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

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

In Orange County the 16 private high schools with a 2025 UC Reach Score have a median of 37 and a top score of 161 (Pacific Academy Irvine), and the 70 public high schools have a median of 23 and a top score of 96 (Orange County School of the Arts); pooled, private schools show 51.3 UC admits per 100 seniors and public schools 29.1.

Group	Schools with a score	Median UC Reach Score	Top UC Reach Score	UC admits per 100 seniors (pooled)
Private	16	37	161	51.3
Public	70	23	96	29.1

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

The highest-scoring private high school in Orange County is Pacific Academy Irvine at 161, 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	Pacific Academy Irvine	Irvine	—	161	50	31	Yes
2	Sage Hill School	Newport Coast	$58,100 2026-27	151	223	148	Yes
3	Fairmont Preparatory Academy	Anaheim	$34,435 2026-27	101	158	156	No
4	Crean Lutheran High School	Irvine	$23,575 2026-27	94	269	285	No
5	St. Margaret's Episcopal School	San Juan Capistrano	$52,950 2026-27	73	74	102	Yes
6	Tarbut V'Torah Community Day School	Irvine	$47,385 2026-27	65	34	52	No
7	Santa Margarita Catholic High School	Rancho Santa Margarita	$23,600 2026-27	37	156	421	Yes
8	Orange Lutheran High School	Orange	—	37	77	210	No
9	Mater Dei High School	Santa Ana	$21,150 2026-27	36	187	514	No
10	JSerra Catholic High School	San Juan Capistrano	$26,200 2026-27	33	105	320	No

Which public high schools match them?

The highest-scoring public high school in Orange County is Orange County School of the Arts at 96, and 10 of the top 10 public schools score at or above 33, 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	Orange County School of the Arts	Santa Ana	96	378	393	Yes
2	Oxford Academy	Cypress	84	169	201	No
3	Troy High School	Fullerton	72	464	648	No
4	Northwood High School	Irvine	71	427	603	No
5	Portola High School	Irvine	67	421	624	Yes
6	University High School	Irvine	67	385	572	No
7	Arnold O Beckman High School	Irvine	66	443	672	No
8	Sunny Hills High School	Fullerton	53	327	614	No
9	Corona Del Mar High School	Newport Beach	48	177	370	No
10	Laguna Beach High School	Laguna Beach	47	92	196	No

Does the gap hold at the same GPA?

Among 15 private high schools in Orange County with enough Fall 2024 UC applicants to measure (applicants averaging a 3.97 GPA), 26.5% of applicants were admitted where their GPAs predict 21.4%; among 64 public high schools (applicants averaging a 3.91 GPA), 23.8% were admitted where their GPAs predict 21.1%.

Group	Schools measured	UC applicants 2024	Average applicant GPA	Admitted	Expected at that GPA
Private	15	5,284	3.97	26.5%	21.4%
Public	64	38,115	3.91	23.8%	21.1%

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 Orange 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 14 private schools here with an affiliation on file, 12 are religiously affiliated and 2 are nonsectarian.
Class size. The National Center for Education Statistics' Private School Survey (2022) lists 6 of these private schools at 13.5 to 20.8 students per teacher.
Size of the school. The 16 private schools here with an enrollment count on file enrolled 159 to 1,849 students, with a median of 803.
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 Orange County is on the Orange 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.