Mountain View High School

Mountain View · Santa Clara County · Mountain View-Los Altos Union High · Public

Public Santa Clara County Mountain View-Los Altos Union High → ~609 seniors CDS 4369609…
Shareable scorecard →

51 UC Reach Score · Strong Top 10% ELA & Math · SBAC (CA) AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally 26 AP courses Top 9 Attendance (lowest chronic absenteeism) in Santa Clara Top 10% Attendance (lowest chronic absenteeism) in CA

A parent's read

  • The UC pipeline here is real. 310 admissions to the top six UC campuses for a class of 609 seniors puts this school in roughly the top 11% of California high schools.
  • The UC surprise: most admits from the middle campuses — most enrollments at Berkeley. The middle campuses said yes far more often — 257 of this class's 310 UC admits came from San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine, and Davis. But the campus grads chose most is Berkeley: 20 of its 30 admits took the seat. Those offers are rare — and when kids from here win one, they keep it.
  • 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.
  • 8 in 10 graduates leave eligible for UC and CSU. 83% finish the A-G courses California's universities require before a student can even apply — most California schools manage about 6 in 10.
  • 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

Programs & features
  • 26 AP courses offered — Elite
  • Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 2 calculus classes · 17 physics · 19 chemistry
Academic signals
  • AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally
  • SAT/ACT participation: 88th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 4-yr grad rate: 90% in 2019 (Bottom 49% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

Where grads go — and what it costs & pays

UC Reach Score
51
Strong top 10% in California
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
30 admitted
20 enrolled
Net $13,481/yr avg
Grads earn $92,446 @10yr
UCLA
23 admitted
8 enrolled
Net $12,548/yr avg
Grads earn $82,511 @10yr
UCSD
57 admitted
17 enrolled
Net $12,470/yr avg
Grads earn $84,943 @10yr
UCSB
80 admitted
10 enrolled
Net $16,109/yr avg
Grads earn $74,915 @10yr
UCI
52 admitted
6 enrolled
Net $14,251/yr avg
Grads earn $80,735 @10yr
UCD
68 admitted
9 enrolled
Net $14,741/yr avg
Grads earn $80,838 @10yr

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.

You've seen Mountain View High School. What are your child's real college odds? Check any college in 10 seconds — no email needed — then get the free Family Decision Report: Reach / Match / Likely + the real cost range for every college on their list. Check odds →

How Mountain View High School compares for families

Top-tier college outcomes for California families.

  • StatewideUC Reach Score of 5132 points above the California median of 19. Ahead of 89% of California high schools.
  • Locally🧮 Top 5% in California on Math proficiency — plus 3 more top-ranks.
  • vs Similar SchoolsTrails the peer median (UC Reach Score 51 vs a 70 median) across the 5 most similar nearby schools.

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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

86th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
26
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
1,171
≈54 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
33
2 calculus · 31 advanced
Lab science classes
36
17 physics · 19 chemistry
Other rigor signals
Dual-enrollment 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

88th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
377
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
17.2
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

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?

Bottom 49% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
90%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
498
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

Lower-need school

Not Title I eligible (FRPL < 25%)

12.7%
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)

<25% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Well below the Title I threshold; expect a higher-income student body on average.

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.

About 8 in 10 students read and write at grade level — the top 10% of California high schools.
About 2 in 3 students do math at grade level — the top 10% of California high schools.
ELA — met or exceeded
n = 463
80.1%
incl. 57.5% exceeded
★ Top 10% CA
+21.8 pts above Santa Clara County median (58.3%) · CA median 54.5% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.4%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 468
68.6%
incl. 51.9% exceeded
★ Top 10% CA
+33.9 pts above Santa Clara County median (34.7%) · CA median 21.4% · 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

White 33% -2.0
Asian 30% +3.0
Hispanic / Latino 21% -1.2
Two or more 12%
Filipino 2%
Black / African Am. 1%

Program subgroups

Socioeconomically disadv. 14% +1.1
Students w/ disabilities 11%
English learners 4% -2.8
Homeless 1% -1.0

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.

Kids show up: 9% are chronically absent versus about 23% statewide — engagement most schools would envy.
Chronic absent
8.9%
198 of 2,221 students

Low and stable absenteeism — students are engaged and showing up. The leading indicator is healthy.

Santa Clara County median
19.0% · school is better than 88% of 60 HS
Statewide median
22.8%
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)
2,316 (2022)2,173 (2026)
-6.2%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
606 (2022)529 (2026)
-12.7%

If this trend holds (-1.4%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~2,142 -31 $0
3 yr (2029) ~2,082 -91 $0
5 yr (2031) ~2,024 -149 $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 Mountain View High School really compare on getting kids to college?

We've ranked it #8 of 10 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.

The full head-to-head table — every peer school's UC Reach, side by side.
Enrollment trend + 3-year projection — is this school growing or quietly shrinking?
The plain-English read on what it all means for your family.

Your similar-school group includes

Homestead High School · Los Altos High · Fremont High · Cupertino High School · Menlo Atherton High School · Monta Vista High School · +4 more

Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement. We'll email you the snapshot and a few alerts a year. Unsubscribe anytime.

Enrollment stability & demand — 2024-25

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

Families don't leave: 95% of students who start the year finish it here — top-tier retention statewide.
Healthy
Outperforming the market — gaining relative share even as Santa Clara County contracts.

Mountain View High School is shrinking (-12.7%) but Santa Clara County is shrinking faster (-16.8%), so Mountain View High School is winning roughly 4.1 pp of relative market share. Combined with 94.8% stability (county median 90.4%), this reflects a school that families actively chose during a market contraction. Replicable model — worth documenting what's working.

-12.7%  senior class, grade 12 (2022–2026)
-16.8%  Santa Clara County baseline
+4.1pp  gap vs. county
94.8%  retention (county median 90.4%)
Senior class (grade 12) — indexed to 100 at 2022
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
94.8%
2,135 of 2,252 students

117 of 2,252 students who enrolled at Mountain View High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (5.2% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Santa Clara County median
90.4% · school is in the 73rd percentile of 62 HS
Statewide median
87.3% · in the 88th percentile of 1,734 HS

Stability by student group

White (751) 96.8%
Asian (624) 97.9%
Hispanic / Latino (507) 88.2%
Socio. disadvantaged (377) 84.1%
Two or more races (273) 96.0%
Students w/ disabilities (250) 90.8%

Nearest peer high schools

Homestead High School 95.7% Los Altos High 95.1% Fremont High 92.6% Cupertino High School 96.3% Menlo Atherton High School 93.0%

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 — Mountain View-Los Altos 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
$160.8M
+52.1% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$35,233
4,563 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 11.3%
Local: 86.6%
Federal: 2.1%
Instruction share
62.0%
of current spending · $16,076/pupil
Long-term debt
$208.7M
+285.8% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Mountain View-Los Altos 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

Mountain View High School sent 1,571 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 19.7% were admitted, producing a UC Reach Score of 51 (top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors, counting a student at each campus that admitted them) — 32 points above the California median of 19, higher than 89% of California high schools. The school produces 8.7 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.

UC Reach Score 51 310 admits (counted at each UC) / 609 seniors -19 pts vs. peer median (70) · #8 of 10 similar schools methodology
Where this sits on the California curve
CA median
19
Peer median
70
Top 10%
53
This school
51
050100
CA median 19 Top 10% ≥ 53 This school 51

Higher than 89% of California high schools (1107 ranked, ≥50 seniors)

What this number means

Mountain View High School's UC Reach Score of 51 is in the top quartile statewide (median 19; top 25% bar 33) — but it's still below the top-10% bar of 53.

Against similar schools, Mountain View High School trails the peer-group median (70) — even though it looks strong vs. the state average.

For context, the elite tier (top 1%) clears 95 — a gap of 44 pp from where this school sits.

Overall, Mountain View High School's UC Reach is higher than 89% of California high schools (1107 ranked).

UC Application Reach Score
258
1571 applications
Strong UC pursuit. The typical senior is applying to about 3 top-6 UC campuses — a signal of a college-driven student body.
In context: CA median 81 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 240 · Santa Clara Co. Top 10% ≥ 374 · higher than 92% of CA HS.
UC Admit Rate
19.7%
310 / 1571 applications
In context: CA median 26.0% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 40.4% · higher than 16% of CA HS.
UC Yield Rate
22.6%
70 enrolled of 310 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
11
70 enrollees / 609 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
About 272 students per counselor — typical for California, though well above the 250 experts recommend.
272:1
8.0 FTE counselors · 2,173 students
In context: CA median 337:1 · 65 fewer students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.
A-G Completion
Most graduates leave here ready to apply to UC and CSU — 8 in 10 finish the required courses, versus about 6 in 10 statewide.
83%
461 of 554 graduates · 2024-25 cohort
In context: CA median 55.9% · +27.3 pp above · Santa Clara Co. 67.2%.
Selective UC Reach (UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCI — incl. the Elite two)
39.7
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 15.9 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 42.2 · higher than 89% of CA HS.
Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA)
8.7
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 3.4 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 10.2 · higher than 85% of CA HS.
Senior Class Size
609
CDE grade 12 (exact)
Total School Enrollment
2,187
All grades · CDE Census Day

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 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) Avg GPA (Adm)
UC Berkeley → Elite 251 30 20 12.0% 5 66.7%
UCLA → Elite 261 23 8 8.8% 4 34.8%
UC San Diego → Selective 281 57 17 20.3% 9 29.8%
UC Santa Barbara → Selective 270 80 10 29.6% 13 12.5%
UC Irvine → Selective 243 52 6 21.4% 9 11.5%
UC Davis → 265 68 9 25.7% 11 13.2%
= 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 is measured against the whole senior class. 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.
UC Reach is very strong — more than 51% of seniors are earning UC admission. This places the school among California's highest-performing high schools on this metric.
Strong UC Reach paired with low yield: students are earning UC admission at high rates and then enrolling elsewhere. The pattern is characteristic of competitive college-preparatory schools where many students choose more selective private colleges or out-of-state flagships over UC — UC functions as a strong backup option rather than a first choice.
The school generates broad UC access, but fewer students are reaching the most selective UC campuses (UCLA, Berkeley, UCSD, UCSB, UCI). Targeted academic enrichment and campus-fit advising may help.
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 Santa Clara County rankings →

For School Admins

The full Reach Report for Mountain View 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 (51) ranked head-to-head against your closest competitor schools
  • Your 5-year enrollment forecast (currently -1.4%/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 →

Related reading

How to spot an elite high school in the data

Behind the data · August 24, 2026

The Bay Area's next ten — and why rank is the wrong way to read them

Bay Area · League table · August 19, 2026

All stories from the data →

For Parents

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