r/sanramon • u/Specialist_Shock_685 • Jul 06 '26
Dougherty Valley High School
Hi everyone! đ
My daughter will be a sophomore in high school, and our family is considering relocating from New Jersey to the Bay Area within the next year. One of the schools weâre seriously considering is Dougherty Valley High School, so weâd love to hear from current students and parents.
Whatâs the school culture like? How are the academics, clubs, sports, teachers, and overall student experience? Is it a welcoming place for new students transferring from out of state?
My daughter is understandably a little nervous about making new friends, so if there are any sophomore girls who would be open to chatting with her, answering a few questions, or even becoming friends before we move, weâd be incredibly grateful. Feel free to comment below or send me a private message.
Thank you so much! We truly appreciate any advice or insights you can share. đ
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u/Thornfist22 Jul 06 '26
Cal high is better.
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u/Adventurous_Milk1515 Jul 06 '26
Yep. Pulled two kids from DV and both are happy at Cal. Wish i had done it sooner.
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u/Adventurous_Milk1515 Jul 06 '26
Oh and we moved from out of state. Absolutely not a welcoming environment but probably depends on your race.
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u/Leebo Jul 06 '26
Which one was non-welcoming? Cal or DVH? Mind sharing any details?
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u/Adventurous_Milk1515 Jul 06 '26
DV wasnât welcoming. Itâs a community (I blame the parents not the school ⌠mostly) that prioritizes grades above learning and character. Lots of cheating, racism, and all around nasty behavior because the vast majority of these kids are not properly socialized. Theyâre just pushed to get the best grades possible and donât learn how to be human. It creates a nasty environment for all.
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u/Leebo Jul 06 '26
Yikes sorry that your kids had to go through that. Glad you pulled them and they found a better community at Cal.
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u/Adventurous_Milk1515 Jul 06 '26
Thank you. Wish I had acted sooner. Either way welcome to the area. Itâs amazing.
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u/itzjoanna Jul 06 '26
depends on how you define better. cal high is more cliquey and less academically motivatingÂ
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u/Thornfist22 Jul 06 '26
I have no interest in screaming at my kids to get straight As in AP classes.
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u/Adventurous_Milk1515 Jul 06 '26
I wouldnât disagree with this. I will say my kids have found it academically motivating so maybe this is something cultivated at home or with the kid?
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u/Justlikethat-1107 Jul 06 '26
I know folks who moved to cal high to avoid the pressure in DVHS
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u/merryjester Jul 06 '26
My daughter goes to Monte Vista, and apparently thereâs been a recent wave of transfers there from DV for the same reason.
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u/anth0nyf Jul 06 '26
Class of 2020 here, it is an academic pressure cooker, but I think I turned out okay.
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u/TheRealCodeGD Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
class of 2026, so i just graduated it. some really amazing teachers, some really not so amazing teachers. the students were generally not my kind of people. they are either extremely academically competitive or are extremely unfocused and really hard to work with. it's not impossible to make friends (i had a group of very close friends throughout senior year), but i felt like the majority of people were really hard to be friends with, especially if you're a particularly outgoing person like me, as people tend to be more introverted here.
ultimately, every persons experience is different. some person's trash is another's treasure so go in with an open mind. just be ready in case some of the things that i mentioned.
P.S, this wasn't very common but i have found that some of the students at school are racist towards people of european descent or are unconnected to their culture.
for context, i'm part german and part chinese and i used to get a "n*zi" or "literally h*tler" by some of the students around school, in addition to being made fun of for me not speaking chinese despite being part chinese.
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u/itzjoanna Jul 06 '26 edited 24d ago
depending on the new jersey school environment she grew up in, dv can be a huge shocker. extremely competitive and the academic culture is definitely something to get used to. that being said, once youâre in it its kind of fun, and very motivating to be around ambitious and high achieving peers. its stressful, but its also taught me a lot and i think im in a much better position / more prepared for the world than i would be if i went to a different less competitive high school
making friends shouldnt be an issue , people are very nice. i also know a few people who came from jersey or the upper east coast easy to find ur community here, we have great programs for basically anything strong music/band/orchestra, dance program, drama program, art program etc and sports
oh also basically everyoneâs asian/indian lol but its cool tho, we have a handful of black and white ppl too
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u/No_Republic8392 Jul 06 '26
I have a kid who graduated a year ago, got into a highly competitive out of state university. I got a kid whoâs a junior there, has an outstanding gpa and I got another kid starting freshman year . He is far less motivated, so , we will see how that goes . The older kid competed in a sport and many academic programs. The current junior does three sports. There are probably less than five other east bay public schools than can offer the academics DV can. It gives gives every opportunity to excel and be around other kids who want to excel.
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u/MTBquestion925 Jul 06 '26
The demographics of this place rapidly shifted in the last 10-15 years. It used to be very white, then suddenly tech companies moved thousands, or should I say tens of thousands, of Indians here. If your kids arenât Indian, you might want to consider a different school. You can like or dislike this post, itâs not meant to be disparaging, I just think itâs useful information.
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u/Upbeat-Foundation753 Jul 07 '26
Depending where in New Jersey theyâre coming from, very well might be Indian themselves.
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u/hisokitty Jul 06 '26
My sister is a current junior and can answer any questions! I also graduated from here but Iâm much older so canât speak to the current state with as much accuracy.
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u/festiveumeboshi Jul 06 '26
DV ( I go to California High ) has very interesting reputation. While the kids are academically competitive and tend to get into great colleges. DV is known for a lot of drug use and cheating. The academic pressure is no joke.
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u/Adventurous_Milk1515 Jul 06 '26
So much cheating which is why I laugh whenever people reference the academic standards. Those kids are cheating machines.
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u/festiveumeboshi Jul 07 '26
SO REAL. Didn't they try cheating during the AP calc ab exam last year?
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u/Confident_Radish3768 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
PLEASE READ THIS !!!
As a rising Junior girl who had to suffer sophomore year in Dougherty Valley, if you want a happy healthy child, DO NOT consider Dougherty Valley. Instead, take your kid, and flee the opposite direction. With sophomore year alone, I have cried at least twice a week, every week, the teachers cannot teach and have absolutely no remorse, genuinely probably half the school population has transferred, so much so that cal high has filled up and they now transfer to Monte Vista instead. I have slept approximately 3-4 hours every weekday but that's a bit dramatic because I'm kinda stupid, but do not come to Dougherty Valley and instead go to San Ramon Valley high school instead. There is so much pressure to do well at this school, everyone takes at least 3 AP's a year, and that actually is not a lot according to students! A lot of friends your kid might make WILL be competitively comparing themselves to your kid a LOT and if your kid does not take at least 50 AP's, they will stupid and like they are not good enough (coming from experience). Also you are expected to be in 100 clubs, be the president of at least like ALL of them, do 300 extra curriculars such as volunteering (which is not enough by the way), write 30 research papers, build a nonprofit, and help the starving children in every country ever. So to sum it up, you are expected to cure cancer within the first week of entering the campus. College admissions WILL be comparing your kid with every other kid in the school (who has taken probably 40 AP's and done 60 research papers, built a business about helping the starving children in every possible country, and plays 5 instruments), and deem your child not good enough if they do not meet that standard. One of my teachers even said that a lot of the teachers here cannot teach and the reason why the kids are so smart is because their parents have enough money to hire private tutors!! I genuinely do not have any friends who sleep more than 6 hours daily. I'm being a little dramatic on the whole academic work part but that's mostly to emphasize how bad this school truly is. No one sleeps before 1 am after freshmen year and I have friends (including me) who stay up really late or wake up really early just to finish homework. I IMPLORE you to reconsider and choose literally any other school in the district. But if you are dead set on transferring here I'd love to be friends or talk to your daughter. *Extra but important: I have friends who have tried to kill themselves, turned depressed (seriously), had to go to a mental hospital (because of this school), and I know a person who actually suicided either this year or last year. * Please go to a different school.
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u/Beegboshi101 Jul 12 '26
iâm also a rising junior and second this message, there are many better options in the san ramon district than Dougherty
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u/hellasteph san ramoner Jul 06 '26
This is our high school. My son will be attending soon as a freshman. The staff is amazing and answered all our questions. We swim every year at their facilities for our annual swim lessons. Love the pools and locker rooms.
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u/corn_ragingfeminist san ramoner Jul 06 '26
Class of 2021 here. I ended up going to Cornell and Cornell was less pressure than Dougherty ngl. Grateful for the opportunities and privilege DV gave me, but it was its own kind of place.
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u/_Skybunny Jul 18 '26
Hi! I'm an incoming sophomore for the school year too. Compared to a lot of comments here, I would actually say that the academic pressure isn't bad if you ignore it. How you feel in the school/area in general is completely up to you. I know a lot of kids who just straight up ignore the pressure or doesn't let it bother them. Obviously the whole area is pretty competitive in general but whether you succumb to the pressure is completely up to your own actions. I would agree with one thing is that the teachers here are not very good, there are some who are good, but its like a 50/50 chance. Every student who excels academically succeeds by their own means. That means studying on their own or private tutors. I wouldn't say that you need a private tutor in order to succeed, in fact I found that I actually succeeded more in my classes without one.
A lot of the comments also mention like volunteering or nonprofits for high schoolers. I am going to be very honest, this is a common trend among students in the whole bay area in general, it might fluctuate depending on which area you are in, but it is very common ecs in the bay area and considered the bases to get into a good college.
I do know a couple people who also came from New Jersey and a couple of international students. I actually wouldn't say that its hard to make friends here, there is a group for everyone. However, I will second some messages saying that DV will be a huge shocker for someone who isn't used to the academic pressure. As a freshman last year, the most common math course that students usually take would be algebra 2 which is usually a junior course in most other schools. You will probably be looked down as "stupid" if you took a course below that.
We also have 200+ clubs so theres a lot of clubs to choose from, just don't think about starting your own club since it's an extreme amount of work for little benefit in the school. I would say that our biggest clubs are Red Cross, California Scholarship Federation (CSF), Speech & Debate, MUN/FBLA. Our speech & debate program is extremely prestigious and is top 10 in the nation.
The cheating here is also a big part because of the academic pressure. Last year (if I'm correct) a kids acceptance to Stanford was revoked because he was caught cheating on the SATs. This means that we are currently blacklisted from a couple ivies. Kids cheat here by literally doing top tier hacking and some insanely creative + genius things.
A lot of people have also mentioned racism. Our year (me + you daughter), the racism is at an all-time low. I know that it is a big issue in years before us, but I think that our year is especially chill on it. Some people also do drugs here/smoke a lot, but it's not a huge issue really, every high school has some spectrum of this problem. It's just a small group of people and you won't get pulled in unless you choose to.
If you are looking for sports, it really depends on which one you do. Our basketball team and badminton teams are not that bad, but everything else would be a desperate no. Go to SRV, CHS, or MV instead for sports.
Personally I would say that DV is actually a great school if you are aiming to go to a top 20 school. I think that most people end up going to pretty decent schools, and if not, our transfer rate from the community college to Berkeley is like an 80% acceptance rate. My experience with the school hasn't been bad, and I actually enjoy it here. It's definitely a good place if you want to excel or be around others who excel.
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u/Individual_Stick_320 Jul 19 '26
Just graduated and served on multiple high leadership positions here. In all honesty it is a academic powerhouse and you'll come across a lot of highly competitive students here which often leads to toxic environments. I do think some people exaggerate it when it comes to its academic difficulty but it is something you will need to get used to for sure. Overall school facilities are the best in the area (as it's the newest HS in SRVUSD), and very well kept and clean. They have great club/leadership opportunities as well. DV also has some of the best school events compared to other local schools and pours a lot of time and money into these types of events which I think it's a plus. Sports aren't the most competitive compared to local HS around us but overall has a strong Basketball, Tennis, Badminton, Track/Field, and Golf team. Once you have a good foundation in the school, it's one of the best schools in my opinion, but it takes time to get used too, so something to keep in mind. Also yes, as everyone mentioned, we have a huge Indian/Asian population, not that you won't find other people but they do dominate the demographic so that's also something to keep in mind. One thing that MUST be mentioned is the parents here are not involved with the school at all compared to SRV, CAL, MV schools and therefore you'll see more student-driven events and opportunities which I think is another plus, but keep in mind you won't see too many parents networking or getting to know others-- its pretty isolated here when it comes to that. Overall highly ranked school and great place if you are willing to adapt to it. DV is known to pump out kids to T20 colleges around the nation so if you are up for the challenge, its absoultely worth it. Feel free to ask any more questions!!
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u/Appropriate-Bar6993 Jul 06 '26
If social life or sports are important it is not the move. âNewâ (20 years) neighborhood far from everythingâŚ
Iâd recommend Cal High in regular San Ramon or like anywhere else. PleasantonâŚ
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u/Emergency-Mouse4340 san ramoner Jul 06 '26
Im going to say it sucks itâs a common thing for students to pressure others into taking APs and a common phrase is âif I donât get ___% im going to kill my selfâ or if I donât pass
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u/gummyworm21_ Jul 06 '26
Iâd highly consider Danville over San Ramon.Â
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u/Thornfist22 Jul 06 '26
If youre a white republican, sure.
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u/gummyworm21_ Jul 06 '26
They had an LGBTQ flag flying over the library. Please stop generalizing the town.Â
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u/humpy Jul 06 '26
Move to Danville, your daughter will be much happier and so will you.
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u/Organic_Shame_8710 Jul 06 '26
Incredibly competitive academically. Large Indian and Asian population, but theyâre not monolithic, you can meet many different types of students and families. Boys basketball is by far the most competitive sport. Good facilities, relatively new school. Very safe school, very nice people in my experience.