High Tech High North County: Full Guide

Location: San Marcos, CA

Are you a student or parent at High Tech High North County? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?

We've written the best guide to HTHNC available. Here we'll cover:

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

Let's get started!

Basic Information

High Tech High North County is a public school, supporting grades 9 to 12 . It's located in San Marcos, CA in San Diego County.

Based on its location, HTHNC is classified as a school in a large suburb. Here's the location on a map:

Contact Information

Mailing address:

High Tech High North County
2861 Womble Rd.
San Diego, CA 92106-6025

Phone number: 6192435014

High Tech High North County homepage: http://www.hightechhigh.org/schools/HTHNC/

Principal: Isaac Jones
Email the principal: [email protected]

Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at High Tech High North County is 562 students, making it a somewhat large high school, in the top half of all California high schools by size.

As a mid-sized high school, HTHNC strikes the balance between size and comfort. There will be enough students to provide a diversity of experiences, like clubs and sports, for you to join. But it'll be small enough that you'll likely get to know most people in your class.

Growth in Student Body Size

Is High Tech High North County growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.

From our calculations, the enrollment at HTHNC has steadily 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	86	72	158
10^th grade	86	58	144
11^th grade	74	69	143
12^th grade	70	47	117

As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 41 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 San Marcos could be growing in population, thus sending more students into HTHNC. Alternatively, HTHNC could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.

Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at High Tech High North County?

From our statistics, HTHNC has a 57:43 split between male and female students in the high school grades.

There is a large male majority at HTHNC, and much more than you would expect from the general population in San Diego County. As a result, it'll feel like there are a lot more girls than boys in your classes.

Sometimes this imbalance can result from random chance and may not suggest anything about HTHNC. In other cases, the school might preferentially select for males. For example, in our data we find that continuation high schools unfortunately seem to be male-dominated. In yet other cases, other neighboring schools might attract female students, drawing them away from HTHNC.

If the male majority is concerning to you, we suggest contacting HTHNC administration and asking if they have any thoughts about why there's a gender imbalance. Their phone number is 6192435014.

Ethnicity Breakdown

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

From our statistics, HTHNC 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 HTHNC 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 HTHNC are white. In California, white students make up 26.3% of all California students, and are the second most common ethnicity after Hispanic students. Thus HTHNC is one of hundreds of schools in the state that have a majority of white students.

	Percentage	Number
American Indian/Alaska Native	0.8%	5
Asian	12.2%	69
Hispanic	25.2%	142
Black	3.7%	21
White	56.4%	317
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander	0.7%	4
Two or more races	0.7%	4

High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of San Marcos. 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 HTHNC Families

What are the family incomes of students at High Tech High North County? 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 HTHNC, 9.0% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 14.2% qualify for free lunches.

This means HTHNC has a low poverty level. The overwhelming majority of students at HTHNC don't qualify for free or reduced price lunches. San Marcos is thus likely to be an affluent community, with quite high family incomes.

	Number	Percent
Reduced-price lunches	51	9.0%
Free lunches	80	14.2%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches	431	76.6%

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

Because HTHNC is in the top quartile of schools by family income, it's likely to be well-funded relative to other high schools in California. This means you'll likely have access to advanced coursework like AP/IB classes and better-funded extracurriculars and sports.

It's still up to you, though, to take advantage of the resources HTHNC has to offer. If you work hard and spend your time effectively, you'll likely be well positioned to succeed in college and beyond.

Exclusive: Want to learn how to improve your SAT score by 160 points? image description

Download our free guide on the top 5 strategies you must be using to improve your score. This guide was written by Harvard graduates and SAT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.

School Safety

How safe is High Tech High North County 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 HTHNC: 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 HTHNC students at risk.

In the school year of 2011-2012, there were 2 referrals to law enforcement (0 male, 2 female), and 0 school-related arrests. This is out of a total enrollment of 537 students.

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

This means that 0.3 HTHNC is a safe school. For every 100 students, there is much fewer than 1 law-enforcement related action. It's not a perfect record, but it happens so infrequently that it might have just been a few bad apples.

With this record, is High Tech High North County significantly different from other schools in the area? It could be that HTHNC has an especially bad record, or it could be that the local area shows a pattern.

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

Sbc - High Tech High School District Safety

School Name	Total Referred	Total Arrests	Enrollment
High Tech High Chula Vista	0	0	615

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 High Tech High North County? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?

We've compiled everything we could find about HTHNC's academics here.

Standardized Testing

Next, we'll look at another major piece of high school academics: standardized testing performance for High Tech High North County 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 High Tech High North County SAT scores.

The average composite SAT score is a 1510 out of 2400, compared to a national average of 1500. Each year, roughly 164 at HTHNC take the SAT.

This is an average SAT score, putting High Tech High North County right around the national average. Because the SAT measures academic achievement, this suggests that HTHNC 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
HTHNC	516	501	502	1510
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 1510 as an SAT score? Find out with our complete 1510 SAT score guide, including which colleges you can get into with a 1510 or any other SAT score!

Exclusive: Want to learn how to improve your SAT score by 160 points? image description

Advanced Placement (AP)

Advanced Placement (AP) classes are college-level courses that are an additional academic challenge may give High Tech High North County 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 1 students in grades 9-12 at HTHNC take 0 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 HTHNC is out of 5.

Compared to schools across California, this score puts HTHNC at below average performance. On AP tests, the passing score is considered a 3, and unfortunately the number of students who don't pass is greater than the number of do. This performance places High Tech High North County in the bottom 25 % of schools for AP tests.

This isn't all bad news for you, though. It's still good that HTHNC offers AP classes so you have the opportunity to take courses at a college level. Your school might be new to offering AP courses, and typically teachers get better at preparing students for AP tests over time. Finally, as you'll see below, there are still students who earn a passing grade of 3 or above - and with hard work, you can be one of them.

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:

To find out the passing rates for specific AP courses at High Tech High North County, 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 High Tech High North County 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 HTHNC 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 HTHNC.

English/Language Arts

At High Tech High North County, 72% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.

This is considered good and puts HTHNC in the top 25% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. Most HTHNC students pass or exceed state standards, though there is also a sizable portion of students who fail to meet state standards.

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 High Tech High North County, 40% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts HTHNC in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of HTHNC 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.

Sports Teams

Finally, we'll cover which sports teams are available at High Tech High North County. 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 HTHNC.

By the way, the High Tech High North County mascot is the Raptor. Go Raptor!

High Tech High North County fields 8 teams for girls' sports. This is a relatively number that puts HTHNC in the bottom 50% of California schools that offer girls' sports. This is understandable - sports teams are expensive to support, and many schools would rather put those resources elsewhere. If you participate in a sport that HTHNC doesn't offer, consider joining a local non-school team to get practice and compete.

And now for the boys: High Tech High North County fields 8 teams for boys' sports. This relatively number puts HTHNC in the bottom 50% of California schools that offer boys' sports. Sports teams are expensive to support, and HTHNC may not be able to offer the full range of options. If you participate in a sport that HTHNC doesn't offer, consider joining a local non-school team to get practice and compete.

Boys Teams	Girls Teams
Basketball Var JV Fr	Basketball Var JV Fr
Golf Var JV Fr
Tennis Var JV Fr	Tennis Var JV Fr
	Volleyball Var JV Fr
Baseball Var JV Fr
	Softball Var JV Fr
Trackfield Var JV Fr
Crosscountry Var JV Fr	Crosscountry Var JV Fr
Soccer Var JV Fr	Soccer 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.

If You Liked Our Advice...

Visit our blog for free strategy guides on college admissions and test prep.

Our experts have written hundreds of useful articles on improving your SAT score and getting into college. You'll definitely find something useful here.

Visit our blog now.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get FREE strategies and guides sent to your email. Learn how to ace the SAT/ACT and get into college, with exclusive tips and insights that we share with our private newsletter subscribers.

Get Free SAT Tips to Boost Your Score

You should definitely follow us on social media. You'll get updates on our latest articles right on your feed. Follow us on all of our social networks:

Follow @PrepScholar