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

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

In San Mateo County the 10 private high schools with a 2025 UC Reach Score have a median of 48 and a top score of 77 (Pacific Bay Christian School), and the 19 public high schools have a median of 32 and a top score of 70 (Design Tech High School); pooled, private schools show 45.9 UC admits per 100 seniors and public schools 34.7.

Group	Schools with a score	Median UC Reach Score	Top UC Reach Score	UC admits per 100 seniors (pooled)
Private	10	48	77	45.9
Public	19	32	70	34.7

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

The highest-scoring private high school in San Mateo County is Pacific Bay Christian School at 77, and 7 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 Bay Christian School	Pacifica	—	77	17	22	No
2	Woodside Priory School	Portola Valley	—	70	52	74	Yes
3	The Nueva School	San Mateo	$65,065 2026-27	65	70	108	Yes
4	Crystal Springs Uplands School	Hillsborough	$68,600 2026-27	64	51	80	No
5	Menlo School	Atherton	$67,792 2026-27	62	93	149	Yes
6	Junipero Serra High School	San Mateo	$30,800 2026-27	34	74	215	No
7	Sacred Heart Preparatory School	Atherton	$59,565 2026-27	33	51	154	No
8	Notre Dame High School	Belmont	$33,730 2026-27	32	25	79	No
9	Eastside College Prep School	East Palo Alto	—	26	15	57	No
10	Mercy High School	Burlingame	$30,328 2026-27	25	20	81	No

Which public high schools match them?

The highest-scoring public high school in San Mateo County is Design Tech High School at 70, and 10 of the top 10 public schools score at or above 25, 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	Design Tech High School	Redwood City	70	96	138	No
2	Summit Public School: Shasta	Daly City	67	74	110	No
3	Mills High School	Millbrae	59	163	275	No
4	Carlmont High School	Belmont	54	322	595	No
5	Aragon High School	San Mateo	54	235	438	No
6	Oceana High School	Pacifica	51	72	142	No
7	Burlingame High School	Burlingame	45	184	412	No
8	San Mateo High School	San Mateo	33	130	394	No
9	Hillsdale High School	San Mateo	32	132	411	No
10	Woodside High School	Woodside	32	138	435	No

Does the gap hold at the same GPA?

Among 9 private high schools in San Mateo County with enough Fall 2024 UC applicants to measure (applicants averaging a 4.03 GPA), 21.3% of applicants were admitted where their GPAs predict 22.7%; among 19 public high schools (applicants averaging a 3.97 GPA), 19.9% were admitted where their GPAs predict 21.8%.

Group	Schools measured	UC applicants 2024	Average applicant GPA	Admitted	Expected at that GPA
Private	9	2,305	4.03	21.3%	22.7%
Public	19	11,425	3.97	19.9%	21.8%

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 San Mateo 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 9 private schools here with an affiliation on file, 5 are religiously affiliated and 4 are nonsectarian.
Class size. The National Center for Education Statistics' Private School Survey (2022) lists 6 of these private schools at 6.2 to 15.8 students per teacher.
Size of the school. The 10 private schools here with an enrollment count on file enrolled 178 to 1,125 students, with a median of 396.
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 San Mateo County is on the San Mateo 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.