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

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

In Santa Clara County the 13 private high schools with a 2025 UC Reach Score have a median of 68 and a top score of 194 (BASIS Independent Silicon Valley), and the 44 public high schools have a median of 30 and a top score of 86 (Lynbrook High School); pooled, private schools show 70.9 UC admits per 100 seniors and public schools 37.1.

Group	Schools with a score	Median UC Reach Score	Top UC Reach Score	UC admits per 100 seniors (pooled)
Private	13	68	194	70.9
Public	44	30	86	37.1

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

The highest-scoring private high school in Santa Clara County is BASIS Independent Silicon Valley at 194, and 6 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	BASIS Independent Silicon Valley	San Jose	$36,380 2026-27	194	175	90	No
2	The Harker School	San Jose	—	126	245	195	Yes
3	Castilleja School	Palo Alto	—	114	58	51	No
4	Valley Christian High School	San Jose	$37,640 2026-27	96	397	415	Yes
5	Notre Dame High School	San Jose	$28,880 2026-27	94	155	165	No
6	Pinewood School	Los Altos Hills	—	72	39	54	No
7	Oakwood School	Morgan Hill	—	68	27	40	No
8	Archbishop Mitty High School	San Jose	$33,860 2026-27	65	275	420	No
9	The King's Academy	Sunnyvale	$28,900 2026-27	65	105	162	No
10	Presentation High School	San Jose	$33,870 2026-27	43	61	143	No

Which public high schools match them?

The highest-scoring public high school in Santa Clara County is Lynbrook High School at 86, and 10 of the top 10 public schools score at or above 43, 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	Lynbrook High School	San Jose	86	360	420	Yes
2	Monta Vista High School	Cupertino	85	388	454	No
3	Henry M. Gunn High School	Palo Alto	79	341	432	Yes
4	Cupertino High School	Cupertino	78	393	506	No
5	Saratoga High School	Saratoga	73	242	332	No
6	Palo Alto Senior High School	Palo Alto	70	346	495	Yes
7	Leland High School	San Jose	61	236	385	No
8	Homestead High School	Cupertino	55	329	603	No
9	Los Altos High School	Los Altos	54	297	547	No
10	Mountain View High School	Mountain View	51	310	609	Yes

Does the gap hold at the same GPA?

Among 13 private high schools in Santa Clara County with enough Fall 2024 UC applicants to measure (applicants averaging a 4.05 GPA), 22.7% of applicants were admitted where their GPAs predict 22.5%; among 35 public high schools (applicants averaging a 3.97 GPA), 18.2% were admitted where their GPAs predict 21.9%.

Group	Schools measured	UC applicants 2024	Average applicant GPA	Admitted	Expected at that GPA
Private	13	6,226	4.05	22.7%	22.5%
Public	35	28,686	3.97	18.2%	21.9%

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 Clara 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 11 private schools here with an affiliation on file, 7 are religiously affiliated and 4 are nonsectarian.
Class size. The National Center for Education Statistics' Private School Survey (2022) lists 9 of these private schools at 7.3 to 21.8 students per teacher.
Size of the school. The 13 private schools here with an enrollment count on file enrolled 314 to 1,939 students, with a median of 819.
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 Clara County is on the Santa Clara 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.