Glenbrook North High School

Posted: October 8, 2025

Great school. Strong academics. Students are well prepared for college. Exceptional teachers. Many teachers go above and beyond to connect with students. Great clubs, activities and sports - something for every student to enjoy. Exceptional activities at the school include debate, speech, theater, the newspaper, broadcasting, autos, business, and fine arts.

Posted: October 8, 2025

Posted: October 8, 2025

Posted: October 8, 2025

Posted: October 8, 2025

Posted: October 8, 2025

Posted: October 8, 2025

Posted: October 8, 2025

Posted: September 15, 2024

Posted: September 15, 2024

Posted: September 15, 2024

Posted: September 15, 2024

Posted: September 15, 2024

Posted: September 15, 2024

Posted: September 15, 2024

Posted: September 15, 2024

I am a transfer student to GBN. Since joining this school, I have been swamped with homework, and I have no time for any extra-curricular activities. I'm still currently a student and let me tell you that my old school never assigned us so much homework that we have to dedicate our entire weekend to complete it. This school doesn't allow students in any way to have any free time. If you want to be in high-level classes and programs, you must dedicate all of your time to that, including your weekends. I barely ever relax and not only does the school start at 8, it's longer than most other school days that I discovered from my friends. In my time at this school, I've already been failing most of my classes and even though I complete all my homework and study a lot, it isn't enough to even have an A. At my old school, we didn't have to give up every single day just to make sure we could have at least a C. This year I'm in Pre-Calculus Regular, but my friends in Pre-Calculus Honors, have all told me how much they hate their class and how they don't even want to try in it anymore since they get a quiz every class and hard tests. I am a person who loves school, but in the couple of weeks that I've been attending it, I would understand why so many kids would be failing their classes, most of the classes that I'm taking, I do most of the teaching on my own, and even though it's an honors track, honors doesn't mean I'm supposed to be teaching myself everything. Also, in one class I am taking this year, I am swamped with more than three hours of homework every night. For example, it's Sunday today, and most kids should be relaxing from school, nope, I have to read a bunch of useless articles, and then on Monday get more homework from that class and do it again. This school needs to realize that people need to have a life outside of school, I will go insane because I don't get any breaks from school, even on days when it's a holiday, I still need to study. I would not recommend that anyone put their children in this school. The teaching is low quality, the curriculums are made unfairly, and most of all it's challenging for students to balance a social life with this school. I don't even have time to text my friends because of how much I'm studying constantly. DON'T SEND YOUR KIDS HERE IF YOU LOVE THEM. IF YOU WANT TO SEE THEM IN THEIR ROOMS CONSTANTLY STUDYING, THEN SEND THEM HERE. I'M JUST A STUDENT THOUGH, I WANT TO HELP OTHERS SO THEY DON'T HAVE TO GO TO THIS HELL

Posted: May 10, 2024

I was in the class of 1975. It was a great school. I only wish I had taken more of advantage of what GBN had to offer. Even though I screwed around too much at GBN, my education served me well in schools later on in life.

Posted: May 10, 2024

Posted: May 10, 2024

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Posted: September 28, 2022

If your child needs special education this may not be the school for your child. The special education teachers are wonderful but the process of getting your child enrolled in special education is a nightmare. Don’t even dream of doing it on your own. Make sure you have an official diagnosis for whatever your child’s learning issue or disability is because the only way to get anything done here is if the school is legally required to do it. The woman who is promoted over the school psychologist is the coldest most unempathetic, difficult and unpleasant person I have ever had to work with in any school system. Make sure you have everything documented and don’t back down with these people. If your child has a need for special education and they are in regular classes at all do you not expect those teachers to know what your child’s needs are. Again, The special education teachers are wonderful but the administration and the red tape are terrible. If need be get an attorney to help you but at the very least have a psychiatrist or a letter indicating that your child has specific needs. Even then, it’s a struggle but they don’t want to let go of your child because then they lose funding dollars. Surprisingly, the art program was one of the most difficult programs to work with with and teachers had little patience with kids with disabilities. I felt like they experienced my child as nothing but a nuisance.

Posted: September 28, 2022

Posted: September 28, 2022

Posted: September 28, 2022

Posted: September 28, 2022

Posted: September 28, 2022

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Posted: September 28, 2022

Posted: August 25, 2022

Glenbrook North is a wonderful school that offers a wide array of academic, sports, and extra-curricular pursuits to help students learn and grow. The teachers and administration care a lot about the students and will lean in to help often without prompting. Our daughter just graduated this past spring (June 2022) and we feel she is well prepared to achieve success in college. She especially loved her classes in social studies, math, science, and autos. GBN is a top 20 school in the state of Illinois and has something for everyone whether your child is in AP classes, standard classes, or needs additional support through guided courses. We moved to Northbrook specifically based on the great schools and we have been very happy with our choice. Our youngest is now a freshman at GBN and we are looking forward to another four years of excellence and growth.

Posted: August 25, 2022

Posted: August 25, 2022

Posted: August 25, 2022

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Posted: August 25, 2022

Posted: January 29, 2022

School reputation is all they care about and lacks supervision for parents and students.

Posted: January 29, 2022

Posted: January 29, 2022

Posted: January 29, 2022

Posted: January 29, 2022

Posted: January 29, 2022

Posted: January 29, 2022

Posted: January 29, 2022

Posted: July 24, 2019

The leadership I've encountered has been unimpressive; the school follows state rules and doesn't seem prepared or interested in teaching students past what the state requires.

Posted: July 24, 2019

I teach at a community college, which gets about 50% of GBN's students. One student that started GBN as a freshman as a fresh immigrant was put in remedial classes when he started since he knew no English, and then was left there for his entire GBN career. Working with him I discovered he had dyslexia. No one ever bothered to review his case at the high school. I've heard many similar situations.

Posted: July 24, 2019

Oh yes, the school is terrific at politically charged issues. They just aren't good at teaching any student who isn't already an excellent student. Very disappointing. If you have a smart kid who is bored in school or an average school who needs motivation, spend the money to put him in a private school or one of those art schools. I have students from GBN who literally don't know the difference between 1+1 and 1x1. It's unacceptable.

Posted: July 24, 2019

I graduated in 1981 and my son graduated in 2014. The homework load for honors students is very high. The load for average or lower end students is laughably low.

Posted: July 24, 2019

My son's Chemistry teacher literally told the class, "None of you will ever use chemistry so we'll just concentrate on working together" and then had the entire class turn in one collaborative lab report (done by one more motivated student) for each lab. I went to the department chair and she told me that this is the school policy. In other words, if you are not an honors student, they do not expect you to ever do more than flip burgers. I am very disappointed in my old alma mater.

Posted: July 24, 2019

The students I get from GBN at Oakton seem to know how to work their phones, use social media, and respond strongly to issues related to diversity and respect. They are terrible at critical thinking.

Posted: July 24, 2019

It was great in the 1980s. In the 21st Century it is a disaster. Again, if you have very bright honors students, you can get a lot of AP credit and honors classes at GBN. All other students would do better at GBS or a private school.

Posted: August 9, 2017

Attending this school was the worst experience of my life. If I could go back in time, I would have done anything to go elsewhere. The students treat each other poorly and the staff does nothing about it. They do not support their students' individual needs and interests unless they will aid the school in some way. Some of the guidance counselors only support the students that are athletes at the school. In the end, this school did nothing to help me towards success in what I wanted to do with my life. Some staff members even tried to stand in the way of my goals and opportunities. Stay far away from Glenbrook North.

Posted: August 9, 2017

Posted: August 9, 2017

Posted: August 9, 2017

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Posted: August 9, 2017

Posted: May 12, 2013

I am a GBN graduate and I find that I am much more prepared and capable of my college classes than my peers. I hated GBN with a passion when I was there but going away to school has truly shown me what GBN gave me. That being said, there is an incredible need for A's. I was a B student but I always felt terrible around my A earning friends. I didn't take AP classes therefore I was a sub-par student. It was terribly stressful. I felt alone at GBN; though they say there's a club for everyone I never quite fit. But that is just me. I did have great teachers for the most part. They will go above and beyond if you ask them for assistance. But you have to advocate for yourself or you'll fall behind. All in all, it is a good school.