As of October 2026: Graduates of the four high schools in Newport Beach, Newport Coast, and Corona del Mar land at a mix of UC campuses, USC, NYU, and Stanford. UC admit rates by school run from 16.1 percent at Pacifica Christian to 33.7 percent at Sage Hill School, and UC Reach Scores run from 14 to 151.
A school-by-school look at UC admit rates, Reach Scores, and the colleges local seniors actually attend.
By Nick Standlea, Test Prep Gurus. Figures may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.
Sage Hill School posts a UC Reach Score of 151 A UC Reach Score of 151 means the school's seniors earned more top-six UC admits than it had seniors, because each admit counts at each campus. Sage Hill School sits at 151. Corona Del Mar High School sits at 48, Newport Harbor High School at 25, and Pacifica Christian High School at 14. These four schools are the whole local set, and the spread between them is wide.
UC admit rates here range from 16.1 percent to 33.7 percent Sage Hill School shows a 33.7 percent UC admit rate. Newport Harbor High School shows 27.2 percent, Corona Del Mar High School shows 23.9 percent, and Pacifica Christian High School shows 16.1 percent. Even the top rate means most UC applications from this area do not end in an offer. That is the plain math every local family should plan around.
New York University drew 25 Sage Hill graduates over three years The 2023-2025 matriculation list from Sage Hill School shows New York University (25) at the top, then Stanford University (16). University of California, Berkeley (15), University of California, Irvine (15), and University of Southern California (15) follow. The list is national and local at the same time, and that shapes how a student should pick a test.
UC outcomes and college lists at all 4 Newport Beach area high schools
These are all four high schools in our table for Newport Beach, Newport Coast, and Corona del Mar. UC Reach Score counts top-six UC admits at each campus per 100 seniors, so it can pass 100. Senior counts, top-six admit counts, and college-going rates are not reported for these schools.
| High school | City | UC Reach Score | UC admit rate | College list type | List years | Top colleges on the list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sage Hill School | Newport Coast | 151 | 33.7% | matriculation | 2023-2025 | New York University (25); Stanford University (16); University of California, Berkeley (15); University of California, Irvine (15); University of Southern California (15); University of California, Los Angeles (14); University of California, Santa Barbara (12); Washington University in St Louis (12) |
| Corona Del Mar High School | Newport Beach | 48 | 23.9% | acceptances | Class of 2026 | -- |
| Newport Harbor High School | Newport Beach | 25 | 27.2% | acceptances | Class of 2025 | -- |
| Pacifica Christian High School | Newport Beach | 14 | 16.1% | acceptances | 2021-2026 | -- |
UC Reach Score = top-6 UC admits (counted at each campus) per 100 seniors; it can exceed 100.
Where do Newport Beach high school graduates go to college?
They go to a tight set of schools: the UC campuses, the University of Southern California, New York University, and Stanford University. The one full published list we have comes from Sage Hill School, covering 2023-2025. It names New York University (25), Stanford University (16), University of California, Berkeley (15), University of California, Irvine (15), University of Southern California (15), University of California, Los Angeles (14), University of California, Santa Barbara (12), and Washington University in St Louis (12).
That list tells you two things at once. First, UC campuses take a large share of local graduates. Four UC names sit in the top eight. Second, the pull east is real. New York University leads the whole list, and Washington University in St Louis ties for seventh.
The other three schools publish acceptances rather than matriculation. Corona Del Mar High School posts a Class of 2026 acceptance list. Newport Harbor High School posts a Class of 2025 list. Pacifica Christian High School posts a list spanning 2021-2026. Our table does not carry the named colleges from those three lists, so we do not print them here.
For a family, the practical read is simple. Plan for a UC-heavy application list, then add two or three private or out-of-state names. The schools your neighbors attend are the schools your student will likely apply to. That mix decides which test your student needs and when.
How many Newport Beach students get into the top UCs?
The UC Reach Score answers that, and it runs from 14 to 151 across the four local schools. Sage Hill School sits at 151. Corona Del Mar High School sits at 48. Newport Harbor High School sits at 25. Pacifica Christian High School sits at 14.
The score counts top-six UC admits per 100 seniors, and each admit is counted at each campus. One student can be admitted at more than one campus, and each of those offers is counted. That is why a score above 100 is possible, and why Sage Hill School clears it.
The gap between 151 and 14 is large, but it is not a ranking of student quality. Class size, how many students apply to UC at all, and school mission all move the number. Pacifica Christian High School is a small school with a different focus, and a low score there is not a weak outcome.
What a parent can take from this is scale, not judgment. At a school with a Reach Score of 151, top UC admits are common and the peer group is deep. At a school with a score of 14 or 25, a top UC admit is rarer, and a student aiming there needs a file that stands out on its own. In both cases a strong test score is one of the few parts a family fully controls.
What is a UC Reach Score, and why can it pass 100?
A UC Reach Score is top-six UC admits, counted at each campus, per 100 seniors. Because one student can be admitted at several campuses, the count can be larger than the number of seniors. A score over 100, like the 151 at Sage Hill School, means heavy multi-campus admits.
Think of it as admit volume, not admit odds. A score of 48 at Corona Del Mar High School does not mean 48 percent of seniors got into a top UC. It means the school earned 48 top-six UC admits for every 100 seniors, spread across however many students won them.
The score is useful because it is comparable across schools of very different sizes. A big public school and a small private school can sit on the same scale. That is the point of a per-100 measure.
It also has limits. It says nothing about who enrolled, what the students paid, or how they fared later. Senior counts and top-six admit counts are not reported for these four schools in our table, so we cannot show the raw numbers behind each score. Use the score as a signal of how often top UC offers land at a school, then look at the admit rate next to it.
Which Newport Beach school has the highest UC admit rate?
Sage Hill School has the highest UC admit rate in our table at 33.7 percent. Newport Harbor High School follows at 27.2 percent. Corona Del Mar High School is at 23.9 percent. Pacifica Christian High School is at 16.1 percent.
Notice that the order here is not the same as the Reach Score order. Newport Harbor High School has a Reach Score of 25, below the 48 at Corona Del Mar High School, yet its UC admit rate of 27.2 percent is higher than 23.9 percent. The two numbers measure different things.
Admit rate is the share of applications that end in an offer. Reach Score is the volume of top-six UC admits per 100 seniors. A school where fewer students apply to UC, but the ones who do apply are well matched, can post a higher rate with a lower score.
The honest headline is that none of these rates is comfortable. Even the top rate of 33.7 percent means most UC applications from that school do not end in an offer. A family planning around UC should build a list with range, and should treat the test as a place to gain ground.
Do the colleges Newport Beach graduates attend require a test score?
Our table does not carry test policy for any college, so the honest answer is that you have to check each one. The Sage Hill School list names public UC campuses and private colleges, and those two groups set their own rules. We do not print a policy here that our data does not hold.
Still, the list shows you which policies to look up. New York University (25) is the single most common college on the Sage Hill School list. Stanford University (16), University of Southern California (15), and Washington University in St Louis (12) all appear in the top eight. Four UC campuses appear as well.
So the practical step for a local family is this. Write down the eight to twelve colleges your student cares about. Read the current score policy on each college's own admissions page. Then decide how much the test matters for that exact list.
We tell families to do that early rather than late. Waiting until senior fall to learn that a top-choice college wants a score leaves no room to prepare. Building a score first, then deciding where to send it, keeps every door open. A score you do not need costs you nothing to hold.
When should a Corona del Mar or Newport Harbor student start SAT prep?
We plan on a 6-12 week prep window, so the start week depends on the test date your student picks. Choose the date first, then count back across that window. That is the whole scheduling rule we use.
Six to twelve weeks is not a guess about your student. It is the range in which steady weekly work turns into a score change. Shorter than six weeks and there is no time to fix habits. Longer than twelve and most students lose focus before test day.
Count backward from the test date your student will take. Pick the date, subtract the window, and that is the start week. At Corona Del Mar High School and Newport Harbor High School, families often aim for a stretch that is clear of AP exams and finals.
Students can start earlier if the math is already in place. For students at Pacifica Christian High School and Sage Hill School, where class sizes are small and schedules differ, the same window applies, just fit around the school's own calendar. The key move is to book the test date first. Everything else follows from it.
Should my student take the SAT or the ACT?
Take a full mock of each and let the scores decide. We offer free mock SAT and ACT tests, and that is the fastest way to settle the question without guessing. Most students are clearly better on one of the two.
The two tests are built in different ways, and the only reliable guide is how your student does on each. A full-length mock under real timing shows that faster than any list of traits. Scores, not hunches, should pick the test.
Neither test is easier in the abstract. Colleges that ask for a score accept both. That means the right test is the one your student scores better on, full stop.
Once the mocks are done, pick one test and stay with it. Splitting a 6-12 week window across two tests cuts the gain on both. Switching midstream can cost a family most of a prep cycle. Choose once, then work the plan. The mock results also give you a starting score, which makes every later gain easy to see.
What does a strong score do for a student at a school with a Reach Score of 25?
At Newport Harbor High School, where the UC Reach Score is 25, a strong test score is one of the clearest ways a student can stand apart. The school's UC admit rate of 27.2 percent shows that offers do land. A score can also help at the private colleges on local lists that ask for one.
Here is how we think about it. At a school with a Reach Score of 151, like Sage Hill School, top UC admits are common across the class. At a school with a score of 25 or 14, in our view, each applicant has fewer peers posting the same result. That reading is ours, not a finding in the data.
A test score is portable proof. It does not depend on which teacher your student had or how many AP seats the school offers. It reads the same way at New York University as it does at Washington University in St Louis.
The same thinking applies at Pacifica Christian High School, where the Reach Score is 14 and the UC admit rate is 16.1 percent. A small school with a modest UC count can still send students far, and a score is the part of the file a family can build on its own schedule. We think of it as the most controllable item on the list.
How do the four local schools compare on paper?
On the two numbers we have, Sage Hill School leads on both, with a UC Reach Score of 151 and a UC admit rate of 33.7 percent. Corona Del Mar High School has a Reach Score of 48 and a 23.9 percent admit rate. Newport Harbor High School has 25 and 27.2 percent. Pacifica Christian High School has 14 and 16.1 percent.
There are 4 schools in our table, which is the full local set for Newport Beach, Newport Coast, and Corona del Mar. All 4 rows appear above. No school here is weak. These are four strong programs with different sizes, missions, and student bodies.
The college list types differ too. Sage Hill School publishes matriculation for 2023-2025, meaning where students actually enrolled. The other three publish acceptances: Corona Del Mar High School for the Class of 2026, Newport Harbor High School for the Class of 2025, and Pacifica Christian High School for 2021-2026.
That difference matters when you read lists online. An acceptance list shows every offer, including ones no student took, and a matriculation list shows seats filled. The two are not the same, and comparing one against the other will mislead you. Compare like with like, or stick to the admit rate and Reach Score.
Why does Sage Hill School send so many graduates to New York University?
New York University (25) is the top name on the Sage Hill School 2023-2025 matriculation list, ahead of Stanford University (16). We cannot say why from the data alone, but the pattern is clear and steady across three years.
One likely reason is fit. New York University admits a large class and draws students who want a city and a broad set of majors. A college that size can take many students from one high school in a way that Stanford University, with a much smaller class, cannot.
The rest of the list reads the same way. University of California, Berkeley (15), University of California, Irvine (15), and University of Southern California (15) are all large or mid-size schools with deep California ties. University of California, Los Angeles (14) and University of California, Santa Barbara (12) follow the same shape.
For families at the other three schools, the Sage Hill School list is still useful. It is the clearest picture we have of where strong local students end up. If your student's dream list looks like that one, build toward it, and treat the private names on it as the reason to keep a test score ready.
What do the missing numbers in this table mean for my planning?
Three fields are blank for all 4 schools: senior counts, top-six UC admit counts, and college-going rates. That gap is real, and we do not fill it with guesses. It shapes how far you can push the comparison.
Without senior counts, you cannot turn a Reach Score back into raw admits. A score of 151 at Sage Hill School and a score of 48 at Corona Del Mar High School are still comparable, because both are stated per 100 seniors. But you cannot say how many students sit behind each one.
Without college-going rates, you cannot see what share of each senior class enrolls anywhere at all. That number would round out the picture, and we would print it if our table held it. For now, admit rate and Reach Score are the two solid columns.
Named colleges are also missing for three of the four schools. Only Sage Hill School has an itemized list in our table. So when we talk about where local graduates enroll, we lean on that one list and say so plainly. Treat it as a strong sample, not as the full local story.
What should a Newport Beach family do in the next 30 days?
Book a free mock SAT and a free mock ACT, then set a test date and count back 6-12 weeks. That is the whole first step, and it takes one afternoon to set in motion. Our office is at 23 Corporate Plaza Drive, Suite 150, Newport Beach.
After the mocks, you will know three things you do not know today. You will know which test fits your student. You will know the starting score. You will know how far the gap is to the range the colleges on your list expect.
Then build the list. Use the local picture as a frame: UC campuses, University of Southern California, New York University, Stanford University, and Washington University in St Louis all show up in the data we have. Check each college's current score policy before you decide what to send.
You can reach us at 949.229.5359 to set up the mock tests. We work with students from Sage Hill School, Corona Del Mar High School, Newport Harbor High School, and Pacifica Christian High School, and we are partners with all of them. The plan is the same at each one: test early, pick one test, work a 6-12 week window, and apply with range.
Questions parents ask
Which Newport Beach high school has the highest UC admit rate?
Sage Hill School has the highest UC admit rate in our table at 33.7 percent.
What does a UC Reach Score of 151 mean?
A UC Reach Score of 151 means the school's seniors earned more top-six UC admits than it had seniors, because each admit counts at each campus.
Where do most Sage Hill School graduates enroll?
New York University (25) is the top name on the Sage Hill School 2023-2025 matriculation list, ahead of Stanford University (16).
Do the colleges on these lists require a test score?
Our table does not carry test policy for any college, so the honest answer is that you have to check each one.
When should my student start SAT prep?
We plan on a 6-12 week prep window, so the start week depends on the test date your student picks.
Should my student take the SAT or the ACT?
Take a full mock of each and let the scores decide.
Is an acceptance list the same as a matriculation list?
An acceptance list shows every offer, including ones no student took, and a matriculation list shows seats filled.
How many high schools are in this local comparison?
There are 4 schools in our table, which is the full local set for Newport Beach, Newport Coast, and Corona del Mar.
Method and sources: The table draws on the UC Information Center release of Fall 2025 admits by high school, the California Department of Education college-going rate file, and each school's own published college list, as collected on highschoolreach.com. The population is the four high schools in Newport Beach, Newport Coast, and Corona del Mar. Senior counts, top-six UC admit counts, and college-going rates are not reported for any of these four schools, so those columns are left out of the table above. Named colleges are shown only for Sage Hill School, because the other three schools publish acceptance lists that our table does not itemize, and our data holds no test-score policy for any college. Rows are sorted by UC Reach Score, which counts top-six UC admits at each campus per 100 seniors and can pass 100.
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