College Admissions at Castilleja: A Parent's Guide

Castilleja replaced AP with its own Advanced Topics courses more than a decade ago, and it openly supports students who skip the SAT and ACT. Both choices are explained in the profile that accompanies every Castilleja application. Here is what that profile tells colleges for 2026–27, and the decisions it leaves to families.

Advanced Topics Instead of AP

Castilleja doesn't teach an AP curriculum. Since the 2012–13 school year, its most rigorous courses have been Advanced Topics (AT) courses designed by its own faculty, which the profile says "replace a traditional AP curriculum, exploring topics in greater depth and emphasizing experiential learning." AT courses are generally available only to juniors and seniors.

Colleges read that through the profile. On the Common App, the counselor rates each student's course selection "in comparison with other college preparatory students at your school," so what matters is how a student engages with the AT sequence Castilleja offers, not the absence of AP labels. Our guide to transcripts without AP or class rank explains how colleges read courses like these.

The school also sets a limit families should respect: it "strongly recommend[s]" that students take no more than four AT courses and five core academic courses per semester. More isn't better if it comes at the cost of depth, grades, or health.

Grades and Weighting

Castilleja doesn't rank. In its weighted GPA, only AT courses carry an extra point; honors courses aren't weighted, and pluses and minuses count. The profile publishes a median unweighted six-semester GPA of 3.94, which gives readers context for any individual transcript.

For California residents, UC gives extra points only to UC-approved honors-level courses, so how Castilleja's AT courses appear on its UC-approved course list affects the UC GPA. Our UC application guide explains how UC calculates its own GPA.

The Testing Decision

This is where Castilleja families face a real choice. The school's profile notes that test centers "remain scarce in the Bay Area as of Fall 2026" and says Castilleja "enthusiastically supports students who choose to opt out of ACT/SAT testing," thanking colleges that practice test-free or test-optional admission.

That works well for a list of UC campuses, which don't consider the SAT or ACT, and test-optional colleges. But some highly selective colleges now require scores again, including Stanford and MIT. A student who might apply to them needs to plan for testing early, including finding a test center, even if the rest of the list doesn't require it. Our Silicon Valley guide and our testing strategy guide cover how to decide.

AP exams are a separate question. Castilleja lets students in an AT course sit for a well-aligned AP exam at school. A strong score can earn college credit or placement, and it can add an outside measure for a student who isn't submitting SAT or ACT scores.

Counseling and Planning

Castilleja's college counseling office is small: a director, an associate director, and a registrar who supports the office, for a graduating class of about 65. The profile also notes that the school reports incidents resulting in probation, suspension, or expulsion in grades 9–12 to colleges when requested.

Families who add outside support should make sure it complements the counseling office. The most valuable early work is the kind the curriculum rewards: thoughtful choices about which AT courses to take in 11th and 12th grade, sustained interests outside class, and a testing plan that matches the college list.

Athletics

The profile lists NCAA varsity programs that have recruited Castilleja student-athletes in the past three years, including Harvard, MIT, Pomona College, and Stanford. Recruiting runs on its own calendar, often well ahead of regular applications. Our guide to NCAA recruiting covers the timeline, and our athletic recruiting counseling helps student-athletes plan around it.

Related Guides

• College Admissions in Silicon Valley
• Applying to College from a Private School
• The UC Application and Personal Insight Questions
• College Admissions at Menlo School
• College Admissions at The Harker School

Passage Point Admissions is based in South Florida and offers virtual advising to families anywhere in the U.S. through our private school college counseling, which works alongside a school's own counseling office.