It was neither of those, but instead Balboa High, the Excelsior neighborhood school with a reputation for violence, poor academics and few graduates going to college.

"I was really shocked," recalled Soohoo, who lives in the wealthy Mount Davidson Manor neighborhood in the southwest part of the city. "I was pretty angry and really dejected. ... I'd always heard the test scores there were really low, and the kids there were, like, dangerous."

Now, Soohoo and about a dozen other high-achieving Balboa freshmen rave about the school and say its reputation is wildly unfair. As the district mails out letters today announcing where the next crop of students will attend school in the fall, the teenagers hope their happy story helps soothe the frazzled nerves of parents and kids around the city.

"Just keep an open mind," Soohoo advised younger students who receive their letters this weekend. "It's pretty unpredictable."

Much of the potential for surprise stems from the district's policy of giving all students in the city a shot at attending any school, regardless of where they live. The lottery process begins with families of those entering kindergarten, sixth grade and ninth grade submitting a wish-list of up to seven schools.

A computer program takes into account students' desired schools and certain socioeconomic factors in order to have a mix of students at schools. When it spits out results, and letters are sent out, some students may find themselves assigned to schools they had never even considered.

"I was kind of bummed-out. From my (middle) school, you never heard anything about Balboa," said Belinda Li, 14, also a freshman at the school. "You just hear about Lowell, Lincoln or Washington. I didn't even know there were other high schools."

Often, wealthy families living on the west side of the city reject such assignments -- asking the district to re-assign their children or looking for available spaces at private schools. But after a lot of hand-wringing and several visits to Balboa, the families of Soohoo, Li and 10 other students interviewed by The Chronicle decided to take the assignment -- and are glad they did.

"I really like the way Eric is treated by all the staff and the teachers, " said his mom, Susan Yip. "I really don't think he could get better recognition."

Soohoo is enrolled in several honors classes, including one on marine biology. He runs track, plays trumpet in the band, participates in the school's mock trial program and has taken a play-writing workshop. His friends are stars on the volleyball team, drill team, drum corps and baseball team -- despite being lowly freshmen.

"At Lowell, you'll always find someone who's better than you," said Aimee Liwanag, 14, who won the "Most Inspirational" award on the volleyball team.

The school's enrollment is 910 students, half that of other high schools in the city. That means smaller classes and more spacious hallways. The students say they also like the school's 1920's architectural details and the diversity of its students.

Teachers e-mail parents about how their children are doing, take students on field trips to colleges around the country and help them get scholarships.

Dana Woldow, who lives in the St. Francis Wood neighborhood, sent her older son, Sam, to Lowell. He's a self-motivated intellectual headed to Stanford in the fall, but her younger son, Max, needs more support and encouragement and has found it at Balboa.

"I never thought in a million years he was going to go to Balboa," she said. "We all thought this was some kind of mistake. But if I had sat down to design a school that would be a perfect school for Max, it would be very much like this."

Balboa Principal Patricia Gray -- recently given the district's Outstanding Educator Award from the California Schoolmasters Association -- said the school's bad reputation was well-deserved when she arrived in 1996.

Many boys were in gangs and carried weapons, she said, and even girls were fighting on campus. Kids hung out in hallways rather than going to class, and fewer than half of them went on to two- or four-year colleges.

Now, security is extremely tight, with bathrooms locked during class-time and several gang colors forbidden. Last year, 96 percent of students went on to college. Test scores are still pretty dire, but have been inching up each year. More parents are involved in the school. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Carole Shorenstein Hays have donated money to Balboa.

"It's a totally different school -- it's 180 degrees from where it was, " Gray said. "The reputation takes five years to catch up. ... Once the parents come, they'll see."

Woldow, for one, thinks Balboa's reputation will improve rapidly once more parents and students involved in the school assignment lottery give it a chance.

"There's so much anguish, and there's really no need for it," she said. "Schools change very, very fast in this town. ... By the time our kids graduate in four years, Balboa will be one of those schools that people will be crushed if they don't get in."

E-mail Heather Knight at hknight@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle