Private vs public high schools in Los Angeles County: UC outcomes side by side (Fall 2025)

Do private or public high schools in Los Angeles County get more students into the UC system?

In Los Angeles County the 83 private high schools with a 2025 UC Reach Score have a median of 42 and a top score of 144 (The Webb Schools), and the 258 public high schools have a median of 23 and a top score of 129 (California Academy of Mathematics & Science); pooled, private schools show 45.8 UC admits per 100 seniors and public schools 26.3.

Group	Schools with a score	Median UC Reach Score	Top UC Reach Score	UC admits per 100 seniors (pooled)
Private	83	42	144	45.8
Public	258	23	129	26.3

Which private high schools in Los Angeles County have the best UC outcomes?

The highest-scoring private high school in Los Angeles County is The Webb Schools at 144, and 8 of the 10 private schools in the table publish a tuition figure.

#	School	City	Tuition	UC Reach Score	UC admits 2025	Seniors	Publishes a counted college list
1	The Webb Schools	Claremont	$87,430 2026-27	144	145	101	Yes
2	Geffen Academy at UCLA	Los Angeles	$42,675 2026-27	121	92	76	No
3	Westridge School for Girls	Pasadena	—	104	78	75	Yes
4	Flintridge Preparatory School	La Canada	$53,750 2026-27	103	109	106	No
5	Saint Marys Academy	Inglewood	$12,668 2026-27	86	43	50	No
6	Windward School	Los Angeles	$58,101 2026-27	77	82	106	No
7	Viewpoint School	Calabasas	$56,973 2026-27	77	83	108	Yes
8	Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy	La Canada	—	76	68	89	Yes
9	Polytechnic School	Pasadena	$51,700 2026-27	76	71	93	Yes
10	International School of Los Angeles	Burbank	$33,160 2026-27	69	37	54	No

Which public high schools match them?

The highest-scoring public high school in Los Angeles County is California Academy of Mathematics & Science at 129, and 7 of the top 10 public schools score at or above 69, the score of the 10th private school in the table above.

#	School	City	UC Reach Score	UC admits 2025	Seniors	Publishes a counted college list
1	California Academy of Mathematics & Science	Carson	129	218	169	Yes
2	Gretchen Whitney High School	Cerritos	126	222	176	No
3	Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy	Wilmington	86	95	111	No
4	Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies	Los Angeles	75	138	183	No
5	San Marino High School	San Marino	72	151	209	No
6	Animo Pat Brown Charter High School	Los Angeles	71	101	142	No
7	Palos Verdes Peninsula High School	Rolling Hills Estat	71	404	571	No
8	New West Charter School	Los Angeles	68	97	143	No
9	Los Angeles County High School for the Arts	Los Angeles	65	84	129	No
10	Diamond Bar High School	Diamond Bar	65	418	647	No

Does the gap hold at the same GPA?

Among 63 private high schools in Los Angeles County with enough Fall 2024 UC applicants to measure (applicants averaging a 3.95 GPA), 21.8% of applicants were admitted where their GPAs predict 21.0%; among 231 public high schools (applicants averaging a 3.85 GPA), 24.4% were admitted where their GPAs predict 21.2%.

Group	Schools measured	UC applicants 2024	Average applicant GPA	Admitted	Expected at that GPA
Private	63	15,677	3.95	21.8%	21.0%
Public	231	88,989	3.85	24.4%	21.2%

UC publishes applicant GPA a year behind its admit counts, and 2024 is the latest year it covers private schools. "Expected" is the admit rate the statewide curve for each of the six campuses predicts from a school's applicant GPA, summed over its applicants; the same method as the GPA-performance table on the rankings. Only schools with at least 30 applications across at least three campuses are measured.

What families are also buying at a private school

Parents are not only shopping for college outcomes. The tables above count UC admits, and a high school is also four years of a teenager's days: who they spend them with, what the school asks them to value, and whether the adults know them.

Families who choose a private school in Los Angeles County are usually weighing some of these:

Community and values fit. A private school sets its own mission and expectations, and the application, the entrance exam and the interview work as a fit signal in both directions. Of the 76 private schools here with an affiliation on file, 53 are religiously affiliated and 23 are nonsectarian.
Class size. The National Center for Education Statistics' Private School Survey (2022) lists 45 of these private schools at 4.9 to 20.1 students per teacher.
Size of the school. The 83 private schools here with an enrollment count on file enrolled 74 to 1,705 students, with a median of 537.
Advising. Each private school builds its own college-advising model, so the useful question is how many students each counselor carries and how early the work starts.
Arts and athletics access. A smaller school can mean more students on each team and in each production; ask each school what participation looks like.

Public schools are a great choice when a family cannot afford a private school, and the public table above shows how each of them does with UC admissions.

Every school in Los Angeles County is on the Los Angeles County school list; the county rankings rank them against each other. Other counties are on the private vs public index, and a single private school can be set beside its nearest strong public school on the worth-the-tuition pages.

UC Reach Score is top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors in 2025, counted at each campus, so a student admitted to several campuses counts at each. "Public" means district and charter schools with at least 100 seniors, as in the rankings (online, independent-study and alternative programs are left out); private schools of any size are included. Pooled admits per 100 seniors adds each group's admits and divides by its seniors; a "~" marks a senior count the data estimates. Schools with no UC admit counts for 2025 are not in either group. Tuition comes from each school's own admissions pages and is shown only where the school publishes it. A school "publishes a counted college list" when its own published list carries a count beside each college. The list excludes nonclassroom-based online schools and schools the California Department of Education records with no 12th grade.