Lick-Wilmerding High School

Each student must be enrolled in a minimum of six five‐unit courses per semester, regardless of grade level. A total of 30 units per semester are required.[2] Every student is required to complete two semesters of technical arts courses (such as wood, metal, jewelry, or electronics), one semester of performing arts, and two semesters of visual arts. Additionally, students must complete three semesters of health class (BME).

Technical courses include Metal, Woodworking, Robotics, Electronics and Jewelry. LWHS also has several year-long Architecture courses and an introduction to design course, entitled Contemporary Media and Art that is compulsory for all freshmen.

LWHS' Performing Arts Department has a choir, jazz band, orchestra, and two a cappella vocal ensembles. There is also a dance program comprising four classes: Dance 1, Dance 2, Dance Ensemble, and Dance Company. The Ehrer Theatre (named after Marcel Roy Ehrer, an American of French and Alsatian origin) Program presents plays, musicals, and a festival of original one-act plays written and directed by students. Theatre class offerings include: Acting 1, Acting Intensive, Improv, Playwriting, Stagecraft, and Directing.

As of the 2021–2022 school year, the student body is 9% South Asian, 6% Southeast Asian, 11% African-American, 18% Latino, 29% East Asian, and 62% Caucasian. Overall, 35% of the student body identifies as multiethnic, which explains why the sum of these percentages is more than 100%.[3]

In 2014, the Huffington Post reported that students at LWHS had the 8th highest SAT scores in the nation.[4]

Averages for the class of 2018:[5]

• ACT Average Composite 32 (52 takers).

• SAT Average Score: 1420 (85 takers)

• Biology Ecology: 593 (7)
• Biology Molecular: 645 (2)
• Chemistry: 689 (25)
• Chinese with Listening: 587 (3)
• English Literature: 665 (71)
• French: 651 (10)
• French with Listening: 710 (1)
• Korean with Listening: 800 (1)
• Math Level I: 599 (13)
• Math Level II: 708 (73)
• Physics: 672 (9)
• Spanish: 685 (6)
• Spanish with Listening: 695 (6)
• US History: 595 (6)
• World History: 640 (1)

• In spring of 2018, 38 students took 44 Advanced Placement exams; 93% of the scores 3 or higher

On average, Lick-Wilmerding receives approximately 950 applications each year for 139 seats in the incoming 9th grade class. Full Tuition for the 2018–2019 school year is $47,209, with Flexible Tuition ranging from $700 to $47,000. This includes books, lunch, and all course materials and supplies [6]

Aim High was founded in 1986, with 50 students and 12 teachers, on the campus of Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco.

The program has evolved into a collaboration with several educational institutions: Lick-Wilmerding High School, The Urban School of San Francisco, the San Francisco Unified School District and St. Paul's Episcopal School. Additional partners include the Bay Area Teachers Center, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Exploratorium."

The following courses were available during the 2021–22 school year.[7]

• 3D-Printing and Parametric Design
• Circuits and Electronics: Analog and Digital
• Circuits and Electronics: Device Invention
• Community Computing PPP
• Design & Technology
• Graphics and Game Design (formerly Computing 1)
• Jewelry 1
• Jewelry 2
• Private Skills for a Public Purpose (PPP)
• Rethinking Furniture
• Sewing and Textile Arts Level 1
• Sewing and Textile Arts Level 2 PPP
• Wood: Joinery and Turning

Alternet.com has also designated Lick-Wilmerding as the 6th top high school in the United States utilizing Green Architecture

• Chamber Singers: Unanimous Superior, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007.
• Big Band: Unanimous Excellent, two years running, and Unanimous Superior, two years before.
• Advanced Jazz Combo: Unanimous Superior, for four years
• Orchestra: Unanimous Superior, for one year

• 2004: Chamber Singers and Chamber Orchestra: Gold