Research · California counties · October 2026

Where Santa Clara County High School Graduates Go to College: 66 Schools, Fall 2025

As of October 2026: Among the 7 Santa Clara County schools that print a counted list, the largest counts name the University of California, San Jose State, and nearby community colleges such as De Anza and Foothill. BASIS Independent Silicon Valley holds the top UC Reach Score at 194, followed by Harker School at 126 and Castilleja School at 114.

A county-wide look at UC admits, published enrollment lists, and what the numbers mean for your family.

Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com), October 2026. Figures and the table may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.

Santa Clara County's 40 highest UC Reach Scores, Fall 2025

These are the 40 highest UC Reach Scores among the 66 Santa Clara County schools with UC admit data. The score counts top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors, so it can pass 100 when one student is admitted at more than one campus. College-going rate is not reported for any school in this table.

UC Reach Score = top-6 UC admits (counted at each campus) per 100 seniors; it can exceed 100. Source: UC Information Center (Fall 2025 first-year admits by school) plus CDE College-Going Rate, via highschoolreach.com.

Santa Clara County schools that publish where their graduates enroll

Seven county schools print a counted list of where graduates landed. We report what each school prints, in its own labels and its own years. We do not grade these lists against each other.

An acceptances list runs about three times an enrollment list; never add the two. The list shows what each school prints; absence means the school publishes no counted list.

Where do Santa Clara County high school graduates go to college?

Across the 7 county schools that print a counted list, UC Berkeley shows up in six of them. De Anza College and Foothill College show up in three.

Leigh High School in San Jose prints the largest single count in our pack: 307 graduates at De Anza College across the years 2017-2026. San Jose State is next on that same list at 188, then Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 140. That is one public high school, and the pattern is a short drive from home.

Mountain View High School prints a similar shape for the classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022. San Jose State leads at 60, then UC Santa Barbara at 55, UC Berkeley at 34, UC Davis at 29, UC Santa Cruz at 29, and Cal Poly SLO at 28. Six names, all in California.

The private schools tilt further out. Harker School lists Stanford University at 34 for the classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025, then Carnegie Mellon University at 27 and New York University at 26. Purdue University shows at 25.

For a family, the plain read is this: these printed lists are full of California systems, and a smaller group of names sits out of state. Both paths are normal here. The difference between schools is often the mix, not the quality of the outcome.

Which Santa Clara County schools send the most students to the top UCs?

By UC Reach Score, the top three are BASIS Independent Silicon Valley at 194, Harker School at 126, and Castilleja School at 114. All three sit well above every public school in the county table.

By raw count of top-6 UC admits, the order changes. Valley Christian High School leads with 397, then Cupertino High School with 393 and Monta Vista High School with 388. Lynbrook High School shows 360 and Palo Alto Senior High School shows 346.

The two views answer two different parent questions. Raw count tells you how many admits the school produced in Fall 2025. UC Reach Score adjusts for class size, so a small school with strong results can rise above a large one.

Castilleja School is the clearest case. Its 58 top-6 admits is a small number next to Valley Christian's 397. But its score of 114 is third in the county, because the senior class is small.

If your child is at a large public school such as Cupertino, Monta Vista, or Homestead High School, the raw counts tell you that many classmates are admitted to top UCs every year. That is the number that matters when you want to know whether the path exists at your school.

What does a UC Reach Score of 60 mean for my child?

A UC Reach Score of 60 means the school produced about 60 top-6 UC admits for every 100 seniors, counted at each campus. It is not a share of students admitted, and it is not a promise about any one child.

The score counts admits at each campus separately. One student admitted to UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC San Diego counts three times. That is why the score can pass 100, as it does for BASIS Independent Silicon Valley at 194, Harker School at 126, and Castilleja School at 114.

Leland High School in San Jose sits at 61, right near that mark, with 236 top-6 admits and a UC admit rate of 19.5%. The Kings Academy in Sunnyvale and Archbishop Mitty High School both sit at 65. Homestead High School sits at 55 with 329 top-6 admits.

So a score near 60 in this county is solid, not rare. The county table runs from 194 down to 30, and schools in the 50s and 60s make up a large middle block.

The useful way to read it is as a signal about the peer group and the course menu. A high score tells you many classmates apply to selective UCs and get in. It does not tell you what any single application will do.

Which Santa Clara County school has the highest UC admit rate?

BASIS Independent Silicon Valley has the highest UC admit rate in the county table at 32.6%, with 175 top-6 admits. Yerba Buena High School in San Jose is second at 31.4%, and Stanford Online High School is third at 30.4%.

That second-place finish deserves a pause. Yerba Buena posts a UC Reach Score of just 34, which is near the bottom of our 40-school table, yet its admit rate is among the highest. The two numbers measure different things.

Admit rate is the share of that school's UC applications that ended in an admit. Reach Score counts admits against the size of the senior class. A school where fewer students apply, but applicants are well matched, can post a high rate and a modest score.

Notre Dame High School in San Jose shows 27.7%, Valley Christian shows 27.4%, and Castilleja shows 27.0%. Willow Glen High School shows 24.6% and Harker shows 24.4%.

At the other end, Saint Francis High School in Mountain View shows 13.7% and Presentation High School shows 14.7%. Both are well-known schools with strong outcomes elsewhere. A lower UC rate often reflects where students apply, not what they can do.

Where do graduates of the private schools in Santa Clara County enroll?

Among private schools, only Harker School and Valley Christian High School print a counted enrollment list in our pack. Harker's largest count is Stanford University at 34, and Valley Christian's largest is UC Berkeley at 28.

Harker's list covers the classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025. After Stanford at 34 come Carnegie Mellon University at 27, New York University at 26, UC Berkeley at 26, Purdue University Main Campus at 25, and UCLA at 17. That is a national list with a UC anchor.

Valley Christian covers the classes of 2024 and 2025. After UC Berkeley at 28 come Santa Clara University at 17, San Jose State University at 16, UCLA at 14, the University of Southern California at 14, and UC San Diego at 12. Every name is in California.

Other private schools in the county appear in the UC table but print no counted list. Bellarmine College Preparatory, Presentation High School, Saint Francis High School, Pinewood School, and Castilleja School all fall in that group.

For families comparing private options, this is the honest limit of public data. We can show UC admits for 66 county schools. We can show enrollment counts for only the 7 schools that publish them.

How many Santa Clara County schools publish where graduates enroll?

Seven Santa Clara County schools publish a counted list of where graduates enroll or were admitted, out of 66 schools with UC data. Those seven are Harker, Valley Christian, Lynbrook, Henry M. Gunn, Palo Alto Senior High, Mountain View, and Leigh.

Five of the seven are public schools. Lynbrook, Gunn, Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Leigh all print counts with named colleges. Harker and Valley Christian are the two private schools in that group.

The years covered vary a lot. Gunn prints a single year, 2026. Leigh prints a ten-year span, 2017-2026. Palo Alto prints four years, 2023 through 2026. That means the counts are not directly comparable across schools.

Absence from this list does not mean a school hides its outcomes. It means the school publishes no counted list that we could record. Many schools print a college banner wall or a name list with no numbers attached.

A few schools in the county table publish acceptances rather than enrollment. BASIS Independent Silicon Valley and University Prep Academy both fall in that group. An acceptances list runs about three times an enrollment list, so the two kinds should never be added together.

Which California colleges show up most on the published lists?

UC Berkeley appears on six of the 7 published lists, with counts from 94 at Lynbrook down to 16 at Palo Alto Senior High School. San Jose State and the local two-year colleges are close behind.

Mountain View High School's six largest counts are all in California, led by San Jose State at 60. UC Santa Barbara follows at 55, then UC Berkeley at 34, UC Davis at 29, UC Santa Cruz at 29, and Cal Poly SLO at 28.

Leigh High School's six largest are also all California schools: De Anza College at 307, San Jose at 188, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 140, UC Santa Cruz at 106, UC Davis at 83, and UC Santa Barbara at 78.

Valley Christian tells the same story. UC Berkeley at 28, Santa Clara University at 17, San Jose State at 16, UCLA at 14, USC at 14, and UC San Diego at 12. Six California names in a row.

The out-of-state names that do appear are consistent. Purdue University shows on three lists: Lynbrook at 89, Harker at 25, and Gunn at 10. New York University shows on three: Harker at 26, Palo Alto at 12, and Gunn at 11. The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign shows at Lynbrook with 75.

How many Santa Clara County graduates start at a community college?

Community colleges carry some of the largest single counts on these lists, led by De Anza College at 307 on Leigh High School's ten-year list. Foothill College leads Palo Alto Senior High School's list at 42 and appears at Gunn with 15.

Lynbrook High School prints DeAnza College at 85 for 2022-2025. That places it third on Lynbrook's own list, behind UC Berkeley at 94 and Purdue Main Campus at 89. The school with a UC Reach Score of 86 still sends a large block to the local two-year college.

Palo Alto Senior High School is the strongest example. Foothill College at 42 is its single largest count across 2023 through 2026, ahead of Stanford University at 16 and UC Berkeley at 16.

This is the number that surprises families most. High-performing public schools in this county send large groups to De Anza and Foothill. The transfer path into UC is well traveled from both.

We cannot report a county-wide share of graduates who start at a community college, because the college-going rate is not reported for any school in our table. What we can show is that two-year colleges rank at or near the top on three of the seven published lists.

How many Santa Clara County graduates go to college at all?

We cannot answer that from this data, because the college-going rate is not reported for any of the 66 county schools in our pack. That column is blank for every row in the UC table.

The CDE College-Going Rate is the source that normally fills that column. For the schools in this county, our pack carries no value for it. We name that gap rather than fill it with a guess.

What we can report is UC admits and published enrollment counts. Those two measures cover the top of the funnel and a slice of the final choice. Neither one gives a county-wide college-going share.

If you want a rough sense of breadth at a single school, the published lists help. Leigh High School's ten-year list names De Anza College, San Jose, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, and UC Santa Barbara among its largest counts. That mix suggests a broad spread of destinations.

We would rather say plainly that a number is missing than print one we cannot stand behind. When the college-going rate becomes available for these schools, this page will carry it.

Which cities in Santa Clara County have the strongest UC results?

San Jose is home to the top-scoring school in the county table, BASIS Independent Silicon Valley at 194. Palo Alto, Cupertino, and Mountain View each place multiple schools in the upper half.

Palo Alto places Castilleja School at 114, Henry M. Gunn High School at 79, and Palo Alto Senior High School at 70. All three sit in the top 12 of the county table.

Cupertino places Monta Vista High School at 85, Cupertino High School at 78, and Homestead High School at 55. Monta Vista and Cupertino High also post large raw counts, at 388 and 393 top-6 admits.

The south county is represented too. Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy in Gilroy posts a 67 with 46 top-6 admits. Oakwood School in Morgan Hill posts a 68 with 27 admits, and Ann Sobrato High School in Morgan Hill posts a 30 with 114 admits.

City is a rough stand-in for attendance zone and housing cost. Before a family moves for a school, we suggest checking the specific school's row rather than the city name. Within San Jose, scores in our table run from 194 down to 30.

Does a high UC Reach Score mean my child will get in?

No. A UC Reach Score of 194 at BASIS Independent Silicon Valley describes the school's whole senior class, not any one student. The score counts admits at each campus, so it overstates the number of students involved.

Admission decisions rest on the student's record: courses taken, grades earned, and the personal insight questions. The high school matters as context, not as a tiebreaker you can count on.

Look at Stanford Online High School, which posts a 44 with a 30.4% UC admit rate. Its rate beats most schools above it on the Reach board. A strong applicant can do well from a school with a middling score.

The reverse is also true. Saint Francis High School in Mountain View has 146 top-6 admits and a 13.7% UC admit rate, the lowest rate in our table. Students there still reach selective colleges every year.

The practical use of this page is planning, not prediction. If your school posts a high score, the course menu and the peer group likely support a selective application. If it posts a lower score, you may need to build the plan yourself, and that plan can still work.

How should our family use this page?

Start with your school's row in the 40-school table, then read the two numbers side by side: UC Reach Score and UC admit rate. Those two tell you how common selective UC admits are and how often applications from that school land.

Next, check whether your school is one of the 7 that print a counted enrollment list. If it is, read the six largest counts. That is the best picture of where classmates actually go, in that school's own words.

If your school prints no counted list, do not read that as a bad sign. Most of the 66 schools with UC data publish nothing counted. Use the UC admit figures instead, and treat them as the main public record.

Watch the list type. An acceptances list, like the one from BASIS Independent Silicon Valley or University Prep Academy, runs about three times an enrollment list. Adding an acceptances list to an enrollment list gives a number that means nothing.

Finally, hold the years in mind. Mountain View High School's list covers 2020, 2021 and 2022. Leigh's covers 2017 through 2026. A ten-year list will always show bigger counts than a one-year list such as Gunn's 2026 list.

Related: Santa Clara County UC brief · All rankings · Family Decision Report