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 list below is a representative sample of where HBA graduates have been admitted — alongside many liberal-arts colleges, public flagships, and international universities.
Tier rankings reflect U.S. News & Forbes 2025.
Elite universities
U.S. News & Forbes top 30 — institutions with admit rates under 15%.
Stanford University
Northwestern University
Dartmouth College
UCLA
Emory University
USC (4 recent grads)
UC Berkeley (6 recent grads)
UC San Diego
University of Virginia
New York University
UNC Chapel Hill
Claremont McKenna College
Pomona College
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
University of Waterloo (Canada)
University of Edinburgh (U.K.)
Highly competitive
U.S. News top 50 research universities.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
UC Santa Barbara
Tufts University
UC Irvine
Boston College
UC San Diego
UC Davis
Rutgers — New Brunswick
University of Maryland
Northeastern University
Ohio State University
Santa Clara University
Syracuse University
University of Miami
Purdue University
University of Washington
Case Western Reserve
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
American University
Competitive
U.S. News top 100 — including respected regional flagships.
Colorado School of Mines
SUNY Stony Brook
Texas Christian University (TCU)
Gonzaga University
Loyola Marymount University
Johnson & Wales
UC Riverside
University of Iowa
University of San Diego
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Denver
University of San Francisco
University of Arizona
UC Santa Cruz
UC Merced
Clemson University
Fordham University
Pepperdine University
Stevens Institute of Technology
George Washington University
Baylor University
National liberal arts
Selective small-college environments where HBA students thrive.
Amherst College (10% admit rate)
Carleton College
Colby College
Colgate University (12% admit rate)
Middlebury College (10% admit rate)
Scripps College
Brandeis University
Popular destinations
Other schools where HBA grads regularly enroll.
Arizona State University
University of Oregon
Western Washington University
University of San Francisco
Chapman University
San Diego State University
University of Hawai'i, Mānoa
Cal State San Marcos
Sonoma State University
San Jose State University
Cal State Long Beach
Drexel 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.