Helix High School
La Mesa · San Diego County · Grossmont Union High · Public
📄 Shareable scorecard →Compare with peers
Most similar nearby schools
Henry High → Grossmont High School → San Diego Workforce Innovation → Eastlake High School → Granite Hills High → Compare all similar →🧭 A parent's read
- Almost all graduates leave eligible for UC and CSU. 96% finish the A-G courses California's universities require before a student can even apply — most California schools manage about 6 in 10.
- Where grads land in the UC system: UC San Diego. More graduates enroll at UC San Diego than any other UC. Berkeley and UCLA admitted 21 of this class's 791 UC applications — elite admits are rare everywhere, and the strong middle campuses are where most real outcomes happen.
- Families don't leave. 95% of students who start the year here finish it here — top-tier retention statewide. Kids stay; that tells you something no test score does.
- Most grads aim beyond the UC system. Seniors file only ~1.3 UC applications each — families here mostly target CSU, private, or out-of-state colleges, so judge this school on more than its UC numbers.
- 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.
🎓 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 family's net price — yours depends on your income — 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 net price →Sources: UC Office of the President (admits); IPEDS net price + College Scorecard 10-yr earnings (cost & payoff). Full campus-by-campus breakdown below.
How Helix High School compares for families
Above-average college outcomes statewide.
- ▸ StatewideUC Reach Score of 27 — 9 points above the California median of 18. Ahead of 69% of California high schools.
- ▸ Locally📘 Top 5% in California on ELA proficiency — plus 5 more top-ranks.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsBeats the peer median (UC Reach Score 27 vs a 15 median) across the 5 most similar nearby schools.
For Parents
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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
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.
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
Program subgroups
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.
Low and stable absenteeism — students are engaged and showing up. The leading indicator is healthy.
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
If this trend holds (+0.7%/yr, Total enrollment)
At per-pupil funding of $ / student:
| Horizon | Projected Total enrollment | Change | Funding impact / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 yr (2027) | ~2,589 | +18 | $0 |
| 3 yr (2029) | ~2,624 | +53 | $0 |
| 5 yr (2031) | ~2,660 | +89 | $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.
How does Helix High School really compare on getting kids to college?
We've ranked it #1 of 7 most similar nearby schools on UC Reach. Unlock the full snapshot to see the head-to-head — who's ahead, by how much, and where it's heading.
Your similar-school group includes
Henry High · Grossmont High School · San Diego Workforce Innovation · Eastlake High School · Granite Hills High · Literacy First Charter · +4 more
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.
Helix High School outperformed San Diego County on enrollment (school +2.4% vs. county -7.8%) AND maintains 95.0% stability. Replicable model — worth documenting what's working.
131 of 2,606 students who enrolled at Helix High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (5.0% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.
Stability by student group
Nearest peer high schools
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 — Grossmont 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.
Local: 48.9%
Federal: 13.2%
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 Grossmont 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).
Helix High School sent 791 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 21.1% were admitted, producing a UC Reach Score of 27 — 9 points above the California median of 18, higher than 69% of California high schools. The school produces 3.4 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.
+12 pts above peer median (15) · Ranked #1 of 7 similar schools
18
51
27
Higher than 69% of California high schools (980 ranked, ≥50 seniors)
Helix High School's UC Reach Score of 27 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 70 pp from where this school sits.
Overall, Helix High School's UC Reach is higher than 69% of California high schools (980 ranked).
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 | 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 |
The numbers behind it
| Campus | Applicant GPA | Admit GPA | Lift ⓘ | Admit rate | vs peer schools @ same GPA ⓘ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley | 4.01 | 4.19 | +0.17 | 8.8% | Peers +0.22 · wider |
| UCLA | 3.96 | 4.25 | +0.30 | 8.0% | Peers +0.29 · matches |
| UC San Diego | 3.91 | 4.29 | +0.37 | 22.7% | Peers +0.31 · steeper |
| UC Santa Barbara | 3.90 | 4.30 | +0.40 | 21.1% | Peers +0.31 · steeper |
| UC Irvine | 3.89 | 4.20 | +0.32 | 25.8% | Peers +0.29 · matches |
| UC Davis | 3.93 | 4.20 | +0.27 | 44.1% | Peers +0.24 · matches |
📊 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% |
Where Helix High School sits vs. all California schools ⓘ
Overall, this school admits its UC applicants in line with what their GPAs predict (21.1% actual vs. 20.8% expected).
UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2025
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 | 114 | 10 | 7 | 8.8% | 2 | 70.0% | 4.01 | 4.19 |
| UCLA → Elite | 138 | 11 | 8 | 8.0% | 2 | 72.7% | 3.96 | 4.25 |
| UC San Diego → Selective | 194 | 44 | 15 | 22.7% | 7 | 34.1% | 3.91 | 4.29 |
| UC Santa Barbara → Selective | 123 | 26 | 3 | 21.1% | 4 | 11.5% | 3.90 | 4.30 |
| UC Irvine → Selective | 120 | 31 | 7 | 25.8% | 5 | 22.6% | 3.89 | 4.20 |
| UC Davis → | 102 | 45 | 13 | 44.1% | 7 | 28.9% | 3.93 | 4.20 |
What This Means
For School Admins
The full Reach Report for Helix High School
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 (27) ranked head-to-head against your closest competitor schools
- ✓Your 5-year enrollment forecast (currently 0.7%/yr) with the revenue at stake
- ✓Student-retention benchmarking vs your county median — and the LCAP evidence to back your goals