As of October 2026: Huntington Beach has 4 public high schools, and their UC admit rates for Fall 2025 run from 19.6% at Ocean View High School to 25.6% at Edison High. Huntington Beach High School leads the city on UC Reach Score at 27 top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors, with Marina High School at 24, Edison High at 21, and Ocean View High School at 12.
All 4 Huntington Beach high schools, their UC admit rates, their UC Reach Scores, and what a student here needs to do next.
By Nick Standlea, Test Prep Gurus. Figures may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.
Four high schools, one city, a 6-point spread in UC admit rate Huntington Beach has 4 public high schools in this data set. Their UC admit rates for Fall 2025 run from 19.6% at Ocean View High School to 25.6% at Edison High. That is a spread of 6 points across one beach town. Edison High and Marina High School sit at the top on admit rate, at 25.6% and 25.3%. Huntington Beach High School comes in at 22.4%. The gap is real, but every one of these schools sends students to the University of California each spring.
Huntington Beach High School posts the city's top UC Reach Score at 27 UC Reach Score counts top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors, with each campus counted on its own. Huntington Beach High School scores 27. Marina High School follows at 24, then Edison High at 21 and Ocean View High School at 12. The score can go above 100, because one student can be admitted at more than one campus. A higher score means more students at that school are landing offers from the most selective UC campuses.
All 4 schools publish a Class of 2025 college list Every one of the 4 schools in our table publishes a matriculation list for the Class of 2025. Ocean View High School publishes its as the AVID Class of 2025 College Decisions. These lists tell you which colleges real graduates from your street actually enrolled in last year. Senior counts, top-6 admit counts, college-going rate, and named top colleges are not reported in this data set.
All 4 Huntington Beach high schools: UC outcomes and published college lists
These are the 4 public high schools in Huntington Beach, ranked by UC Reach Score. UC Reach Score is the count of top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors, with each campus counted on its own, so the number can go above 100. Admit rate is the Fall 2025 UC admit rate reported for that school. Blank cells are values the source does not report.
| High school | City | UC Reach Score | UC admit rate | Seniors | Top-6 UC admits | College-going rate | College list type | List year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huntington Beach High School | Huntington Beach | 27 | 22.4% | -- | -- | -- | matriculation | Class of 2025 |
| Marina High School | Huntington Beach | 24 | 25.3% | -- | -- | -- | matriculation | Class of 2025 |
| Edison High | Huntington Beach | 21 | 25.6% | -- | -- | -- | matriculation | Class of 2025 |
| Ocean View High School | Huntington Beach | 12 | 19.6% | -- | -- | -- | matriculation | AVID Class of 2025 College Decisions |
UC Reach Score = top-6 UC admits (counted at each campus) per 100 seniors; it can exceed 100. Source: UC Information Center (Fall 2025 admits by school), CDE College-Going Rate, and each school's own published matriculation list, via highschoolreach.com.
Where do Huntington Beach high school graduates go to college?
Each of the 4 public high schools in Huntington Beach publishes its own Class of 2025 college list, so the honest answer comes from those lists. Huntington Beach High School, Marina High School, and Edison High each post a matriculation list for the Class of 2025. Ocean View High School posts an AVID Class of 2025 College Decisions list.
Our data set does not name the top colleges for any of the 4 schools. That field is not reported. So we will not guess at it. What we can tell you is that each school tracks where its seniors landed and makes that list public for the most recent class.
The one hard number we do hold for each school is its UC outcome. Huntington Beach High School posts a 22.4% UC admit rate. Marina High School posts 25.3%, Edison High posts 25.6%, and Ocean View High School posts 19.6%. Those rates tell you how UC applications from each school fared in Fall 2025.
That matters because a list from your own school is the best match for your child. The same classes, the same course options, the same schedule. When you read a college list from Marina High School or Edison High, you are reading what students with your child's exact transcript options were able to do.
Our advice is simple. Read your school's Class of 2025 list first. Then compare it to the UC numbers in our table. Together they tell you both where students enrolled and how they fared with the most selective public campuses in the state.
How many Huntington Beach students get into the top UC campuses?
Huntington Beach High School leads the city with a UC Reach Score of 27, which means 27 top-6 UC admits for every 100 seniors. Marina High School follows at 24. Edison High is at 21. Ocean View High School is at 12.
Read that score with care. It counts admits at each campus on its own. One strong student who gets into three top-6 campuses adds three to the count. That is why the score can go above 100.
So a score of 27 does not mean 27 out of 100 seniors got in. It means the school produced 27 top-6 offers per 100 seniors. Still, the score is a fair way to compare one school to its neighbors, because it uses the same rule at every school.
The spread from 27 down to 12 across one city is wide. It reflects how many students apply, how many take the hardest course loads, and how many have the support to finish strong applications. None of these schools is weak. They serve different groups of families.
For a parent, the takeaway is that top-6 UC offers happen at all 4 schools every year. Your child's odds rest far more on their own transcript and their own work than on the sign out front.
Which Huntington Beach high school has the highest UC admit rate?
Edison High has the highest UC admit rate in the city at 25.6%, just ahead of Marina High School at 25.3%. Huntington Beach High School is at 22.4%, and Ocean View High School is at 19.6%.
Admit rate and UC Reach Score answer two different questions. Admit rate asks: of the applications sent from this school, what share got an offer. Reach Score asks: how many top-6 offers did this school produce for each 100 seniors.
That is why the order flips. Edison High leads on admit rate at 25.6% but sits third on Reach Score at 21. Huntington Beach High School leads on Reach Score at 27 while its admit rate is 22.4%. More students applying, and applying to more campuses, can pull an admit rate down while pushing a Reach Score up.
We tell families to look at both. A high admit rate suggests students are applying to campuses that fit them. A high Reach Score suggests more students are aiming at and reaching the most selective campuses.
Neither number predicts your child. They describe a class. Your child's grades, course rigor, and essays decide the outcome.
Do the colleges Huntington Beach students attend require a test score?
It depends on the system, and our data set does not carry a test policy for any college. The 4 schools in our table report UC admit rates and UC Reach Scores, and nothing about SAT or ACT rules. So we will not print a policy we cannot source.
What we can say is that policies differ by college and by year. Some selective private and out-of-state public colleges ask for a score. Some are test-optional. Some do not read scores at all. The rule that counts is the one posted by each college on your child's list for the year your child applies.
This is why we never tell a Huntington Beach family to skip testing by default. The published college lists from these 4 schools include far more than UC. A student headed to a private college, or to a public university in another state, may face a score requirement.
There is also money on the table. Many colleges and state scholarship programs still use SAT or ACT scores for merit aid, even when they do not require a score to apply. A strong score can cut a tuition bill.
Our rule of thumb: read the posted policy at every college on your child's list, and plan to test unless no college on it reads scores. A score you do not need costs you a few Saturdays. A score you needed and skipped costs you options.
When should a Huntington Beach student start SAT or ACT prep?
We plan for a 6-12 week prep window before the test date a student picks. That window is long enough to build real skill and short enough to hold a teenager's focus.
For most students at these 4 schools, that means starting prep in junior year. Junior year leaves room for a first test and a retake before applications are due. Sophomores who are ready can start earlier and use the extra runway.
Fall sports, AP exams, and finals all compete for the same hours. We build the 6-12 week window around the school calendar so prep does not land on top of a playoff run or a week of tests. Two hours a week with steady homework beats a panic month.
Pick the test date first, then count back 6-12 weeks. That single move turns prep from a vague worry into a plan with a start date on the calendar.
If your child is already a senior with applications due, the window shrinks. We can still help, but the work gets tighter and the retake room shrinks. Earlier is better, and junior year is the sweet spot.
Should my child take the SAT or the ACT?
We decide with a free mock test of each, not with a guess. Colleges that accept a score accept either one, and no college prefers one over the other.
The two tests reward different habits. One student reads fast and handles a tight clock well. Another reads slowly but reasons deeply. A mock test under real timing shows which format fits your child in one Saturday morning.
We score both mocks, compare them on the same scale, and pick the test where your child already starts ahead. Then all the prep hours go into one test instead of being split across two.
Families sometimes pick based on what a cousin or a neighbor took. That is a coin flip. The mock test turns it into data, and the data is specific to your child.
Our mock tests are free, and you do not need to be a client to sit for one. You can set one up at prepgurus.com or call us at 949.229.5359. Our office is at 23 Corporate Plaza Drive, Suite 150, Newport Beach, a short drive down the coast.
What does the UC Reach Score actually measure?
UC Reach Score is the number of top-6 UC admits, counted at each campus, for every 100 seniors at a school. In Huntington Beach the scores are 27, 24, 21, and 12.
The key phrase is "counted at each campus." If one senior is admitted to three of the top-6 campuses, that senior adds three admits to the school's count. This is why the note on our table says the score can exceed 100.
The score is built to compare schools of different sizes. A large school and a small school can sit side by side, because the count is scaled to 100 seniors. That makes it useful in a city like this one.
What the score does not do is tell you about any one student. It does not measure teaching quality. It also says nothing about graduates who head to CSU campuses, community college, trade programs, or private colleges.
Treat it as one honest signal among several. Pair it with the admit rate and with your school's own Class of 2025 college list, and you get a fuller picture than any single number can give.
Why is Ocean View High School's UC Reach Score lower than its neighbors?
Ocean View High School posts a UC Reach Score of 12 and a UC admit rate of 19.6%, the lowest of the 4 schools on both measures. The gap is real, and it has context.
Reach Score depends heavily on how many students apply to UC and how many campuses each one applies to. A school where fewer seniors send UC applications will post a lower score even when its admitted students are strong.
Ocean View High School also labels its college list the AVID Class of 2025 College Decisions. Our data set does not describe that program or say how many students it serves, so we will not guess. What we can say is that the school publishes its results for the Class of 2025 in public.
We will not call any school here weak. Each of these 4 campuses sends students to the University of California every year. A score of 12 top-6 admits per 100 seniors still means real offers in a typical class.
For an Ocean View family, the practical message is the same as everywhere else in town. Strong grades, the hardest courses your child can handle, and a test score where it helps will move your child's odds far more than the school average does.
What numbers are missing from the Huntington Beach data?
Four fields are not reported for any of the 4 schools: senior counts, top-6 UC admit counts, college-going rate, and named top colleges. We have left those cells blank rather than fill them with estimates.
That means we cannot tell you how many seniors a given school graduates, or the raw count of top-6 offers behind each Reach Score. We also cannot print a college-going rate for any of these campuses, because the source does not report one here.
The named top colleges field is empty too. So while we know all 4 schools publish a Class of 2025 college list, our data set does not carry the specific college names from those lists.
Our data set also holds no test policy for any college, so we do not print one. We would rather show you a blank cell than a guess. A number you can act on has to come from a source.
What we do have is solid: 4 schools, 4 UC admit rates, 4 UC Reach Scores, and 4 published Class of 2025 lists. That is enough to compare your school with its neighbors and to plan the next two years.
How do Huntington Beach schools compare to the rest of Orange County?
Huntington Beach's UC admit rates run from 19.6% to 25.6% across these 4 schools, and our county table is the place to see how that sits next to every other campus nearby. Our data set here covers only the 4 schools in this city, so we will not rank the county from this page alone.
We publish the full county list at highschoolreach.com, where you can sort every Orange County high school by UC Reach Score and admit rate. Seeing your school next to every other campus in the county is more useful than seeing it next to three.
A county comparison also keeps things in proportion. The gap between 27 and 12 within Huntington Beach looks large on its own. Set against a longer list, the picture often reads as a tighter band than parents expect.
Families moving into the area often ask which school to choose. Our honest read is that course offerings, program fit, and your child's own drive matter more than the few points between these campuses.
Use the county table to set expectations, not to rank your family's choices. Then use your own school's Class of 2025 list to see what graduates like your child actually did last spring.
Does the school my child attends change their UC odds?
Less than most parents fear, and the 4 schools in our table sit within 6 points of each other on UC admit rate. The range runs from 19.6% to 25.6%. That is a narrow band for four separate campuses.
A school average describes a whole class. It mixes students with very different grades, course loads, and application lists. Your child is one line in that average, not the average itself.
The Reach Score spread, from 27 at Huntington Beach High School down to 12 at Ocean View High School, looks wider. Much of that gap comes from how many seniors apply and how many campuses each one lists. It is a measure of application volume as much as of student strength.
So we do not tell families to move across town for a few points. We tell them to look at the courses each school offers, the clubs and teams their child cares about, and the daily drive.
Then we focus on the parts a family controls. Grades, course rigor, a clean application, and a test score where the college asks for one. Those move the needle more than the name on the diploma.
What should a Huntington Beach family do in the next 30 days?
Three steps, and the first is free: sit for a mock SAT and a mock ACT so you know which test fits your child. Then pick a test date, then count back 6-12 weeks and start prep.
Step two is to pull your own school's Class of 2025 college list. Huntington Beach High School, Marina High School, and Edison High each publish one, and Ocean View High School publishes the AVID Class of 2025 College Decisions. Build a first draft college list from it.
Step three is to read the posted test policy at each college on that list. Policies differ by college and by year, and our data set does not carry them. Many colleges still use scores for merit aid, so the policy page is where to start.
If your child is a freshman or sophomore, the move is course selection. The hardest classes your child can carry with strong grades do more for a UC application than anything else on this page.
You can set up the free mock tests at prepgurus.com or by calling 949.229.5359. Our office is at 23 Corporate Plaza Drive, Suite 150, Newport Beach. We work with students from all 4 of these schools every year.
Questions parents ask
How many public high schools are in Huntington Beach?
Huntington Beach has 4 public high schools in this data set.
Which Huntington Beach high school has the highest UC admit rate?
Edison High has the highest UC admit rate in the city at 25.6%, just ahead of Marina High School at 25.3%.
Which school has the highest UC Reach Score?
Huntington Beach High School leads the city with a UC Reach Score of 27, which means 27 top-6 UC admits for every 100 seniors.
Do the colleges these graduates attend require a test score?
It depends on the system, and our data set does not carry a test policy for any college.
When should my child start SAT or ACT prep?
We plan for a 6-12 week prep window before the test date a student picks.
Should my child take the SAT or the ACT?
We decide with a free mock test of each, not with a guess.
Why does Ocean View High School have a lower score?
Reach Score depends heavily on how many students apply to UC and how many campuses each one applies to.
What data is missing for these schools?
Four fields are not reported for any of the 4 schools: senior counts, top-6 UC admit counts, college-going rate, and named top colleges.
Method and sources: The data comes from the UC Information Center's Fall 2025 admits-by-school file, the California Department of Education college-going rate file, and each school's own published matriculation list, shown on the school pages at highschoolreach.com. The population is the 4 public high schools located in Huntington Beach, California, as of October 2026. UC Reach Score is the count of top-6 UC admits, counted at each campus, per 100 seniors, so it can exceed 100. Senior counts, top-6 admit counts, college-going rate, and named top colleges are not reported for any of these 4 schools, and we have left those cells blank rather than estimate them. The data set also holds no college test policies, so none are printed here; rows are ranked by UC Reach Score, highest first.
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