Chula Vista Senior High

· San Diego County · Sweetwater Union High · Public

Public San Diego County 🏛 Sweetwater Union High → ~501 seniors CDS 3768411…
📄 Shareable scorecard →

📚AP rigor: Top 3.7% nationally 📖37 AP courses 🎓95% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 37 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 6 calculus classes · 24 physics · 29 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Top 3.7% of US high schools
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 95% (75th percentile nationally)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

🎓 Where grads go

UC Reach Score
19
Around the CA median near the state median
Top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors in the Class of 2025 — counts each campus admit, so a student admitted to several UCs counts more than once (which is why a strong school can score over 100).

UC admits by campus · Class of 2025

UCB
8 admitted
UCLA
9 admitted
8 enrolled
UCSD
38 admitted
8 enrolled
UCSB
16 admitted
7 enrolled
UCI
18 admitted
3 enrolled
UCD
8 admitted

Source: University of California Office of the President, Admissions by Source School. Full campus-by-campus breakdown below.

💡

How Chula Vista Senior High compares for families

Mid-pack college outcomes within California.

  • Statewide19.4% UC Reach — right around the California median of 18.1%.
  • vs Similar SchoolsRight at the peer median (20.9% UC Reach) across the 5 most similar nearby schools.

For Parents

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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

Top 3.7% of US high schools

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
37
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
602
≈32 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
32
6 calculus · 26 advanced
Lab science classes
53
24 physics · 29 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment program
✅ Gifted/talented program

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21
SAT/ACT test-takers
0
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
0.0
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

75th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
95%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
628
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

80.1%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

≥75% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These schools qualify for the highest tier of federal Title I funding and typically receive extra wraparound services. Academic outcomes vary widely — check the state assessment + grad-rate tiles.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

SBAC academic outcomes — grade 11, 2025

Share of grade-11 students meeting or exceeding the California standard on Smarter Balanced ELA and Math. This is the academic-readiness signal that pairs with UC Reach (post-grad outcomes), stability (retention), and absenteeism (engagement). Note: statewide median Math is only ~20% — a school at 20% isn't an outlier; one at 45%+ genuinely is.

ELA — met or exceeded
n = 424
45.5%
incl. 14.6% exceeded
-15.1 pts vs. San Diego County median (60.6%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 427
15.2%
incl. 5.8% exceeded
-9.2 pts vs. San Diego County median (24.4%) · CA median 21.1% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 53.6%

Source: California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) Smarter Balanced research files. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥30 tested students.

Student composition — 2025-26

HS grades 9–12 racial/ethnic composition and program subgroups, from CDE Census Day Enrollment. Two-year shift shown when ≥1 pt — surfaces how the community served has changed since 2023-24.

Race / ethnicity

Hispanic / Latino 90% +6.4
White 4% -5.2
Black / African Am. 2%
Filipino 2%
Two or more 1%
Asian 1%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 65% -16.5
English learners 30% -2.9
Socioeconomically disadv. 15%
Homeless 3% +2.1

Source: California Department of Education, Census Day Enrollment 2025-26 (HS grades 9–12). Δ shown when shift is ≥1 pt since 2023-24. Categories below 0.5% omitted.

Chronic absenteeism — 2024-25

Share of students missing 10% or more of expected attendance — the leading indicator that often precedes the demand decline shown above. Families disengaging tend to raise absenteeism first, then formally leave. Basis: grades 9–12.

Chronic absent
28.5%
561 of 1,967 students

Absenteeism is up 10.5 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

San Diego County median
18.9% · school is worse than 74% of 117 HS
Statewide median
22.9%
Chronic absenteeism by year (raw %)

Source: California Department of Education, Chronic Absenteeism 2024-25. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥100 eligible students. CDE didn't publish a usable 2019-20 file (COVID).

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment (9–12)
2,420 (2018)1,806 (2026)
-25.4%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
666 (2018)436 (2026)
-34.5%

If this trend holds (-4.1%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~1,732 -74 $0
3 yr (2029) ~1,592 -214 $0
5 yr (2031) ~1,464 -342 $0

Straight-line extrapolation of the recent annual rate — a what-if, not a forecast of intent. Default = California's LCFF base grant for grades 9–12 ($12,423/ADA). Edit the figure to match your school.

Chula Vista Senior High — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • On UC Reach Score, Chula Vista Senior High sits near the bottom of its similar-school group (ranked #6 of 8): 19 vs. a peer median of 21.
  • Its UC Reach Score has risen 8 points since 2018.
  • Across the top-6 UC campuses, Chula Vista Senior High is admitting at roughly +8 percentage points above what its average applicant GPA (3.821) alone would predict (28% actual vs. 20% expected). That's a meaningful signal — it can reflect UC's track record with this school's graduates, students presenting strongly in UC's holistic review (essays, EC's, context), or institutional familiarity helping at the margin. The data can't distinguish which, but the pattern itself is real and worth understanding.
  • Senior-class enrollment is down 34% (666→436 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of -19%.
  • At its recent rate (-3.6%/yr), enrollment projects to ~1618 by 2029 — about 188 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

1806 students (2026)
~1618 projected (2029)
at -3.6%/yr

That's about 188 fewer students. At per-student funding of $ per student, that's roughly $0 in annual state funding at risk.

Default = California's LCFF base grant for grades 9–12 ($12,423 per ADA) — adjust to your district's actual per-pupil figure. Projection extrapolates the recent annual rate — not a forecast of intent.

Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools

School Type Size UC Reach Score Enroll. trend
Chula Vista Senior High Public 1806 19 -34%
Peer-group median 21 -19%
Chula Vista Senior High School Public 1806 19 -19%
Hilltop High School Public 1748 21 -19%
Mueller Charter (robert L.) Public 1558 +64%
San Ysidro High School Public 1816 23 -29%
The O'farrell Charter Public 1833 +50%
Montgomery High School Public 1546 22 -19%
Chula Vista Learning Community Charter Public 1357 +40%
Sweetwater High Public 2170 15 -25%
Southwest Senior High Public 1567 20 -27%
Bonita Vista High School Public 2038 29 -23%

UC Reach Score = top-6 UC admits ÷ senior class (can exceed 100 when students are admitted to multiple campuses). Enrollment trend = first-to-latest grade-12 change on file. Similar schools matched on proximity, size, type. Methodology →

Enrollment stability & demand — 2024-25

Two complementary signals: retention (do students stay once enrolled?) and demand (are families choosing the school?). Read against the San Diego County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Critical
Compounding decline on both vectors.

Enrollment -34.5% vs. county -7.8% AND stability (85.8%) below the county median. Recruitment and retention both under pressure — likely a foundational rather than tactical problem.

-34.5%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
-7.8%  San Diego County baseline
-26.7pp  gap vs. county
85.8%  retention (county median 88.5%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
85.8%
1,735 of 2,023 students

288 of 2,023 students who enrolled at Chula Vista Senior High this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (14.2% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

San Diego County median
88.5% · school is in the 40th percentile of 121 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 44th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Hispanic / Latino (1,745) 84.9%
Socio. disadvantaged (1,684) 87.5%
English learners (710) 80.4%
Students w/ disabilities (303) 83.2%
White (147) 93.2%
Black / African Am. (41) 78.0%

Nearest peer high schools

Hilltop High School 90.1% Mueller Charter (robert L.) 95.3% San Ysidro High School 86.9% The O'farrell Charter 97.2%

Source: California Department of Education, Stability Rate 2024-25. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥100 cumulative enrollees so by-design-high-churn continuation schools don't dominate the bottom of the distribution. Cumulative enrollment counts every student on the rolls during the year, so it can exceed peak-day enrollment.

District financial profile — Sweetwater Union High (FY2020)

From 4 years of NCES F-33 filings (the federally-mandated district finance survey). Public schools don't have their own books — the district does. These figures show the financial scale, revenue dependence, instruction-vs-overhead mix, and long-term debt that shape what a school can sustain.

Total revenue
$646.0M
+11.4% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$17,430
37,060 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 58.9%
Local: 32.0%
Federal: 9.1%
Instruction share
53.4%
of current spending · $7,362/pupil
Long-term debt
$482.5M
+22.4% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($M)
Total expenditure by year ($M)

Source: NCES F-33 Annual Survey of School System Finances (Urban Institute Education Data API). Latest year currently published: FY2020. F-33 is a district-level federal filing — it reflects the Sweetwater Union High as a whole, not this individual school's books. Revenue mix shows where the district's dollars come from (state aid dominates in CA via LCFF). Instruction share is current expenditure on instruction ÷ total current expenditure (national benchmark ~60%). Long-term debt is end-of-year outstanding (mostly facilities bonds).

📊 Key takeaway · Class of 2025

Chula Vista Senior High sent 347 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 28.0% were admitted, producing a UC Reach Score of 191 points above the California median of 18, higher than 54% of California high schools. The school produces 3.4 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.

University of California outcomes · Class of 2025
UC Reach Score
19
Around the CA median Top 46% of CA high schools
97 admits / 501 seniors
-2 pts vs. peer median (21) · Ranked #6 of 8 similar schools
5-year trend
2021 · 9 2025 · 19
Where this sits on the California curve
CA median
18
Top 10%
51
This school
19
050100
CA median 18 Top 10% ≥ 51 This school 19

Higher than 54% of California high schools (978 ranked, ≥50 seniors)

📊 What this number means

Chula Vista Senior High's UC Reach Score of 19 is above the California median (18). The top 10% of CA schools achieve 51 or higher.

For context, the elite tier (top 1%) clears 97 — a gap of 78 pp from where this school sits.

Overall, Chula Vista Senior High's UC Reach is higher than 54% of California high schools (978 ranked).

UC Application Reach Score
69
347 applications
In context: CA median 75 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 241 · higher than 46% of CA HS.
UC Admit Rate
28.0%
97 / 347 applications
In context: CA median 26.1% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 40.5% · higher than 60% of CA HS.
UC Yield Rate
26.8%
26 enrolled of 97 admitted
Yield vs. Enrollment Reach: Yield answers "of UC admits, what % chose UC?" — denominator is just the admits. A small admitted cohort can post a low yield even when the school sends a healthy share of its class to UC.
UC Enrollment Reach Score
5
26 enrollees / 501 seniors
Enrollment Reach vs. Yield: Reach answers "of the whole senior class, what share ended up at UC?" — denominator is everyone. High Yield with low Enrollment Reach is common at elite privates: most admits matriculate, but the school sends most of its class to non-UC selective colleges.
Student-Counselor Ratio
201:1
9.0 FTE counselors · 1,806 students
In context: CA median 338:1 · 137 fewer students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.
A-G Completion
46%
207 of 454 graduates · 2024-25 cohort
In context: CA median 55.9% · -10.3 pp vs. median · San Diego Co. 63.4%.
Selective UC Reach (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD)
17.8
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 15.4 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 41.5 · higher than 58% of CA HS.
Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA)
3.4
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 3.3 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 9.7 · higher than 52% of CA HS.
Senior Class Size
501
CDE grade 12 (exact)
Total School Enrollment
1,864
All grades · CDE Census Day
Economic Connectedness
0.83
31st percentile in CA · cross‑class friendships
Avg. Applicant GPA · top-6 UCs
3.82
Avg. Admitted GPA · top-6 UCs
4.12

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.

🎯 Who's actually getting into UC from Chula Vista Senior High
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 Moderate Long odds Filtered out
UC Santa Barbara Strong shot Real shot Long odds Filtered out
UC Irvine Strong shot Real shot Long odds Filtered out
UC Davis Strong shot Strong shot Real shot Filtered out
Strong shot = ≥30% statewide admit rate at this band · Real shot = 10–29% · Moderate = 5–9% · Long odds = 1–4% · Filtered out = under 1%. Tiers map this school's likely outcomes by GPA tier using statewide CA admit rates from UCOP 2025.

The numbers behind it

Campus Applicant GPA Admit GPA Lift Admit rate vs peer schools @ same GPA
UC Berkeley 3.87 4.22 +0.35 19.5% Peers +0.31 · steeper
UCLA 3.87 4.10 +0.22 12.9% Peers +0.35 · wider
UC San Diego 3.84 4.13 +0.28 39.2% Peers +0.35 · wider
UC Santa Barbara 3.81 4.10 +0.29 47.1% Peers +0.35 · wider
UC Irvine 3.81 4.10 +0.29 23.7% Peers +0.33 · wider
UC Davis 3.59 4.05 +0.46 27.6% Peers +0.41 · steeper
📊 Statewide CA admit rates by individual GPA band, 2025 (for reference)
GPA band UCB UCLA UCSD UCSB UCI UCD
4.00+ 17.0% 15.1% 45.2% 62.3% 46.3% 65.9%
3.70–3.99 3.1% 1.6% 9.3% 17.6% 17.0% 31.1%
3.30–3.69 0.8% 0.5% 1.5% 2.8% 2.4% 10.3%
3.00–3.29 0.4% 0.3% 0.2% 0.4% 0.3% 1.9%
< 3.00 0.7% 0.4% 0.3% 0.2% 0.1% 0.7%
How we infer the tier labels: Each tier comes from the statewide CA admit rate at that GPA band at that UC. The "vs peers" column compares this school's lift (admit GPA − applicant GPA) to the average lift at ~100–300 other CA schools with similar applicant pool GPA. What this isn't: a guarantee. UC comprehensive review weighs essays, course rigor, demographics, and context-of-opportunity beyond GPA. A 3.9 with strong context can land an admit; a 4.0 with weak essays can be denied. Use as a baseline expectation, not a verdict. Per-campus year is shown when it differs from the headline year (UCOP doesn't always publish admit-GPA for every campus every year).

Where Chula Vista Senior High sits vs. all California schools

Overall, this school admits its UC applicants 8.4 points above what their GPAs predict (28.0% actual vs. 19.6% expected).

UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2025

UC Admit Rate %
UC Reach Score (where available)
UC Admits (count, right axis)

Class size from CDE grade 12 enrollment. Campus-level data — applicant/admit totals may count a student at multiple campuses more than once.

Campus Breakdown — 2025

Campus Applicants Admits Enrollees Admit Rate UC Reach Score Yield Avg GPA (App) Avg GPA (Adm)
UC Berkeley → Elite 41 8 19.5% 2 3.87 4.22
UCLA → Elite 70 9 8 12.9% 2 88.9% 3.87 4.10
UC San Diego → Selective 97 38 8 39.2% 8 21.1% 3.84 4.13
UC Santa Barbara → Selective 34 16 7 47.1% 3 43.8% 3.81 4.10
UC Irvine → Selective 76 18 3 23.7% 4 16.7% 3.81 4.10
UC Davis → 29 8 27.6% 2 3.59 4.05
= UCOP-suppressed (count below 3 students, hidden for privacy — actual value is 0, 1, or 2, not necessarily zero). Campus-level totals may count one student admitted to multiple UC campuses more than once; Admit Volume metrics are not the same as UC Reach, which requires unique-student counts. See methodology →

What This Means

A large share of the senior class applies to UC, indicating strong college-going culture and UC pipeline development.
A large share of the class applies to UC, so the admit rate runs lower than the application volume alone might suggest — expected when many students apply broadly, including to reach campuses. UC Reach (which credits every admit relative to the class) is the truer read of how the class fares: a strong Reach alongside a moderate admit rate is healthy, not a contradiction.
Students are earning UC admission but enrolling elsewhere at a notable rate. This may reflect competition from private colleges, out-of-state flagships, cost considerations, or UC campus fit. Student outcome surveys can clarify.
UC Reach has improved meaningfully compared to the prior year — a positive trajectory worth monitoring and reinforcing.
Note: the UC Reach Score sums campus-level admits across the top-six UC campuses, so a student admitted to both UCLA and UCSD is counted at each. It reflects competitive admit volume relative to class size — admit-events, not distinct students — which is why a Score can exceed 100.
Compare with other schools → See San Diego County rankings →

For School Admins

The full Reach Report for Chula Vista Senior High

A board- and LCAP-ready intelligence brief: your enrollment retention and college outcomes, benchmarked against your closest competitors, with a 5-year forecast, concrete steps to act on, and the rigor + outcomes story you can share with your families. Built from primary public data — prepared for you, not auto-generated.

  • Your UC Reach Score (19) ranked head-to-head against your closest competitor schools
  • Your 5-year enrollment forecast (currently -4.1%/yr) with the revenue at stake
  • Student-retention benchmarking vs your county median — and the LCAP evidence to back your goals
See a sample report →

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