# How big was your high school **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 13, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572 "2011-08-13T13:50:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/41 "2011-08-15T12:49:19Z")
Total enrollment was about 250 - that was 7th-12th. My graduating class was one of the biggest in the history of the town. We had 32! **Cub Mistress** - you’re saying that the salutatorian was the dumbest guy in the class? ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/42 "2011-08-15T16:07:31Z")
I went to the largest HS in the state at the time. School enrollment was around 2,600, my senior class was almost 900. ---
**Author:** ![RoniaBorkason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9dc877/32.png) [@RoniaBorkason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoniaBorkason)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/43 "2011-08-15T17:40:55Z")
250 students, grades 9 - 12. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/44 "2011-08-15T17:49:31Z")
I started in one where the total was about 46 with just 10 in my class and graduated from one with just under 2000. Never did adjust well to the change. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/45 "2011-08-16T02:18:33Z")
In Junior High, there were 666 people. By the time I graduated, there were 668. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/46 "2011-08-16T05:00:23Z")
At the time, consistently just shy of 1000 students (I seem to remember a running joke at the first assembly of the year about how many students we needed to hit that number…I think we were just short by 4 or 5 one year!). Wiki currently lists it at 1150, but I know that a technical institute (vocational training) has been added to the campus. The building capacity is much larger though; something in the 3000 student range, on a 45 acre piece of land. It’s never come close to that. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/47 "2011-08-16T05:12:18Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I find that hard to believe. Wiki lists [Skyline High School](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_High_School_%28Dallas,_Texas%29) in Dallas TX as having an enrollment of over 5k: I am pretty sure it’s actually a little under that right now, but it’s not as low as 4500. I’ve never heard anyone suggest it’s the biggest high school in the country or even the state. So if I can think of a counter example off the top of my head 15 minutes after the OP is posted, I wonder how many others there are. > > ETA: looking at your link, it appears that Stevenson is the largest enrollment school among the schools they rank as top in the nation. Skyline is currently 4,587 according to its website. [http://www.dallasisd.org/schools/realtor\_new.cfm?id\_con=171](http://www.dallasisd.org/schools/realtor_new.cfm?id_con=171) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/48 "2011-08-16T07:40:04Z")
My graduating class was about 1500, there were 1100 in the class before me. (I worked in the College Office, so I saw these statistics.) Not sure about the class after that, but they opened a new high school near us which cut down attendance. I couldn’t find the enrollment on their website, since it was combined with other NY schools, but the Times had an article on it not long ago, which said they were still very crowded because lots of people from outside the immediate are wanted to attend. When I went we were in split sessions, with students in the school from 9 am to after 5. But even with that it was a great high school. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/49 "2011-08-16T10:32:52Z")
About 1200 in four grades 9-12. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/50 "2011-08-16T11:07:46Z")
Small K-12 private school; I dropped out after 8th grade (and voted accordingly), but when I left the entire school’s enrollment was around 300, high school age kids around 80. Friends who stayed and finished high school reported that the class of 1992 consisted of 10 or so seniors, and total school enrollment had dropped below 150. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/51 "2011-08-16T14:53:20Z")
According to Wikipedia, around 1370. ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/52 "2011-08-18T11:03:51Z")
I was both Salutatorian **AND** the bottom 50% of my graduating class; 2 of us graduated mid-year from a Department of Defense High School on an overseas Marine base. The Senior class was 14 students with a total of 75 kids in grades 9-12. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/53 "2011-08-18T14:18:32Z")
About 2,000 over three grades. My graduating class was about 550. This was when the first waves of baby boomer kids were starting to graduate, and high schools were bursting at the seams. ---
**Author:** ![Catfood\_Purrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Catfood\_Purrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catfood_Purrito)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/54 "2011-08-18T14:55:14Z")
Did you guys with a thousand people in your class do the whole walk across the stage, take your diploma, shake hands, smile at the camera routine at your graduation ceremony? I had 36 people in my class, and I’ve often thought graduations at larger schools must be _excruciating_. I was bored enough with 36. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/55 "2011-08-18T15:35:39Z")
My high school had around 1200 kids when I was there. I see now that it has less than a thousand; I suspect that this is because it’s only grades 9 - 12 now. When I was there, it has the optional pre-university grade 13. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/56 "2011-08-18T15:53:38Z")
> [@Catfood\_Purrito](#): > > Did you guys with a thousand people in your class do the whole walk across the stage, take your diploma, shake hands, smile at the camera routine at your graduation ceremony? Yes. It took several hours, like from 10 in the morning to 1-2 in the afternoon and you weren’t allowed to leave early or get up at all except to get your diploma, although I suppose we could have anyway; I mean what were they going to do, expel us? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Catfood\_Purrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Catfood\_Purrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catfood_Purrito)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/57 "2011-08-18T19:51:01Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Yes. It took several hours, like from 10 in the morning to 1-2 in the afternoon and you weren’t allowed to leave early or get up at all except to get your diploma, although I suppose we could have anyway; I mean what were they going to do, expel us? 😃 Ugh! I think mine was maybe 90 minutes, including various speeches, two songs by the choir, and a video retrospective going all the way back to kindergarten. Though the larger pool of classmates to choose friends from might have made the long graduation ceremony worth it. The same 36 people, all day every day, kindergarten through 12th grade. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/58 "2011-08-18T20:58:20Z")
I answered this poll a while ago, but didn’t comment. I went to a high school (one of those highlighted in a previous link) that had 5,000+ students (grades 9 - 12). The graduating class was about 850, so you can see the very high dropout rate. But my graduating at #40 was still top 5%. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/59 "2011-08-18T21:05:39Z")
~300 when I started, ~500 when I left. This was in largish Ontario city when OAC was still around, so that’s 5 grade levels - it was the newest school in the area, and thus the smallest when I started (I think my grade 9 year was the first we actually had an OAC class). ---
**Author:** ![OneMissedPost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@OneMissedPost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneMissedPost)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572/60 "2011-08-18T21:08:35Z")
My graduating class had about 100 students. I’m not sure how many students the school had. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-was-your-high-school/592572.md?page=4)