These are letters students have allowed us to publish on our web site.  Our goal at the Rio Linda High School Science Department is to prepare students for their adult lives.  We feel that our student's stories about their success at college is our strongest evidence that we are succeeding.  We congratulate our students on their hard work.

Our AP students attend (or graduated) many universities around the country and abroad. Here is a list of some of these universities and approximate number (we do not have information about some of students) of our AP science alumnae since 2005. Majority of our students are/were having technical or medical majors.

Caltech – 1;                                         Cornell – 1                          

Cal Poly -8;                                         Stanford – 3;

Sacramento State – 54;                      UOP-5

UC Berkeley-10;                                 Brown-2;

UC Davis – 43;                                   Montana Tech -1;

UC Irvine-4                                         San Jose State-1; 

UCLA – 2;                                           Washington SU-1;                                                                

UC Santa Barbara-7                           BYU – 3;                                             

UC Santa Cruz – 3;                             SF State-4;

UC Merced-7;                                      Calvin-1;

UC San Diego -1;                                Humboldt  State– 1;                                                   

UC Riverside-1;                                  Prague University-1

UN Reno – 3;                                      University of Edinburg (UK)-1  

CSU Long Beach – 3;                         Chico SU -4;

Some updates on me- I ended my first quarter with a 4.0 and am very happy with the classes I took. Chemistry was a breeze- thanks to your AP Chem class.

Navpreet G.

Hello Dr. G,

Guess what? I received 100% on my PHYS 132 midterm! How're things with the new AP recruits? Things here at Cal Poly are fantastic. Thank you so much for instructing me in Physics and Chemistry and helping me excel to achieve the best score possible in most of my science AP exams. It's crazy how far ahead I am of most freshmen. I'm thinking of joining the satellite and rocket club here, which will be pretty awesome.
Recalling your instruction on ray diagrams,
Zachary H.

This is Timur, former student of your Physics class 5 years ago.  I recently graduated from college and I was thinking of my past and your name popped in.  I just want to express my gratitude to you for being a really cool teacher.  Somehow I think your love of Astronomy and the outdoors rubbed off on me and I find my self interested in both now.  I took a class on Astronomy in college and a star gazing lab as well and I've been going on hikes lately.  Thanks for being such a person and influencing me in a positive way.

Sincerely, Timur

I just had my first midterm earlier today ! I think I did very well because I reviewed old midterms given out here at Berkeley before. I felt very confident. But the first question on the exam was to find the empirical formula of FlClO3, I skipped it because I didn't remember how to do it, but i remember you going over it in AP Chem, that you could divide the percentages by the molar mass and I did great. Tell your chemistry students they need to know how to do calculations w ith empirical formulas they are important ! Thank you for teaching chemistry to me Dr. G !

Phillip T.

I am Levi Ward and am currently attending University of California Davis and am enrolled in Physics 9 A, the physics of mechanics. The Physics classes I took at Rio Linda have more than prepared me for college level physics, this entire class is just one big review of what I learned in Dr. Gavrilov's physics classes. Today I was in my physics section and the T.A. gave us three problems to do for the 50 minute section, using what I learned in Dr. G's classes I was able to finish the problems in 8 minutes flabbergasting the T.A. and getting to leave early looking like a genius in front of the whole section. So far this Physics class seems like it was taken right out of Dr. Gavrilov's play book, I can say honestly that the A.P. Physics classes as well as the A.P. Chemistry class has made these college classes one big review. On a side note I had the cutest girl in class ask me if I would be her lab partner and I have got to admit it feels pretty good.

Hey Ms. Graf!

It was a great pleasure seeing you and all of my old high school professors last week. In just that one week, school has taken off for me. My name has become known in the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME) here at Sac State and I have been "put to use" over here. I was somewhat nominated to represent the club at the engineering expo, and was responsible for explaining what the club was to new students who showed interest in our club. My classes have officially taken off, demanding almost every waking minute of my life (or so it seems to me). On the brighter side, however, I do enjoy it. In fact, just this week, I declared my minor in mathematics, further divulging myself in the world of math. I must say, although, if it weren't for Dr. Gavrilov's AP physics courses, Mr. Fitch's AP calculus course, and your AVID course to push me to keep going, I wouldn't be where I am today. For example, I practically slept through physics 11A and passed it with a solid A in the course! Hope all is well back at the high school!

Sincerely,

Elliott B.

I passed all of my physics and chemistry classes so far. The chemistry class was really easy but it was all about quantum mechanics and the professor was not very good at teaching so I didn't learn much. The second physics class was pretty difficult -- the exams were ridiculous -- and it made me realize that your classes would have been even more helpful if I studied  in high school.
I decided to stay with computer science for my major (unless I change my mind again). We did some really cool things with C++ in my last class and I didn't mind staying up until 6 am for a project so I think that is a good sign.
Overall, my first year at UCLA was a good combination of freedom, stress, fun, and learning. I'm excited for next year.
For the summer, I've been learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for a Graphic Design job at UC Davis that I might be getting in a few weeks.
 
Gagik M.