College acceptances
Where High Bluff Academy graduates go next.
HBA graduates earn admission to the country’s most selective universities.
Our college counseling team works with each student from freshman year forward, building a personalized list and a story that reflects who they are. The pages below capture where HBA graduates have been admitted over the past six years — across elite research universities, top liberal arts colleges, and international destinations.
Six years of outcomes.
- Class average SAT
- 1359
- Universities admitted to
- 74
- Countries represented
- 3
Class profile data covers HBA graduates from 2020 – 2025.
A selection of where our graduates have been admitted.
Stanford University
Stanford, California
Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire
UCLA
Los Angeles, California
UC Berkeley
Berkeley, California
6 recent grads
USC
Los Angeles, California
4 recent grads
Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois
New York University
New York, New York
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Pomona College
Claremont, California
7% admit rate
Amherst College
Amherst, Massachusetts
9% admit rate
Middlebury College
Middlebury, Vermont
12% admit rate
Every university where HBA graduates have been admitted.
Tier rankings reflect U.S. News & Forbes 2025.
Elite universities
U.S. News & Forbes top 30 — institutions with admit rates under 15%.
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Dartmouth College
- Emory University
- New York University
- Northwestern University
- Stanford University
- UC Berkeley — 6 recent grads
- UC San Diego
- UCLA
- UNC Chapel Hill
- University of Edinburgh — United Kingdom
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- University of Virginia
- University of Waterloo — Canada
- USC — 4 recent grads
Highly competitive
U.S. News top 50 research universities.
- American University
- Boston College
- Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
- Case Western Reserve University
- Northeastern University
- Ohio State University
- Purdue University
- Rutgers — New Brunswick
- Santa Clara University
- Syracuse University
- Tufts University
- UC Davis
- UC Irvine
- UC Santa Barbara
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- University of Maryland
- University of Miami
- University of Washington
Competitive
U.S. News top 100 — including respected regional flagships.
- Baylor University
- Clemson University
- Colorado School of Mines
- Fordham University
- George Washington University
- Gonzaga University
- Johnson & Wales University
- Loyola Marymount University
- Pepperdine University
- Stevens Institute of Technology
- SUNY Stony Brook
- Texas Christian University
- UC Merced
- UC Riverside
- UC Santa Cruz
- University of Arizona
- University of Colorado, Boulder
- University of Denver
- University of Iowa
- University of San Diego
- University of San Francisco
National liberal arts
Selective small-college environments where HBA students thrive.
- Amherst College — 9% admit rate
- Brandeis University
- Carleton College
- Claremont McKenna College — 11% admit rate
- Colby College
- Colgate University — 12% admit rate
- Middlebury College — 12% admit rate
- Pomona College — 7% admit rate
- Scripps College
Popular destinations
Other schools where HBA grads regularly enroll.
- Arizona State University
- Cal State Long Beach
- Cal State San Marcos
- Chapman University
- Drexel University
- San Diego State University
- San Jose State University
- Sonoma State University
- University of Hawai'i, Mānoa
- University of Oregon
- Western Washington University
Personalized college counseling, from day one.
Every HBA student works one-on-one with our college counseling team to identify schools that fit their goals, build a strong application, and present their best self.