Castilleja School

Palo Alto · Santa Clara County · Private
Private Santa Clara County ~51 seniors
📄 Shareable scorecard →

Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Pinewood School → Eastside College Prep School → Crystal Springs Uplands Sch → Basis Independent Fremont Upper Sch → Woodside Priory School → Compare all similar →

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment (9–12)
430 (2020)416 (2025)
-3.3%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
60 (2020)51 (2025)
-15.0%

If this trend holds (-0.7%/yr, Total enrollment)

At tuition of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Tuition impact / yr
1 yr (2026) ~413 -3 $0
3 yr (2028) ~408 -8 $0
5 yr (2030) ~402 -14 $0

Straight-line extrapolation of the recent annual rate — a what-if, not a forecast of intent. Edit the figure to match your school.

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.

Total revenue
$33.9M
FY2023
Net assets (endowment + property)
$146.9M
+88.7% since FY2011
Tuition revenue (program)
$24.8M
≈ $59604/student avg
Gifts & grants
$9.8M
fundraising
Total revenue by year ($M)
Net assets by year ($M)

Source: IRS Form 990 via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (EIN 940373222). 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.

University of California outcomes · Class of 2025
★ Elite — Top 1% 🏆 #4 in California
UC Reach
114%
58 admits / 51 seniors
+53.3 pp above peer median (60.4%) · Ranked #2 of 10 similar schools
5-year trend
2021 · 62.5% 2025 · 113.7%
Where this sits on the California curve
CA median
18.5%
Peer median
60.4%
Top 10%
53.3%
This school
113.7%
0%50%100% →
CA median 18.5% Top 10% ≥ 53.3% This school 113.7%

Higher than 99% of California high schools (1105 ranked, ≥50 seniors)

📊 What this number means

113.7% is exceptional and very rare. For every 100 seniors at Castilleja School, the school is generating roughly 114 admissions to California's six most selective UCs (UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD). The typical strong senior here is winning admission at multiple top campuses — a result fewer than 1% of California high schools achieve.

In Santa Clara County — a competitive market where the median is already 33.1% — this still clears the county top-10% bar (79.3%).

Against similar schools, Castilleja School stands out clearly — the peer-group median is 60.4%.

This places Castilleja School in the elite tier statewide — the top-1% threshold is 102.7%.

Overall, Castilleja School's UC Reach is higher than 99% of California high schools (1105 ranked).

Why is this over 100%? Out of every 100 seniors at this school, the class is generating more than 100 admissions to California's six most selective UCs. The typical strong senior here is being admitted at multiple top-6 campuses — UCLA + UCSD, or Berkeley + UCSB + UC Irvine, for example. It's a rare achievement; fewer than 1% of California high schools clear 100% UC Reach.
UC Application Reach
421.6%
215 applications
Exceptionally ambitious student body. The typical senior is applying to about 4 of the 6 most selective UCs — a culture of pursuing every major UC option.
In context: CA median 78.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 245.8% · Santa Clara Co. Top 10% ≥ 359.1% · higher than 99% of CA HS.
UC Admit Rate
27.0%
58 / 215 applications
In context: CA median 26.0% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 40.5% · higher than 55% of CA HS.
UC Yield Rate
N/A
None enrolled of 58 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
N/A
None enrollees / 51 seniors
Enrollment Reach vs. Yield: Reach answers "of the whole senior class, what % 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.
Selective UC Reach (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD)
90.2
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 15.7 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 42.4 · higher than 99% of CA HS.
Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA)
27.5
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 3.5 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 11.1 · higher than 99% of CA HS.
Senior Class Size
51
Private School Affidavit
Total School Enrollment
416
All grades · Private School Affidavit

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.

Castilleja School — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Private · secular · Palo Alto · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • On UC Reach, Castilleja School sits near the top of its similar-school group (ranked #2 of 10): 114% vs. a peer median of 60%.
  • Its UC Reach has risen 27 points since 2020.
  • Across the top-6 UC campuses, Castilleja School is admitting at roughly -6 percentage points below what its average applicant GPA (4.213) alone would predict (18% actual vs. 24% 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 down 15% (60→51 from 2020 to 2025), trailing the peer-group median of +8%.
  • At its recent rate (-0.7%/yr), enrollment projects to ~408 by 2028 — about 8 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

416 students (2025)
~408 projected (2028)
at -0.7%/yr

That's about 8 fewer students. At a tuition of $ per student, that's roughly $0 in annual tuition revenue at risk.

Default derived from this school's own IRS Form 990 (FY2023): program-service revenue ÷ enrollment, rounded to the nearest $1k — an authoritative average that includes auxiliary revenue (athletics, food service). Your published tuition may differ; adjust if needed. Projection extrapolates the recent annual rate — not a forecast of intent.

Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools

School Type Size UC Reach Enroll. trend
Castilleja School Private · secular 416 113.7% -15%
Peer-group median 60.4% +8%
Pinewood School Private · secular 612 60.4% +0%
Eastside College Prep School Private · secular 251 26.3% -5%
Crystal Springs Uplands Sch Private · secular 347 49.5% +11%
Basis Independent Fremont Upper Sch Private · secular 350 212.5% +23%
Woodside Priory School Private · Other religious 436 70.3% +14%
Menlo School Private · secular 805 62.4% +6%
Fremont Christian High School Private · Other religious 406 34.5% -42%
Notre Dame High School Private · Catholic 356 69.0% -34%
Granada Islamic School Private · Other religious 456 +450%
Bridges Academy Private · secular 310 13.0% +12%

UC Reach = 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 →

Avg. Applicant GPA · top-6 UCs
4.21
Avg. Admitted GPA · top-6 UCs
4.27

GPA figures reflect 2024 — UC has not yet released applicant/admit GPA for 2025.

Admit rate vs. CA peer average, by campus

How does this school's admit rate at each UC compare to other CA schools whose applicant pool averages the same GPA? Based on 2024 (latest GPA available).

Campus Applicant GPA (avg) Actual admit rate CA peer avg Δ Verdict
UC Berkeley 4.25 18.9% 20.9% -1.9pp On target
UCLA 4.22 11.9% 10.1% +1.8pp On target
UC San Diego 4.23 10.8% 13.3% -2.5pp On target
UC Santa Barbara 4.22 20.6% 45.2% -24.6pp Under
UC Irvine 4.18 23.1% 26.6% -3.5pp On target
UC Davis 4.16 24.1% 34.4% -10.3pp Under
"Applicant GPA" is the average GPA of this school's UC applicant pool — not an individual student GPA. "CA peer avg" is the application-weighted statewide admit rate at this school-pool GPA, fit separately per campus. At any given pool GPA, real admit rates span widely (UCSD ranges 8% → 65% across CA schools) because UCs use comprehensive review — context-of-opportunity, geography, demographics, and applicant essays all weigh in beyond GPA. A large negative residual flags this school is admitted at a meaningfully lower rate than other CA schools at the same pool GPA — not that students here were "rejected at expected rate X." "Over" / "Under" use a ±5-point band. Campuses with fewer than 5 applicants are omitted.

Where Castilleja School sits vs. all California schools

Overall, this school admits its UC applicants 6.4 points below what their GPAs predict (17.6% actual vs. 24.0% expected), based on 2024 data.

UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2025

UC Admit Rate %
UC Reach % (where available)
UC Admits (count, right axis)

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 Yield Avg GPA (App) '24 Avg GPA (Adm) '24
UC Berkeley → Elite 39 9 23.1% 17.6% 4.25 4.28
UCLA → Elite 41 5 12.2% 9.8% 4.22 4.29
UC San Diego → Selective 38 7 18.4% 13.7% 4.23
UC Santa Barbara → Selective 36 14 38.9% 27.5% 4.22 4.31
UC Irvine → Selective 28 11 39.3% 21.6% 4.18 4.23
UC Davis → 33 12 36.4% 23.5% 4.16 4.23
⚠ 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 requires unique-student counts. 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 114% of seniors are earning UC admission. This places the school among California's highest-performing high schools on this metric.
Berkeley and UCLA admit volume is strong — a clear high-end signal for this school's academic preparation.
UC Reach has improved meaningfully compared to the prior year — a positive trajectory worth monitoring and reinforcing.
Note: admit counts used here are campus-level totals. A student admitted to both UCLA and UCSD is counted twice. When UCOP unique-student data becomes available it will be loaded automatically and the labels will update.
Compare with other schools → See Santa Clara County rankings →

Is your school winning the families it should?

An Enrollment Trend Audit benchmarks your enrollment against nearby schools, shows who's gaining and losing families, and lays out a plan to make families choose you — built around the outcomes your families value. Built for principals, heads of school, and district leaders.

Request an Enrollment Trend Audit →