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

This table, in plain English

What it measures: for each Monterey 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: Robert Louis Stevenson School's 95 means its seniors earned 95 selective-UC admissions for every 100 students in the class. For scale, the median California high school scores about 18; the median Monterey County school scores 22.

The story in one sentence: Monterey County splits cleanly along its own geography: the four schools on the peninsula take the top four places, and the Salinas Valley schools that educate most of the county's students sit in the teens and twenties.

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. The peninsula takes the top four places. Robert Louis Stevenson in Pebble Beach (95), Carmel (44), Pacific Grove (40) and Monterey (38) finish first through fourth. Three of the four are tuition-free public schools.
2. The Salinas Valley educates most of the county and scores below it. Rancho San Juan (29), Salinas High (24), Alisal (20), Everett Alvarez (19) and North Salinas (12) all sit below every peninsula school. Salinas schools hold six of the county's top twenty but none of its top four.
3. Alisal is the county at scale. It graduates 662 seniors, the largest class in the county, and files the most UC applications (517), converting 26% for a score of 20.
4. The valley schools convert better than the peninsula's private leader. Gonzales converts 41% of its applications, Salinas High 39% and Monterey High 37%, against 32% at Stevenson and 16% at Palma. Volume, not hit rate, is what separates the two halves of this county.
5. Only one school clears 50. Stevenson. The county median of 22 sits above the statewide 18, carried by the peninsula's four.

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 17 Monterey 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.