Northwood High School College Planning Guide

Northwood High School is one of five comprehensive high schools in the Irvine Unified School District (IUSD). Founded in 1999, it is located along Portola Parkway in northeast Irvine. In the 2026-27 school year, it enrolls about 2,250 students, with an average class size of 29.2 students and 6 counselors, each serving about 400 students. This page does not rate the school. It answers one question: how a student at this school should plan the four years of high school.

How College Preparation Works at Northwood High School

Public data points to three features of this school.

First, the school offers few AP courses, but its pass rate is high. In 2026, students took 2,168 AP exams, and 95.06% of scores were 3 or higher. The school offers 19 AP courses, the fewest among the five comprehensive high schools in the Irvine Unified School District. In 2020, the figures were 1,558 exams and 86.9% scoring 3 or higher, so both exam volume and the pass rate rose over six years.

Second, the school does not offer AP Calculus and replaces it with on-campus dual enrollment calculus from Chapman University. This is the rule families most need to understand in advance; see below and Math Pathways.

Third, 66% of graduates go directly to four-year universities, and another 29.4% enroll in community colleges or technical schools. The school also reports that about 80% of graduates are admitted to four-year universities, that about 80% complete the UC A-G courses (the 7 categories of high school courses required by the University of California and California State University), and that more than 70% of graduates take an additional year of advanced mathematics, laboratory science, and world language. The graduation rate for the Class of 2026 was 96.6%.

A note for families on rankings: the Northwood High School website does not publish a US News California or national ranking. The school’s home page instead highlights results from two other lists: 6th in California from Niche, and 207th among STEM high schools nationwide in the 2019 Newsweek and STEM.org ranking. These two lists use methods that differ from US News. Niche includes subjective factors such as parent and student reviews, teachers, and campus environment, and the Newsweek STEM list considers only STEM-related indicators and uses data from 2019, so neither can be compared directly with other schools’ US News rankings. In addition, the 2026-27 school profile no longer reports average SAT and ACT scores; the most recent published figures, from the 2020-21 school year, were an average SAT score of 1330 and an ACT composite of 29.1.

Year-by-Year UC Data: Applicants, Admission Rates, and GPA

The following data comes from the UC Infocenter of the University of California Office of the President. It is reported by source high school, updated annually, and currently covers 12 application cycles from 2014 to 2025. It answers two questions: how many Northwood High School students apply and are admitted each year, and what GPA admitted students earned. GPA is the UC weighted, capped GPA, counting only courses taken in grades 10 through 11.

Applications and Admissions by Campus in the Most Recent Year

Campuses are listed in order of the U.S. News national university rankings. UC leaves a category blank when it has fewer than five applicants or fewer than three admits or enrollees.

GPA Weighting Rules: What Is Different at Northwood High School

This rule shapes course selection. Honors courses in grades 9 through 10 do not raise the school GPA; the reason to take them is preparation for the weighted honors and AP courses in grades 11 through 12, not a higher grade. Note that the University of California calculates GPA with its own weighting method and recognizes only AP and designated honors courses taken in grades 10 through 11, so courses taken in grade 9 are not included in the UC GPA regardless of their level.

Four-Year Timeline (Based on EDUBUS Experience)

Three milestones determine the direction of a student’s path: the registration conference in March of grade 8, which determines the starting point in mathematics; the Sophomore Conference with a counselor between November of grade 10 and the following April, which determines the course combination for grades 11 through 12; and the counselor meeting before Thanksgiving of grade 12, which determines whether recommendation letters can be completed on time. The first two are difficult to recover from if missed.

Clubs and Academic Competitions

Northwood High School has about 90 clubs, and the school-sponsored competition clubs cover a wide range of fields.

Applications for new clubs are accepted each May, and Club Fest, the club recruitment event, takes place in September through October. The school currently has no FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America; business competitions are covered by DECA), HOSA (Future Health Professionals; the closest equivalents are Club Med and the Sports Medicine club), CyberPatriot (cybersecurity competition), A dedicated team for the AMC math competitions (the closest equivalent is the Math Olympiad club). Speech and Debate exists as both a club and an elective course, and new members need to attend a summer training camp. Model United Nations is likewise both a club and a year-long elective, and its spring semester can satisfy the government graduation requirement.

Signature Programs

• Humanities Core: In grades 9-10, English and history are taught by a pair of teachers who share the same students and jointly design and grade interdisciplinary projects. Honors courses in these two grades follow the embedded model, with no separate honors sections
• Integrated Science 1-3: A three-year science sequence that integrates biology, chemistry, physics, and Earth and space science; completing all three years covers the full Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In the school's words, students study every science every year
• Forensics Core (FORCE): An application-based interdisciplinary program for grades 11-12 in which three weighted honors courses must be taken concurrently in the same year: Honors Forensic Science, Honors Forensic Psychology, and Honors Critical Theory and Literature. It uses the UnGrading assessment model, which centers on feedback and revision, and students submit a culminating project at the end of the year. The application deadline is in mid-March, with applications accepted on a rolling basis afterward
• Chapman University Dual-Credit Calculus: An on-campus college calculus course: MATH 110 in the fall and MATH 111 in the spring, 3 college units per semester, free of charge, with grades recorded on a Chapman University transcript. The school offers this course in place of AP Calculus AB and BC
• Irvine Valley College (IVC) Dual Enrollment: On-campus CCAP courses (College and Career Access Pathways, a partnership between the high school and the community college) are requested during the March course selection conferences, with priority given in the order of grades 12, 11, 10, and 9. On-campus courses in the 2025-26 school year included Criminal Law, Personal Finance, Marketing, Biotechnology, and College Math Prep; the district also offers evening courses such as Multivariable Calculus and Differential Equations. All courses are free, and the credits transfer to the University of California and California State University, but they do not appear on the high school transcript; students must send a separate community college transcript when applying to college
• Articulation: A grade of B+ or higher in Economics of Business earns 3 units in Irvine Valley College Management 1; a grade of B+ or higher in horticulture courses earns corresponding credit at Orange Coast College
• Coastline Regional Occupational Program (ROP): Free off-campus career and technical courses in areas including health care, public service, automotive, construction, culinary arts, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, and entrepreneurship; some courses count toward UC A-G. Classes are mostly held outside the school's bell schedule, and students arrange their own transportation

How to Use the College and Career Center

For the requirements of each course, see Courses and Course Selection. For math acceleration and the calculus pathway, see Math Pathways. For choosing AP courses, see AP Course List and Pass Rates.

Data verified on 2026-09-20. Course catalogs are updated each spring; prerequisites follow the school's current Course of Study.