critical test used for college admissions. The higher the score you get, the better your academic performance compared to students nationwide, and the easier it is to get into top colleges.

We did in-depth research and found the average Costa Mesa High School SAT scores.

The average composite SAT score is a 1480 out of 2400, compared to a national average of 1500. Each year, roughly 135 at Costa Mesa High take the SAT.

This is an average SAT score, putting Costa Mesa High School right around the national average. Because the SAT measures academic achievement, this suggests that Costa Mesa High will offer a fairly standard high school education, neither strongly lacking or outperforming.

Note, however, that this is just an average - the top students can still exceed the average significantly. If you can rise far above your school average, you'll have a great shot at entering a strong college.

Here's a breakdown of SAT scores by section:

Average SAT Scores (2013-2014)

Source	Critical Reading	Math	Writing	Composite
Costa Mesa High	497	504	488	1480
California	498	510	496	1504
United States	495	511	484	1490

Note that the SAT has since changed to a 1600 scale, but the trends above for your high school are likely to continue. Just use this guide to convert between the old 2400 scale and the new 1600 scale.

To learn more about SAT percentile rankings, read our guide on what SAT percentiles really mean.

How good is 1480 as an SAT score? Find out with our complete 1480 SAT score guide, including which colleges you can get into with a 1480 or any other SAT score!

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ACT Scores

In California, the ACT is less popular than the SAT. Fewer students take the ACT, and typically these students are more motivated and academically prepared for college. Therefore, it's harder to compare Costa Mesa High School ACT scores with the rest of the country.

At Costa Mesa High, the average ACT composite score was 19, compared to the nationwide average of 20. Each year, roughly 26 out of 1123 total students take the ACT.

This is below average performance, putting Costa Mesa High in the bottom 50% of California high schools. Most students who take the ACT are below the national average.

Since the ACT tests what you learn in school, this is a pretty strong indicator that you'll get an average or below average education at Costa Mesa High.

Here are the average English, Math, Reading, and Science scores for Costa Mesa High compared to California and the US:

Average ACT Scores

Source	English	Math	Reading	Science
Costa Mesa High	18	21	21	19
California	21.8	22.8	22.3	21.7
United States	20.3	20.9	21.3	20.8

Scores provided are for the 2013-14 school year.

Find out more about percentile rankings and the ACT in this article.

Every individual is different. What counts as a good ACT score for you? Learn more with this article!

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Advanced Placement (AP)

Advanced Placement (AP) classes are college-level courses that are an additional academic challenge may give Costa Mesa High School students credit for college.

Here's what we're looking for: high average AP test scores as well as high AP passing rates.

AP Scores

Every year, roughly 295 students in grades 9-12 at Costa Mesa High take 533 AP exams. It's important to understand how students score on the AP - earning a 3, 4, or 5 on the AP test means passing the test and often earning college credit.

The average score of all AP exams taken at Costa Mesa High is 2.4 out of 5.

Unfortunately, this score puts Costa Mesa High at below average performance. For AP tests, the passing score is considered a 3, and the majority of students who take AP tests at Costa Mesa High don't pass. This performance places Costa Mesa High School in the bottom 50% of schools for AP tests in California.

This isn't all bad news. It's already good that Costa Mesa High offers an AP program, so you can start dipping your toes into college-level courses. Some schools are new to offering AP courses, and teachers often get better at preparing students for AP tests. Furthermore, a good number of students still earn a passing grade of 3 or above. With hard work throughout the year, you'll still be able to beat your school's average.

We have specific data on how many students got a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 (out of 5) on AP exams in the chart below:

AP Test-Taking Statistics

Another way to gauge the quality of a school's AP program is to see how many AP students actually took AP exams at Costa Mesa High School. If a lot of students enroll in AP courses but don't actually take the AP tests, it can be a sign that students don't feel adequately prepared to take the test, or the school isn't encouraging students to take the exams enough.

At Costa Mesa High, there is a total enrollment of 290 in AP courses (a student taking more than one AP course counts more than once).

Of AP-taking students, 236 took AP tests for ALL AP courses. 33 students took AP tests for SOME AP Courses, and 41 took AP courses but took NO tests.

This is good test participation. Most AP students at Costa Mesa High School take the AP test for every one of their AP courses, outnumbering the students who take some or no AP exams. This is a good sign that students feel confident enough to take tests for all AP courses available to them, which reflects well on the teachers and course material. Costa Mesa High can continue to improve by reducing the number of students who take AP exams for some or none of their courses, but it's in a good state.

Note: The most recent data we have available is from 2012, so the statistics may have changed since then. Most likely, however, the trends are likely to continue - above average schools are likely to stay above average, and below average schools are likely to stay below average.

To find out the passing rates for specific AP courses at Costa Mesa High School, you'll have to talk to your guidance counselor (who can then help you find that information). For instance, one AP Calculus teacher may have an above-90% passing rate, while another might only have a 50% passing rate. If you can, you'll want to take the class with the teacher who has more students get a 3 or above on the AP exam.

Find out more about the average score for each AP subject here.

State Tests

As of 2014, eleventh graders attending Costa Mesa High School must take standardized tests in English/Language Arts and Math as part of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). These align with the new Common Core standards and are called the "Smarter Balanced" tests.

If Costa Mesa High students meet or exceed state standards, they're academically prepared to graduate high school and go to college. Specifically, we care about the percentage of students who meet or exceed state standards. The larger this number, the higher the preparation of students at Costa Mesa High.

English/Language Arts

At Costa Mesa High School, 57% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.

This is considered above average and puts Costa Mesa High in the top 50% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. Around half of Costa Mesa High students pass state standards, and around half do not.

This specific percentage isn't much cause for concern - because the standards have gotten harder with the Common Core, the pass rate at Costa Mesa High will likely rise over time. But it still reflects Costa Mesa High's roughly average ranking among California high schools.

English/Language Arts Test Results (2015)

Read more about what’s measured in each ELA area score here.

Math

The other major test taken for state assessments is Math. Across the state, Math performance is generally lower than English/Language Arts performance, so it's natural for this number to be lower.

At Costa Mesa High School, 31% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Costa Mesa High in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Costa Mesa High students don't meet state standards, and only a small percentage pass.

Math Test Results (2015)

Read more about what’s measured in each Math area score, go here.

Academic Offerings

In addition to the standard high school curriculum, many high schools like Costa Mesa High School offer advanced coursework as part of the Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) programs.

Brief Intro to AP/IB

AP and IB courses are designed at the difficulty level of college introductory classes. There are several important benefits to taking advanced coursework at Costa Mesa High. First, taking more advanced classes shows colleges that you're committed to challenging yourself academically, and that you're one of the more advanced students at Costa Mesa High. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.

Furthermore, many colleges will accept your Costa Mesa High AP/IB coursework as college coursework. In some cases, you'll be able to skip introductory-level classes and move to more advanced classes. In other cases, you'll be able to avoid having to take required courses and might even be able to graduate earlier than the standard 4 years. Often this will require you to pass the AP test, getting a score of 3 or above.

So what advanced courses does Costa Mesa High School offer?

AP Courses

Costa Mesa High School offers AP courses in 16 subjects.

This is an impressive number of AP subjects, putting Costa Mesa High School in the top 25% of California schools in AP offerings. You'll likely have all of the most popular AP courses available to you, as well as some broader interests.

The total number of AP subjects is 38, so Costa Mesa High is missing a good number of subjects, but these are likely the least popular subjects, like less popular foreign languages. If there are any AP courses you want to take that aren't being offered at Costa Mesa High, ask your counselor for other options.

Of course, keep in mind that quality matters even more than quantity - it's important that your AP courses are taught well by engaging teachers. But the strong AP program at Costa Mesa High likely means you'll be in good hands.

The following AP courses were offered at Costa Mesa High during 2015-2016:

Course Title
Biology
Calculus AB
Calculus BC
Chemistry
Computer Science A
English Literature and Composition
Environmental Science
Human Geography
Physics 1: Algebra-Based
Psychology
Spanish Language and Culture
Spanish Literature and Culture
Studio Art: 2-D Design
Studio Art: Drawing
United States History
World History

Sports Teams

Finally, we'll cover which sports teams are available at Costa Mesa High School. Sports are an integral part of many students' high school experiences. The more sports that are available, and the more levels supported (Frosh, JV, Varsity), the more likely you'll be able to participate in a sport at Costa Mesa High.

By the way, the Costa Mesa High mascot is the Mustangs. Go Mustangs!

Costa Mesa High School fields 23 teams for girls' sports. This is an impressively high number that puts Costa Mesa High in the top 10% of California schools that offer girls' sports. If you're a female, you'll have plenty of options of sports and levels to try out for. Furthermore, schools that offer more teams typically have a strong sports culture and field competitive teams.

And now for the boys: Costa Mesa High School fields 29 teams for boys' sports. Clearly Costa Mesa High has a strong sports culture - Costa Mesa High is in the top 10% of California schools that offer boys' sports. Boys will find plenty of options of sports at different levels to try out for. Because more teams usually also means more resources devoted to sports, you can also expect Costa Mesa High sports teams to be competitive.

Boys Teams	Girls Teams
Basketball Var JV Fr	Basketball Var JV Fr
Golf Var JV Fr	Golf Var JV Fr
Tennis Var JV Fr	Tennis Var JV Fr
Football Var JV Fr
Wrestling Var JV Fr
Volleyball Var JV Fr	Volleyball Var JV Fr
Baseball Var JV Fr
	Softball Var JV Fr
Waterpolo Var JV Fr	Waterpolo Var JV Fr
Trackfield Var JV Fr	Trackfield Var JV Fr
Crosscountry Var JV Fr	Crosscountry Var JV Fr
Soccer Var JV Fr	Soccer Var JV Fr
Swimming Var JV Fr	Swimming Var JV Fr

What’s Next?

Want to get more useful information about high school classes and preparing for colleges? Our blog has a ton of articles and advice on topics ranging from coursework and GPA to letters of recommendation, extracurriculars, and much more!

Ready to bulk up your schedule and maximize your college preparedness? Read all about the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs.

Not quite in high school yet, but eager to get started? We've also got information for younger students interested in advanced learning opportunities, both in and out of school.

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