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

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

In Riverside County the 7 private high schools with a 2025 UC Reach Score have a median of 35 and a top score of 75 (Saint Jeanne De Lestonnac C High School), and the 58 public high schools have a median of 14 and a top score of 42 (John F Kennedy Middle College High School); pooled, private schools show 33.5 UC admits per 100 seniors and public schools 16.5.

Group	Schools with a score	Median UC Reach Score	Top UC Reach Score	UC admits per 100 seniors (pooled)
Private	7	35	75	33.5
Public	58	14	42	16.5

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

The highest-scoring private high school in Riverside County is Saint Jeanne De Lestonnac C High School at 75, and 5 of the 7 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	Saint Jeanne De Lestonnac C High School	Temecula	$14,600	75	21	28	No
2	Xavier College Preparatory High School	Palm Desert	$18,750 2026-27	53	86	161	No
3	Notre Dame High School	Riverside	$10,100 2026-27	44	34	78	No
4	Linfield Christian School	Temecula	$16,320 2026-27	35	39	111	No
5	Idyllwild Arts Academy	Idyllwild	—	22	20	89	No
6	Rancho Christian High School	Temecula	—	10	9	88	No
7	Woodcrest Christian School	Riverside	$14,640 2026-27	8	7	89	No

Which public high schools match them?

The highest-scoring public high school in Riverside County is John F Kennedy Middle College High School at 42, and 10 of the top 10 public schools score at or above 8, the score of the 7th private school in the table above.

#	School	City	UC Reach Score	UC admits 2025	Seniors	Publishes a counted college list
1	John F Kennedy Middle College High School	Norco	42	70	168	No
2	Eleanor Roosevelt High School	Eastvale	35	377	1,083	No
3	Palm Desert High School	Palm Desert	29	136	468	No
4	Great Oak High School	Temecula	25	185	733	No
5	Cathedral City High School	Cathedral City	25	87	346	No
6	Temecula Valley High School	Temecula	25	170	683	No
7	Desert Mirage High School	Thermal	24	102	433	No
8	Nuview Bridge Early College High School	Nuevo	23	39	170	No
9	Centennial High School	Corona	23	152	673	No
10	Rancho Verde High School	Moreno Valley	22	107	476	No

Does the gap hold at the same GPA?

Among 4 private high schools in Riverside County with enough Fall 2024 UC applicants to measure (applicants averaging a 3.86 GPA), 25.0% of applicants were admitted where their GPAs predict 21.4%; among 50 public high schools (applicants averaging a 3.82 GPA), 25.6% were admitted where their GPAs predict 21.5%.

Group	Schools measured	UC applicants 2024	Average applicant GPA	Admitted	Expected at that GPA
Private	4	488	3.86	25.0%	21.4%
Public	50	17,188	3.82	25.6%	21.5%

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 Riverside 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 5 private schools here with an affiliation on file, 4 are religiously affiliated and 1 is nonsectarian.
Class size. The National Center for Education Statistics' Private School Survey (2022) lists 5 of these private schools at 7.7 to 16.3 students per teacher.
Size of the school. The 7 private schools here with an enrollment count on file enrolled 273 to 1,208 students, with a median of 640.
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 Riverside County is on the Riverside 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.