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

This table, in plain English

What it measures: for each Sacramento 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: West Campus High's 82 means its seniors earned 82 selective-UC admissions for every 100 students in the class. For scale, the median California high school scores about 18 — and the median Sacramento County school scores about 16, just below it.

The story in one sentence: Sacramento County's UC story is a story of spread — a tuition-free public magnet (West Campus, 82) outscores everything including every private school in the region, while the county's median school sits slightly below the state median: the gap between the county's strongest and typical schools is more than five-fold.

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.

Five takeaways

1. A tuition-free magnet leads by daylight. West Campus High (Sacramento City Unified) posts an 82 — 28 points clear of every other school in the county, public or private, and a level only the top few percent of California high schools reach. The region's strongest UC pipeline charges no tuition.
2. The region's strongest private is an all-girls Catholic school. Saint Francis Catholic High School (54) clearly outscores the better-known boys' schools — Jesuit (37) and Christian Brothers (30) — and every other private in the county.
3. The county's real story is spread, not strength. The median Sacramento County school posts about 16 — slightly below the statewide median of 18 — while the top of the table competes with the strongest schools anywhere in California. Where a family lives inside one county changes the picture more than the county itself does.
4. Elk Grove Unified has quiet depth. Cosumnes Oaks (42), Franklin (27), Pleasant Grove (22), and Monterey Trail (17) all make the table — no other district in the county places as many schools.
5. "Good suburban school" isn't the same as "UC pipeline." Folsom High — big, well-regarded, 739 seniors — posts exactly the state median (18), while Vista Del Lago, in the same Folsom Cordova district, more than doubles it (41). The difference isn't the zip code's reputation; it's what each campus's seniors actually apply to and win.

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 of Sacramento County schools with published 2025 UC outcomes and at least 50 seniors. Schools whose data failed integrity checks are excluded. 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.