Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana
· Orange County · SBE - Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana · Public
📄 Shareable scorecard →Compare with peers
Most similar nearby schools
Middle College High → Samueli Academy → Ednovate - Legacy College Prep. → Polaris High School → Advanced Learning Academy → Compare all similar →🧭 A parent's read
- The UC pipeline here is real. 36 admissions to the top six UC campuses for a class of 36 seniors puts this school in the top handful of schools in California.
- And it's a rising stock. UC admissions per senior have climbed three years running — the trend line, not just the snapshot, is moving the right way.
- Families don't leave. 98% of students who start the year here finish it here — top-tier retention statewide. Kids stay; that tells you something no test score does.
- Who actually gets in: the top half of applicants. UC admits from this school average about a 4.1 weighted GPA — noticeably above the average applicant. Being near the top of THIS school's class is what converts to admits; UC reads applications in each school's own context.
- 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 Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana compares for families
One of California's strongest schools for college outcomes.
- ▸ StatewideUC Reach Score of 100 — 82 points above the California median of 18. Ahead of 99% of California high schools.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsBeats the peer median (UC Reach Score 100 vs a 40 median) across the 5 most similar nearby schools.
For Parents
Get alerts when Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana'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.
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.
Absenteeism is up 5.5 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.
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 (-3.1%/yr, Total enrollment)
At per-pupil funding of $ / student:
| Horizon | Projected Total enrollment | Change | Funding impact / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 yr (2027) | ~568 | -18 | $0 |
| 3 yr (2029) | ~533 | -53 | $0 |
| 5 yr (2031) | ~500 | -86 | $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 Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana really compare on getting kids to college?
We've ranked it #1 of 6 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
Middle College High · Samueli Academy · Ednovate - Legacy College Prep. · Polaris High School · Advanced Learning Academy · Estancia High School · +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 Orange County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.
Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana outperformed Orange County on enrollment (school +257.1% vs. county -7.1%) AND maintains 97.9% stability. Replicable model — worth documenting what's working.
4 of 190 students who enrolled at Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (2.1% 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.
Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana sent 106 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 34.0% were admitted, producing a UC Reach Score of 100 — 82 points above the California median of 18, higher than 99% of California high schools. The school produces 22.2 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.
+60 pts above peer median (40) · Ranked #1 of 6 similar schools
18
40
51
100
Higher than 99% of California high schools (980 ranked, ≥50 seniors)
Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana's UC Reach Score of 100 clears the statewide top-10% cutoff (51) — meaning roughly 100 top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors, well above what most California schools achieve.
In Orange County — a competitive market where the median is already 25 — this still clears the county top-10% bar (71).
Against similar schools, Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana stands out clearly — the peer-group median is 40.
This places Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana in the elite tier statewide — the top-1% threshold is 97.
Overall, Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana's UC Reach is higher than 99% 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 |
| UC San Diego | Strong shot | Moderate | 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 | 3.98 | 4.15 | +0.17 | 29.4% | Peers +0.24 · wider |
| UC San Diego | 3.97 | 4.12 | +0.15 | 63.2% | Peers +0.28 · wider |
| UC Irvine | 3.94 | 4.18 | +0.25 | 24.0% | Peers +0.26 · matches |
| UC Davis | 3.87 | 4.02 | +0.15 | 66.7% | Peers +0.27 · wider |
📊 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 Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana sits vs. all California schools ⓘ
Overall, this school admits its UC applicants 13.4 points above what their GPAs predict (34.0% actual vs. 20.6% 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 | 17 | 5 | 5 | 29.4% | 14 | 100.0% | 3.98 | 4.15 |
| UCLA → Elite | 21 | 3 | —† | 14.3% | 8 | — | 4.01 | —† |
| UC San Diego → Selective | 19 | 12 | 5 | 63.2% | 33 | 41.7% | 3.97 | 4.12 |
| UC Santa Barbara → Selective | 15 | 4 | —† | 26.7% | 11 | — | 4.00 | —† |
| UC Irvine → Selective | 25 | 6 | —† | 24.0% | 17 | — | 3.94 | 4.18 |
| UC Davis → | 9 | 6 | —† | 66.7% | 17 | — | 3.87 | 4.02 |
What This Means
For School Admins
The full Reach Report for Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana
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 (100) ranked head-to-head against your closest competitor schools
- ✓Your 5-year enrollment forecast (currently -3.1%/yr) with the revenue at stake
- ✓Student-retention benchmarking vs your county median — and the LCAP evidence to back your goals