Samueli Academy
Santa Ana · Orange County · Orange County Department of Education · Public
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Most similar nearby schools
Polaris High School → Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana → Legacy Magnet Academy → Estancia High School → Ocean View High School → Compare all similar →📋 At a glance
- Program details not reported to CRDC
- Academic signals not yet ingested for this school
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, 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 Samueli Academy compares for families
Above-average college outcomes statewide.
- ▸ Statewide40.4% UC Reach — 22.3 points above the California median of 18.1%. Ahead of 84% of California high schools.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsBeats the peer median (40.4% UC Reach vs 17.1% median) across the 5 most similar nearby schools.
For Parents
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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 11.2 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 (+7.5%/yr, Total enrollment)
At per-pupil funding of $ / student:
| Horizon | Projected Total enrollment | Change | Funding impact / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 yr (2027) | ~907 | +63 | $0 |
| 3 yr (2029) | ~1,048 | +204 | $0 |
| 5 yr (2031) | ~1,211 | +367 | $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.
Samueli Academy — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot
Public · Santa Ana · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools
- ▸On UC Reach Score, Samueli Academy sits in the middle of its similar-school group (ranked #4 of 10): 40 vs. a peer median of 17.
- ▸Its UC Reach Score has risen 25 points since 2018.
- ▸Across the top-6 UC campuses, Samueli Academy is admitting at roughly +14 percentage points above what its average applicant GPA (3.937) alone would predict (34% actual vs. 20% expected). That's a meaningful signal — it can reflect UC's track record with this school's graduates, students presenting strongly in UC's holistic review (essays, EC's, context), or institutional familiarity helping at the margin. The data can't distinguish which, but the pattern itself is real and worth understanding.
- ▸Senior-class enrollment is up 8% (125→135 from 2018 to 2026), tracking the peer-group median of +8%.
- ▸Enrollment has been growing (+6.1%/yr); projects to ~1007 by 2029.
Enrollment projection
Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools
| School | Type | Size | UC Reach Score | Enroll. trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samueli Academy | Public | 844 | 40 | +8% |
| Peer-group median | 17 | +8% | ||
| Polaris High School | Public | 727 | — | +687% |
| Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana | Public | 586 | 100 | +257% |
| Legacy Magnet Academy | Public | 988 | 87 | +35% |
| Estancia High School | Public | 954 | 13 | -15% |
| Ocean View High School | Public | 1042 | 12 | -26% |
| Los Amigos High School | Public | 1327 | 17 | -21% |
| Middle College High | Public | 476 | 80 | +20% |
| Century High School | Public | 1356 | 8 | +18% |
| Santiago High | Public | 1557 | 21 | -16% |
| Saddleback High School | Public | 1407 | 15 | -3% |
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. Methodology →
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.
Samueli Academy outperformed Orange County on enrollment (school +8.0% vs. county -7.1%) AND maintains 94.9% stability. Replicable model — worth documenting what's working.
30 of 594 students who enrolled at Samueli Academy this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (5.1% 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.
District financial profile — Orange County Department of Education (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.
Local: 57.3%
Federal: 20.3%
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 Orange County Department of Education 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).
Samueli Academy sent 162 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 34.0% were admitted, producing a UC Reach Score of 40 — 22 points above the California median of 18, higher than 84% of California high schools. The school produces 5.1 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.
+23 pts above peer median (17) · Ranked #4 of 10 similar schools
18
51
40
Higher than 84% of California high schools (978 ranked, ≥50 seniors)
Samueli Academy's UC Reach Score of 40 is in the top quartile statewide (median 18; top 25% bar 30) — but it's still below the top-10% bar of 51.
For context, the elite tier (top 1%) clears 97 — a gap of 57 pp from where this school sits.
Overall, Samueli Academy's UC Reach is higher than 84% of California high schools (978 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 ⓘ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCLA (2024) | 3.90 | 4.22 | +0.33 | 14.3% | Peers +0.32 · matches |
| UC San Diego | 3.92 | 4.20 | +0.28 | 45.7% | Peers +0.31 · matches |
| UC Santa Barbara | 3.85 | 4.24 | +0.38 | 28.6% | Peers +0.34 · steeper |
| UC Irvine | 3.92 | 4.14 | +0.23 | 38.5% | Peers +0.27 · wider |
| UC Davis | 3.97 | 4.12 | +0.14 | 68.8% | Peers +0.22 · 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 Samueli Academy sits vs. all California schools ⓘ
Overall, this school admits its UC applicants 13.6 points above what their GPAs predict (34.0% actual vs. 20.3% 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 | 18 | 3 | —† | 16.7% | 2 | — | 3.95 | —† |
| UCLA → Elite | 33 | 4 | —† | 12.1% | 3 | — | 4.01 | —† |
| UC San Diego → Selective | 35 | 16 | —† | 45.7% | 12 | — | 3.92 | 4.20 |
| UC Santa Barbara → Selective | 21 | 6 | —† | 28.6% | 4 | — | 3.85 | 4.24 |
| UC Irvine → Selective | 39 | 15 | 8 | 38.5% | 11 | 53.3% | 3.92 | 4.14 |
| UC Davis → | 16 | 11 | —† | 68.8% | 8 | — | 3.97 | 4.12 |
What This Means
For School Admins
The full Reach Report for Samueli Academy
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 (40) ranked head-to-head against your closest competitor schools
- ✓Your 5-year enrollment forecast (currently 7.5%/yr) with the revenue at stake
- ✓Student-retention benchmarking vs your county median — and the LCAP evidence to back your goals