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

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

In Santa Barbara County the 5 private high schools with a 2025 UC Reach Score have a median of 40 and a top score of 63 (Laguna Blanca School), and the 11 public high schools have a median of 19 and a top score of 46 (Dos Pueblos High School); pooled, private schools show 35.5 UC admits per 100 seniors and public schools 21.9.

Group	Schools with a score	Median UC Reach Score	Top UC Reach Score	UC admits per 100 seniors (pooled)
Private	5	40	63	35.5
Public	11	19	46	21.9

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

The highest-scoring private high school in Santa Barbara County is Laguna Blanca School at 63, and 1 of the 5 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	Laguna Blanca School	Santa Barbara	$45,060 2026-27	63	29	46	Yes
2	Cate School	Carpinteria	—	51	37	73	Yes
3	Bishop Garcia Diego High School	Santa Barbara	—	40	25	62	Yes
4	Dunn School	Los Olivos	—	23	7	31	Yes
5	Saint Joseph High School	Santa Maria	—	17	21	123	No

Which public high schools match them?

The highest-scoring public high school in Santa Barbara County is Dos Pueblos High School at 46, and 6 of the top 10 public schools score at or above 17, the score of the 5th private school in the table above.

#	School	City	UC Reach Score	UC admits 2025	Seniors	Publishes a counted college list
1	Dos Pueblos High School	Goleta	46	246	539	No
2	San Marcos Senior High	Santa Barbara	34	146	434	No
3	Orcutt Academy Charter High School	Orcutt	32	51	157	No
4	Santa Barbara Senior High Scho	Santa Barbara	27	153	557	No
5	Carpinteria High School	Carpinteria	21	30	145	No
6	Santa Ynez Valley Union High School	Santa Ynez	19	43	221	No
7	Santa Maria High School	Santa Maria	15	119	793	No
8	Pioneer Valley High School	Santa Maria	15	114	760	No
9	Ernest Righetti High School	Santa Maria	14	79	576	No
10	Cabrillo High School	Lompoc	12	29	235	No

Does the gap hold at the same GPA?

Among 3 private high schools in Santa Barbara County with enough Fall 2024 UC applicants to measure (applicants averaging a 4.02 GPA), 28.2% of applicants were admitted where their GPAs predict 21.7%; among 9 public high schools (applicants averaging a 3.88 GPA), 25.7% were admitted where their GPAs predict 22.1%.

Group	Schools measured	UC applicants 2024	Average applicant GPA	Admitted	Expected at that GPA
Private	3	266	4.02	28.2%	21.7%
Public	9	3,242	3.88	25.7%	22.1%

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 Santa Barbara 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 4 private schools here with an affiliation on file, 1 is religiously affiliated and 3 are nonsectarian.
Class size. The National Center for Education Statistics' Private School Survey (2022) lists 4 of these private schools at 5.8 to 11.1 students per teacher.
Size of the school. The 5 private schools here with an enrollment count on file enrolled 219 to 512 students, with a median of 306.
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 Santa Barbara County is on the Santa Barbara 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.