Where Alameda County's high school grads get into the UC system

This table, in plain English

What it measures: for each Alameda County high school, how many admissions its graduating class earned to the six most selective UC campuses (Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Davis), per 100 seniors. Higher score = the class graduated with more UC options on the table. It comes straight from the University of California's own school-by-school admissions counts.

How to read one row: Quarry Lane School's 113 means its seniors earned 113 selective-UC admissions for every 100 students in the class. For scale, the median California high school scores about 18; the median Alameda County school scores 30.

The story in one sentence: Alameda County's table is public-heavy at the top, built on three large Fremont comprehensives and Berkeley High's 799-senior class — with a cluster of very small Oakland public schools converting applications at rates the big schools cannot match.

One honest caution: the Reach Score is not an admit rate. A student admitted to three UC campuses counts three times — it measures the breadth of options a class earned, which is why an exceptional school can score above 100. The full definition is below the table.

5 takeaways

1. Six of the top ten are public. Mission San Jose (70), American (68), Berkeley High (67) and Irvington (61) all outrank every private in the county except three. Only Quarry Lane (113) sits clearly above the public field.
2. Fremont Unified is the county's engine. Mission San Jose, American and Irvington all belong to it, and all three finish in the top eight — the deepest single-district showing in the county.
3. Berkeley High does it at scale. It posts 67 from a senior class of 799 — the largest class anywhere in the county's top twenty, and a size at which strong per-senior numbers are much harder to hold.
4. The small Oakland schools convert best. Oakland Charter High turns 30% of its applications into admissions and Coliseum College Prep 23%, against 16–17% at Mission San Jose, Irvington and Dublin. Small classes, fewer applications each, higher hit rate.
5. Dublin files the most and converts the least. 2,660 UC applications from 823 seniors, converted at 17% — the county's largest application load by a clear margin.

How to read the Reach Score: admissions to the six most selective UC campuses (Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Davis) per 100 graduating seniors. A student admitted to several campuses counts at each — which is why an exceptional school can score above 100. It measures the breadth of a class's UC options, not an admit rate.

Coverage: the top 40 Alameda County schools with published 2025 UC outcomes and at least 50 seniors. Schools whose data failed integrity checks are excluded, as are schools that filed UC applications but recorded no admissions. School-level admit counts include all admits (UC publishes no breakout of recruited athletes or other categories). Source: University of California Office of the President, freshman application/admission counts by school, Fall 2025; enrollment from CDE / Private School Affidavit. See the full methodology.