Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep
San Francisco · San Francisco County · Catholic religious-affiliated
Compare with peers
Most similar nearby schools
Archbishop Riordan High School → Bishop Odowd High School → Marin Catholic High School → De LA Salle High School → Head-Royce School the → Compare all similar →🧭 A parent's read
- The UC pipeline here is real. 186 admissions to the top six UC campuses for a class of 326 seniors puts this school in roughly the top 7% 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.
- Elite admits are rare — here and everywhere. Berkeley and UCLA admitted 28 of this class's 896 UC applications. The strong middle campuses — San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Davis — are where most real UC outcomes happen.
- Students who test here average 1290 on the SAT. That's far above the national average of about 1030 — as published in the school's own profile.
- 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
- 📚 22 AP courses offered (school profile)
- 🏆 4 National Merit SemifinalistsRoughly the top 1% of PSAT scorers in each state — about 16,000 juniors nationally. A useful gauge of a school's academic top end. (2024)
- 📝 SAT avg 1290 (25-75: 1230–1360)
- 📝 ACT avg 28.5 (25-75: 27–31)
- 📚 AP exam pass rate 80% (avg score 3.9)
Composed from the school's own published profile (2024), and other public data. Full breakdowns 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 Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep compares for families
Top-tier college outcomes for California families.
- ▸ StatewideUC Reach Score of 57 — 39 points above the California median of 18. Ahead of 93% of California high schools.
- ▸ Locally🎓 Top 10% in California on UC Reach.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsRight at the peer median (UC Reach Score 55) across the 5 most similar nearby schools.
For Parents
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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
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 Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep's 2025 number, statewide percentile, and 5-year trend.
Enrollment trend & projection
If this trend holds (+1.4%/yr, Total enrollment)
At tuition of $ / student:
| Horizon | Projected Total enrollment | Change | Tuition impact / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 yr (2026) | ~1,458 | +20 | $0 |
| 3 yr (2028) | ~1,499 | +61 | $0 |
| 5 yr (2030) | ~1,542 | +104 | $0 |
Straight-line extrapolation of the recent annual rate — a what-if, not a forecast of intent. Edit the figure to match your school.
How does Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep really compare on getting kids to college?
We've ranked it #5 of 11 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
Archbishop Riordan High School · Bishop Odowd High School · Marin Catholic High School · De LA Salle High School · Head-Royce School the · Moreau Catholic High School · +4 more
Diocesan context — Archdiocese of San Francisco
ArchdioceseArchdiocese of San Francisco is the canonical governance body for Catholic schools in this region — board policy, tuition guidance, and shared services typically originate here. Visit the diocesan website →
Financial figures aren't shown because Catholic (arch)dioceses don't file IRS Form 990 — they're covered by the USCCB Group Ruling (GEN 0928), which exempts dioceses, parishes, and parochial schools from individual filing. School counts above are hand-compiled from each diocese's published schools-department information.
Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep sent 896 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 20.8% were admitted, producing a UC Reach Score of 57 — 39 points above the California median of 18, higher than 93% of California high schools. The school produces 8.6 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.
+2 pts above peer median (55) · Ranked #5 of 11 similar schools
18
55
51
57
Higher than 93% of California high schools (980 ranked, ≥50 seniors)
Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep's UC Reach Score of 57 clears the statewide top-10% cutoff (51) — meaning roughly 57 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 40 pp from where this school sits.
Overall, Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep's UC Reach is higher than 93% of California high schools (980 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 | 3.99 | 4.24 | +0.26 | 13.3% | Peers +0.23 · matches |
| UCLA | 3.96 | 4.20 | +0.25 | 6.7% | Peers +0.28 · matches |
| UC San Diego | 3.90 | 4.22 | +0.32 | 17.1% | Peers +0.30 · matches |
| UC Santa Barbara | 3.86 | 4.25 | +0.39 | 24.5% | Peers +0.32 · steeper |
| UC Irvine | 3.92 | 4.20 | +0.28 | 11.7% | Peers +0.25 · matches |
| UC Davis | 3.90 | 4.20 | +0.30 | 31.8% | Peers +0.25 · steeper |
📊 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 Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep sits vs. all California schools ⓘ
Overall, this school admits its UC applicants in line with what their GPAs predict (17.9% actual vs. 21.8% 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 | 144 | 14 | 6 | 9.7% | 4 | 42.9% | 3.99 | 4.24 |
| UCLA → Elite | 144 | 14 | 10 | 9.7% | 4 | 71.4% | 3.96 | 4.20 |
| UC San Diego → Selective | 169 | 40 | 14 | 23.7% | 12 | 35.0% | 3.90 | 4.22 |
| UC Santa Barbara → Selective | 170 | 46 | 6 | 27.1% | 14 | 13.0% | 3.86 | 4.25 |
| UC Irvine → Selective | 126 | 16 | —† | 12.7% | 5 | — | 3.92 | 4.20 |
| UC Davis → | 143 | 56 | 15 | 39.2% | 17 | 26.8% | 3.90 | 4.20 |