Menlo School
Atherton · San Mateo County · Private independent
Compare with peers
Most similar nearby schools
The Nueva School → Pinewood School → Castilleja School → Basis Independent Silicon Vall → Moreau Catholic High School → Compare all similar →📋 At a glance
- 📚 26 AP courses offered (school profile)
- 🏆 12 National Merit Semifinalists last year
- 📝 SAT avg 1440 (25-75: 1390–1500)
- 📝 ACT avg 32.5 (25-75: 31–34)
- 📚 AP exam pass rate 90.0% (avg score 4.3)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, the school's own published profile, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
🎓 Where grads go
UC admits by campus · Class of 2025
Source: University of California Office of the President, Admissions by Source School. Full campus-by-campus breakdown below.
How Menlo School compares for families
One of California's strongest schools for college outcomes.
- ▸ NationallySAT mean 1440 (≈ top 4% of US test-takers) · ACT mean 32.5 (≈ top 4%) · 90% AP pass rate (US average: ~60%) · 12 National Merit Semifinalists last year (NMSF is the top 1% of US PSAT scorers).
- ▸ Statewide62.4% UC Reach — 44.3 points above the California median of 18.1%. Ahead of 95% of California high schools.
- ▸ Locally🎓 Top 6 in San Mateo County on UC Reach — plus 1 more top-rank.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsRight at the peer median (64.8% UC Reach) across the 5 most similar nearby schools.
For Parents
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Get an email when Menlo School's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.
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 Menlo 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) | ~806 | +1 | $0 |
| 3 yr (2028) | ~807 | +2 | $0 |
| 5 yr (2030) | ~809 | +4 | $0 |
Straight-line extrapolation of the recent annual rate — a what-if, not a forecast of intent. Edit the figure to match your school.
Menlo School — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot
Private · secular · Atherton · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools
- ▸On UC Reach Score, Menlo School sits in the middle of its similar-school group (ranked #7 of 11): 62 vs. a peer median of 65.
- ▸Menlo School's UC Reach Score has stepped down from a peak of 70 in 2020 to 62 in 2025 — a 7-point decline worth tracking.
- ▸Across the top-6 UC campuses, Menlo School is admitting at roughly -6 percentage points below what its average applicant GPA (4.025) alone would predict (15% actual vs. 21% expected). That's worth understanding — it can reflect grade inflation that UC sees through, weaker holistic-review materials at the margin, or applicants concentrating at more selective campuses than typical. Not a verdict; a signal.
- ▸Senior-class enrollment is up 6% (141→149 from 2020 to 2025), trailing the peer-group median of +13%.
- ▸Enrollment has been growing (+0.2%/yr); projects to ~810 by 2028.
Enrollment projection
Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools
| School | Type | Size | UC Reach Score | Enroll. trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Menlo School | Private · secular | 805 | 62 | +6% |
| Peer-group median | 65 | +13% | ||
| The Nueva School | Private · secular | 952 | 65 | +19% |
| Pinewood School | Private · secular | 612 | 60 | +0% |
| Castilleja School | Private · secular | 416 | 114 | -15% |
| Basis Independent Silicon Vall | Private | 819 | 194 | +14% |
| Moreau Catholic High School | Private · Catholic | 806 | 44 | -18% |
| Head-Royce School the | Private · secular | 902 | 60 | +12% |
| Quarry Lane School | Private · secular | 1035 | 113 | +34% |
| Lick Wilmerding High School | Private · secular | 559 | 55 | +14% |
| The Kings Academy | Private · Other religious | 1205 | 65 | -10% |
| Woodside Priory School | Private · Other religious | 436 | 70 | +14% |
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, and religious orientation. Methodology →
Financial profile — IRS Form 990, FY2023
From 13 years of Form 990 filings via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (free public IRS data). The school's tax filings show financial scale, fundraising health, and endowment trajectory — signals that drive board-level conversations about tuition pricing, financial-aid capacity, and capital projects.
Source: IRS Form 990 via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (EIN 943204137). View latest 990 PDF → Tuition-per-student is total program-service revenue divided by latest enrollment — a rough average that includes auxiliary revenue (athletics, food service, etc.); the actual published tuition can differ. Form 990 is filed annually under penalty of perjury, so the financial scale figures are authoritative.
Menlo School sent 519 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 17.9% were admitted, producing a UC Reach Score of 62 — 44 points above the California median of 18, higher than 95% of California high schools. The school produces 19.5 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.
-2 pts vs. peer median (65) · Ranked #7 of 11 similar schools
Menlo School earns admission to the six most selective UC campuses at a high rate (62 UC Reach Score), yet only about 34% of its Berkeley and UCLA admits go on to enroll there — well below the roughly 60% statewide. High admit rates paired with low enrollment at the very top UCs is the data signature of a class with options even more selective than the UCs — the kind of student who turns down Berkeley or UCLA only for a college even harder to get into.
An honest read of what the data holds: admissions and enrollment counts, not destinations. We don't track where any student enrolled, so this is a signature consistent with more-selective choices — not a claim about specific colleges. We measure Berkeley and UCLA together and against the statewide rate, so it isn't just a student picking a different UC (which would lower one campus's yield without leaving the system). Class of 2025, University of California Office of the President.
18
65
51
62
Higher than 95% of California high schools (978 ranked, ≥50 seniors)
Menlo School's UC Reach Score of 62 clears the statewide top-10% cutoff (51) — meaning roughly 62 top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors, well above what most California schools achieve.
For context, the elite tier (top 1%) clears 97 — a gap of 35 pp from where this school sits.
Overall, Menlo School's UC Reach is higher than 95% of California high schools (978 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 | 4.20 | +0.15 | 20.0% | Peers +0.20 · wider |
| UCLA | 4.03 | 4.25 | +0.22 | 10.0% | Peers +0.24 · matches |
| UC San Diego | 4.02 | 4.25 | +0.23 | 8.1% | Peers +0.24 · matches |
| UC Santa Barbara | 4.01 | 4.26 | +0.25 | 21.4% | Peers +0.25 · matches |
| UC Irvine | 4.02 | 4.18 | +0.16 | 17.8% | Peers +0.20 · wider |
| UC Davis | 4.01 | 4.23 | +0.21 | 16.9% | 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 Menlo School sits vs. all California schools ⓘ
Overall, this school admits its UC applicants 5.9 points below what their GPAs predict (15.4% actual vs. 21.3% expected), based on 2024 data.
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) '24 | Avg GPA (Adm) '24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley → Elite | 94 | 18 | 5 | 19.1% | 12 | 27.8% | 4.05 | 4.20 |
| UCLA → Elite | 100 | 11 | 5 | 11.0% | 7 | 45.5% | 4.03 | 4.25 |
| UC San Diego → Selective | 92 | 9 | —† | 9.8% | 6 | — | 4.02 | 4.25 |
| UC Santa Barbara → Selective | 94 | 25 | —† | 26.6% | 17 | — | 4.01 | 4.26 |
| UC Irvine → Selective | 68 | 11 | —† | 16.2% | 7 | — | 4.02 | 4.18 |
| UC Davis → | 71 | 19 | —† | 26.8% | 13 | — | 4.01 | 4.23 |