Palo Alto Senior High School
Palo Alto · Santa Clara County · Public
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Palo Alto High → Menlo Atherton High School → Sequoia High School → Woodside High School → Henry M. Gunn High → Compare all similar →🧭 A parent's read
- The UC pipeline here is real. 346 admissions to the top six UC campuses for a class of 495 seniors puts this school in roughly the top 3% of California high schools.
- 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.
- A deeply UC-focused culture. Seniors here file about 3.4 UC applications each — among the most UC-oriented schools in California. The counseling office lives and breathes this system.
- Elite admits are rare — here and everywhere. Berkeley and UCLA admitted 68 of this class's 1,702 UC applications. The strong middle campuses — San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Davis — are where most real UC outcomes happen.
- 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 Palo Alto Senior High School compares for families
One of California's strongest schools for college outcomes.
- ▸ StatewideUC Reach Score of 70 — 52 points above the California median of 18. Ahead of 97% of California high schools.
- ▸ Locally🎓 Top 5% in California on UC Reach — plus 1 more top-rank.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsBeats the peer median (UC Reach Score 70 vs a 43 median) across the 5 most similar nearby schools.
For Parents
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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
Enrollment trend & projection
If this trend holds (-0.5%/yr, Total enrollment)
At per-pupil funding of $ / student:
| Horizon | Projected Total enrollment | Change | Funding impact / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 yr (2027) | ~1,819 | -9 | $0 |
| 3 yr (2029) | ~1,802 | -26 | $0 |
| 5 yr (2031) | ~1,785 | -43 | $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 Palo Alto Senior High School really compare on getting kids to college?
We've ranked it #3 of 9 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
Palo Alto High · Menlo Atherton High School · Sequoia High School · Woodside High School · Henry M. Gunn High · Los Altos High · +4 more
Palo Alto Senior High School sent 1,702 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 20.3% were admitted, producing a UC Reach Score of 70 — 52 points above the California median of 18, higher than 97% of California high schools. The school produces 13.7 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.
+27 pts above peer median (43) · Ranked #3 of 9 similar schools
18
43
51
70
Higher than 97% of California high schools (980 ranked, ≥50 seniors)
Palo Alto Senior High School's UC Reach Score of 70 clears the statewide top-10% cutoff (51) — meaning roughly 69 top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors, well above what most California schools achieve.
Against similar schools, Palo Alto Senior High School stands out clearly — the peer-group median is 43.
For context, the elite tier (top 1%) clears 97 — a gap of 27 pp from where this school sits.
Overall, Palo Alto Senior High School's UC Reach is higher than 97% 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 | 4.04 | 4.25 | +0.20 | 14.4% | Peers +0.21 · matches |
| UCLA | 4.05 | 4.23 | +0.18 | 9.2% | Peers +0.23 · wider |
| UC San Diego | 4.03 | 4.26 | +0.23 | 15.0% | Peers +0.25 · matches |
| UC Santa Barbara | 4.04 | 4.26 | +0.22 | 32.9% | Peers +0.25 · matches |
| UC Irvine | 4.05 | 4.24 | +0.19 | 22.7% | Peers +0.20 · matches |
| UC Davis | 4.01 | 4.21 | +0.20 | 28.1% | Peers +0.21 · 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 Palo Alto Senior High School sits vs. all California schools ⓘ
Overall, this school admits its UC applicants in line with what their GPAs predict (20.3% actual vs. 23.0% 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 | 285 | 41 | 26 | 14.4% | 8 | 63.4% | 4.04 | 4.25 |
| UCLA → Elite | 295 | 27 | 10 | 9.2% | 5 | 37.0% | 4.05 | 4.23 |
| UC San Diego → Selective | 287 | 43 | —† | 15.0% | 9 | — | 4.03 | 4.26 |
| UC Santa Barbara → Selective | 295 | 97 | 13 | 32.9% | 20 | 13.4% | 4.04 | 4.26 |
| UC Irvine → Selective | 255 | 58 | 3 | 22.7% | 12 | 5.2% | 4.05 | 4.24 |
| UC Davis → | 285 | 80 | 7 | 28.1% | 16 | 8.8% | 4.01 | 4.21 |
What This Means
For School Admins
The full Reach Report for Palo Alto Senior 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 (70) ranked head-to-head against your closest competitor schools
- ✓Your 5-year enrollment forecast (currently -0.5%/yr) with the revenue at stake
- ✓Student-retention benchmarking vs your county median — and the LCAP evidence to back your goals