All-Girls School
Santa Catalina School
- grade A+Overall Grade
- Private, Boarding, Catholic, All-Girls
- 9-12
- Monterey, CA
- Rating 4.43 out of 5 82 reviews
Santa Catalina School Reviews
Rating 4.43 out of 5 82 reviews
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This school is a gift to young women. The education is excellent, the community is supportive, empowering, and extremely caring for each individual. You will be challenged there because whatever your strengths are, the teachers recognize them and help you grow further in that aspect and also help you develop in the areas that challenge you. As a boarder, you are surrounded by good people who are there for you, and students who are growing with you. It felt like a home away from home when I was there. I also feel that different types of people come to the school so you have an opportunity to meet various cultures, as well as people who came from different family backgrounds so you are always learning about people and how to live in community, even as a day student. When I started there, I was independent, confident, and studious and grew even more through my time there. Anyone who doesn't feel that way in my opinion is a person who didn't try and totally missed out on an opportunity.
Due to Covid and changes on campus and dormitory life our daughter withdrew from the school on June 29th. The school is still demanding we pay the full year tuition.
I loved my time at Catalina. It provided me not only an excellent education, but shaped me into the woman I am today. I am forever grateful for my time there and proud to be an alum of lower and upper school.
Attending Santa Catalina has been such a remarkable experience. The teachers are excellent (many of them experts in their fields), and the sense of community created by students, faculty, and staff is so wonderful.
I am a freshman, and I will not be coming back. This school's academics are very hard, and I found myself falling behind. The dorm parents were harsh and rude, and overall I felt trapped. In my opinion, there are too many rules, and the day students and boarders mostly do not get along. The all-girls aspect takes away the fun of high school. Also, the sports are weak, although I have noticed the drama aspect of this school was good. But, the school is strict, and I have wasted my freshmen year here. I do not think I or my parents got their money worth from this school. I was very disappointed, as when I was applying the school was portrayed in a way that turned out it was not.
Santa Catalina gave me a safe place to grow into myself. Overall, looking back on my experience, I have recieved a supurb education and I feel prepared to enter into college. The only complaint I have is that the administration is much to concern with the image of the school instead of being concerned for the well being of individual students.
I have overall enjoyed my experience at Santa Catalina. Strong academics, diverse extracurriculars, and a supportive and empowering student body.
The academics are strong, the teachers and staff are supportive and provide a lot of guidance. This high school is great for young girls who need guidance and are not quite at the maturity level to follow their own path, and navigate themselves through high school. It is quite a pretentious school, and most of the girls that attend are immature. The school will constantly be asking for more money outside of tuition, asking to donate to the fund and help raise money all the time. If you’re daughter is even the slightest bit mature for her age then she will feel trapped in this school! Track and field team is great, along with the water polo and swim team!
I attend this school and it is the best school ever. All aspects are awesome such as the students that I have met and all the friendships I have made. The amount I have learned there with the amazing teachers is astonishing. It is the perfect school for everyone
I absolutely loved my experience in the lower and upper school! The teachers, extracurriculars, and food were all amazing. I am still friends with a lot of classmates and am still close to past advisors and teachers. This school could not come more highly recommended.
I couldn’t dream of a more perfect school for my daughter. We are blessed to have her spend her high school years in such a warm community surrounded by the highest caliber teachers. Catalina girls DREAM BIG!
It's an amazing school with a beautiful campus. The academics can feel like a lot, but there's tons of places to get help. It's very easy to make friends here, and due to all of the different contexts of boarding life, you're never stuck with just one friend group. Some of my best friends are students from different grades who I met in my extracurricular! Boarding students have a lot of freedom, although it can feel kind of mandated at times - there's only a few places to go on the weekends, you have to write a form weeks in advance if you're staying overnight with your parents, and if you're sick you stay in a hot room for 9 hours with nobody checking on you. Not to mention church every Sunday, signing into dinner every night, and singing practice every Wednesday. At least our uniforms have some freedom! Of course, all of these events are still enjoyable, and there's nothing that brings people together like complaining. I love Catalina - it's my home! And I wouldn't go anywhere else.
Santa Catalina Upper School is an all-girls catholic high school which has a highly encouraging and friendly environment, as well as a beautiful campus.
I am a boarding student from Menlo Park and am only a freshman here, but I absolutely love the community. The academics are quite difficult; however, the faculty and staff are very supportive and helpful.
Santa Catalina School has been an amazing experience. The faculty and staff there really push each and every student to be the best that they can be. They want you to succeed. The community on campus is truly beautiful. You become friends with everyone and they encourage you to try something new, to take risks. Santa Catalina School is a wonderful school and will get your daughter for not only college, but life.
I am a graduate as well as a current parent. Catalina is an amazing all around environment for girls to flourish and become their best selves. I am so proud to be an alum and thrilled to make this educational experience available to my daughter!
Excellent academics and students truly invested in learning. Fantastic theatre arts program. A bounty of clubs to be involved with. Teachers who care about the students. Boarding students from around the world, making the campus diverse and interesting. Some of the best things about Catalina are the school traditions which become rites of passage for all the girls attending. Two of Catalina's mottos: "Catalina Girls Can" and "Do Well, Do Good." When I heard these while exploring high school options, I knew it was the campus for me.
Santa Catalina is a good college preparatory school and the sports here are good as well. The school is quite pretentious, often asking for as much money outside of the general tuition. The staff are welcoming.
Because half of Catalina's student body is comprised of boarding students, I've met people from around the world and have developed friendships with students from other countries. I cherish the friendships I've made at Catalina! With rigorous academics and teachers who love to teach, I am surrounded by like-minded individuals who are dedicated to teaching and learning, and this makes me excited to go to school each day. I know my years at Catalina will be some of the best years of my life!
The teachers at Catalina are truly amazing. You learn so much and truly grow as a person. All opinions are welcome and debates are common. Every students grows and fosters their own views and opinions. Everyone truly cares about their education and making it as fruitful as possible. It' a wonderful place to be a devoted student.
The administration does not seem to have the same priorities as students and teachers and regularly makes unpopular, surprising decisions that negatively impact students and teachers. Nothing that has drastically reduced quality of life, though.
The administration does not seem to have the same priorities as students and teachers and regularly makes unpopular, surprising decisions that negatively impact students and teachers. Nothing that has drastically reduced quality of life, though.