Chadwick School
Palos Verdes Estate · Los Angeles County · Private independent
Compare with peers
Other schools in Los Angeles County, closest in size
Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian → Saint John Bosco High School → Polytechnic School → Bishop Montgomery High School → Buckley School → Compare all similar →A parent's read
- The UC pipeline here is real. 54 admissions to the top six UC campuses for a class of 82 seniors puts this school in roughly the top 4% of California high schools.
- 6 National Merit Semifinalists in one class. That's roughly 1 in 14 seniors reaching the top ~1% of the PSAT nationally — a density few schools anywhere can match.
- Elite admits are rare — here and everywhere. Berkeley and UCLA admitted 11 of this class's 239 UC applications. The strong middle campuses — San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Davis — are where most real UC outcomes happen.
- One question for any counselor: who should still test? Plenty of strong students skip the SAT/ACT now — but merit scholarships at dozens of colleges still key off scores. Ask how the school decides who should still sit for one.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
At a glance
- 6 National Merit SemifinalistsRoughly the top 1% of PSAT scorers in each state — about 16,000 juniors nationally. A useful gauge of a school's academic top end. (2026)
- APCollege-level courses with a national exam each May. A score of 3+ "passes" and can earn college credit; the pass rate tells you whether a school's AP program has substance behind the course list. exam pass rate 92%
Composed from the school's own published profile (2026), and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
Where grads go — and what it costs & pays
UC admits by campus · Class of 2025
Getting in is step one. The cost above is the average aid-receiving family's net price — yours depends on whether you qualify for aid — and your child's odds depend on their GPA + scores. See your family's real numbers at these campuses:
Get my child's odds + our real costs →Sources: UC Office of the President (admits); IPEDS net price + College Scorecard 10-yr earnings (cost & payoff). Full campus-by-campus breakdown below.
How Chadwick School compares for families
One of California's strongest schools for college outcomes.
- ▸ Nationally92% AP pass rate (US average: ~60%) · 6 National Merit Semifinalists last year (NMSF is the top 1% of US PSAT scorers) · Top 5% of the 218 curated private schools in our database on AP pass rate.
- ▸ StatewideUC Reach Score of 66 — 47 points above the California median of 19. Ahead of 96% of California high schools.
- ▸ Locally🎓 Top 10% in California on UC Reach — plus 1 more top-rank.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsOther schools in the county, closest in size: Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian, Saint John Bosco High School, Polytechnic School and 2 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
For Parents
Get alerts when Chadwick School's numbers change
New admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores — a few alerts a year, no spam. Your email also saves your list across devices.
Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
Their published matriculation list
Where the Class of 2025 enrolled
Chadwick School publishes where its graduates enrolled. What follows is copied from that document — 50 colleges, ordered by the number of students enrolled.
College · Students
and 20 more
These graduates went on to the colleges above.
Check your kid's odds at these colleges →We'll load the 10 colleges the class chose most often — add your name, email and your child's numbers and we'll see where your child lands at each.
As published, source linked As published by Chadwick School — Chadwick School Profile 2025-26 (College Counseling) ↗. Found at: p.3, 'Class of 2025 College Matriculations' table.
No SBAC data for private schools — and that's not the metric you want anyway
California's Smarter Balanced (CAASPP) assessment is administered by the state, by statute, to public & charter schools only. Private schools don't sit for it. That's why the SBAC card is missing on this profile — not a data gap on our side, a deliberate scope of the state's testing program.
For private schools, UC Reach is the stronger academic signal anyway. SBAC measures grade-11 inputs (proficiency on a state standard); UC Reach measures outputs (who actually got into the most selective UCs). For private-school families weighing tuition against college outcomes, the outputs are the relevant signal.
Scroll up to the UC Reach card for Chadwick School's 2025 number, statewide percentile, and 5-year trend.
Enrollment trend & projection
If this trend holds (-0.1%/yr, Total enrollment)
At tuition of $ / student:
| Horizon | Projected Total enrollment | Change | Tuition impact / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 yr (2026) | ~862 | -1 | $0 |
| 3 yr (2028) | ~861 | -2 | $0 |
| 5 yr (2030) | ~860 | -3 | $0 |
Straight-line extrapolation of the recent annual rate — a what-if, not a forecast of intent. Default = typical CA independent day schools ($25k–55k). Edit the figure to match your school.
Chadwick School sent 239 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 22.6% were admitted, producing a UC Reach Score of 66 (top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors, counting a student at each campus that admitted them) — 47 points above the California median of 19, higher than 96% of California high schools. The school produces 13.4 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.
19
53
66
Higher than 96% of California high schools (1107 ranked, ≥50 seniors)
Chadwick School's UC Reach Score of 66 clears the statewide top-10% cutoff (53) — meaning roughly 65 top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors, well above what most California schools achieve.
In Los Angeles County — a competitive market where the median is already 25 — this still clears the county top-10% bar (56).
For context, the elite tier (top 1%) clears 95 — a gap of 29 pp from where this school sits.
Overall, Chadwick School's UC Reach is higher than 96% of California high schools (1107 ranked).
Private-school figures come from the California Private School Affidavit. Per CDE, inclusion in private-school data is not an evaluation, approval, or endorsement of a school.
GPA figures reflect 2024 — UC has not yet released applicant/admit GPA for 2025.
UC funnel — which kids are getting in at what GPA
Combining the school's applicant pool GPA, admit pool GPA, actual admit rate, and statewide CA admit rates by individual GPA band, we can read which GPA tiers tend to get in — and which don't.
| Campus | 4.00+ GPA | 3.70–3.99 GPA | 3.30–3.69 GPA | < 3.30 GPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley | Real shot | Long odds | Filtered out | Filtered out |
| UCLA | Real shot | Long odds | Filtered out | Filtered out |
| UC San Diego | Strong shot | Real shot | Long odds | Filtered out |
| UC Santa Barbara | Strong shot | Moderate | Long odds | Filtered out |
| UC Irvine | Strong shot | Real shot | Long odds | Filtered out |
| UC Davis | Strong shot | Real shot | Moderate | Filtered out |
The numbers behind it
| Campus | Applicant GPA | Admit GPA | Lift ⓘ | Admit rate | vs peer schools @ same GPA ⓘ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley | 4.05 | 4.22 | +0.17 | 12.8% | Peers +0.20 · matches |
| UCLA | 4.01 | 4.21 | +0.20 | 10.2% | Peers +0.25 · wider |
| UC San Diego | 3.99 | 4.25 | +0.26 | 17.0% | Peers +0.26 · matches |
| UC Santa Barbara | 3.98 | 4.25 | +0.27 | 27.3% | Peers +0.26 · matches |
| UC Irvine | 4.02 | 4.15 | +0.13 | 24.1% | Peers +0.20 · wider |
| UC Davis | 4.02 | 4.23 | +0.21 | 30.0% | Peers +0.20 · matches |
Statewide CA admit rates by individual GPA band, 2024 (for reference)
| GPA band | UCB | UCLA | UCSD | UCSB | UCI | UCD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.00+ | 17.1% | 14.4% | 43.5% | 57.3% | 46.0% | 64.1% |
| 3.70–3.99 | 2.8% | 1.5% | 11.2% | 9.2% | 16.5% | 27.5% |
| 3.30–3.69 | 0.8% | 0.9% | 1.4% | 2.3% | 3.4% | 9.1% |
| 3.00–3.29 | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 2.1% |
| < 3.00 | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.6% |
Where Chadwick School sits vs. all California schools ⓘ
Overall, this school admits its UC applicants in line with what their GPAs predict (18.6% actual vs. 20.6% expected), based on 2024 data.
UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2025
Class size from CDE grade 12 enrollment. Campus-level data: applicant and admit totals count a student once at EACH campus. A senior admitted to UCLA and UC San Diego adds 2 to the admit total, so the total can exceed the senior class — that is the metric working as defined, not an error. The admit RATE is unaffected: both its numerator and denominator are campus-level.
Campus Breakdown — 2025
| Campus | Applicants | Admits | Enrollees | Admit Rate | UC Reach Score | Yield | Avg GPA (App) '24 | Avg GPA (Adm) '24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley → Elite | 40 | 6 | 4 | 15.0% | 7 | 66.7% | 4.05 | 4.22 |
| UCLA → Elite | 48 | 5 | —† | 10.4% | 6 | — | 4.01 | 4.21 |
| UC San Diego → Selective | 41 | 7 | —† | 17.1% | 9 | — | 3.99 | 4.25 |
| UC Santa Barbara → Selective | 43 | 15 | —† | 34.9% | 18 | — | 3.98 | 4.25 |
| UC Irvine → Selective | 36 | 14 | 3 | 38.9% | 17 | 21.4% | 4.02 | 4.15 |
| UC Davis → | 31 | 7 | —† | 22.6% | 9 | — | 4.02 | 4.23 |
What This Means
Related reading
Behind the data · August 24, 2026
UC testing review · August 25, 2026