How to Enroll at Valencia High School
Valencia High School enrolls students by Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified (PYLUSD) attendance area: students who live inside the boundary register by address, with no entrance exam. According to the 2026-27 School Profile, the attendance area includes sections of Placentia, Yorba Linda, Anaheim and Fullerton; the district's Find Your School tool is the authority on individual addresses.
Students inside and outside PYLUSD request a School Choice Transfer through the district's parent portal, choosing Intra District if they live in PYLUSD and Inter District if they live elsewhere. The priority window for 2027-28 ran from October 12 to November 6, 2026, with notification on or before November 13; requests received after November 6 are considered on a rolling basis through the first week of school, and families are notified if space opens. Every approval depends on capacity at the requested school, such as Valencia High School; out-of-district families must apply for a release from their home district and attach it if available, and transportation is the parent's responsibility.
The IB, Cambridge AICE and Val Tech programs admit students through PYLUSD's common High School Academy Application. For 2027-28, applications closed on October 23, 2026, acceptances were sent on November 2, and November 6 was Academy Commitment Day; applying commits a student to at least one full year of academy coursework. The school's IB page explains that students entering the grade 9 and 10 Pre-IB program must apply and meet entrance criteria, and that motivation and character are considered along with academics.
Out-of-district students, including Irvine residents, who are accepted to an academy take the acceptance letter to their home district to obtain an inter-district transfer release, then complete the school's enrollment forms and online enrollment and schedule a counseling appointment for course selection; they use the district office address in place of a home address in online enrollment.
Courses and Signature Programs at Valencia High School
In the 2026-27 University of California A-G course list, Valencia High School has 230 approved courses, including 27 AP courses, 27 IB courses and 84 UC-approved honors courses (courses that receive extra weight in the UC GPA). See the full A-G list.
- International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB DP)
- Students take honors language arts, social science, science and math in the Pre-IB years (grades 9 and 10), then enter the IB Diploma Programme in grades 11 and 12, completing Theory of Knowledge, a 4,000-word extended essay and Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS). According to the 2026-27 School Profile, IB courses include English A: Literature HL, Chinese B SL, Japanese B SL and HL, Biology HL, Chemistry HL, Computer Science SL and HL, and Math Analysis and Approaches SL and HL.
- Cambridge AICE Diploma
- AICE is Cambridge International's curriculum and examination system: students take the compulsory Global Perspectives & Research course and AS and A Level courses from the mathematics and science, languages, and arts and humanities groups, earning at least seven credits for the diploma. AICE courses at the school include math, physics, computer science, Chinese AS, history and media studies.
- Val Tech Academy
- Val Tech is a four-year technology magnet program with eight pathways, in which students complete coursework in their chosen pathway to build technical skills and explore careers. According to the 2026-27 School Profile, internship partners include UC Irvine, Boeing and ACRA Aerospace.
- Advanced Placement (AP)
- According to the 2026-27 School Profile, Valencia students take AP exams in math, science, computer science, English, history, economics, psychology, world languages, music theory and studio art, including AP Chinese Language and Culture, AP Japanese, AP Calculus BC and AP Physics 2. IB and Cambridge students may also take the corresponding AP exams.
- AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination)
- Valencia High School has been an AVID National Demonstration School since 2017, with a counselor dedicated to AVID students and an AVID tutor team.
- World Languages: Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish
- According to the 2026-27 School Profile, the school teaches Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish, with honors sections at levels 2 and 3 in all four languages; IB offers Chinese B SL and Cambridge AICE offers Chinese AS.
Academic Results at Valencia High School: CAASPP and Graduation
In the 2024-25 California state tests (CAASPP), 68.3% of Valencia High School 11th graders met or exceeded the English language arts standard and 45.9% met or exceeded the math standard; the statewide figures for 11th graders were 57% and 30.5%. For the class of 2025, 95.1% of the 639 students in the four-year cohort graduated, and 58.1% of graduates completed the A-G courses required for UC and CSU admission.
| Valencia High School | California | |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 ELA met or exceeded | 68.3% | 57% |
| Grade 11 math met or exceeded | 45.9% | 30.5% |
Twelve Years of UC Application Data at Valencia High School: Applicants, Admit Rates and GPA
The University of California publishes applicants, admits and enrollees for every California high school. Combined 2023–2025, 461 of 580 applications from Valencia High School to the UC system were admitted (79%). Categories with fewer than five students are not published by UC and appear as "—", not zero.
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| UC campus (fall 2025) | Applicants | Admits | Admit rate | Enrollees | Admit GPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley | 124 | 12 | 10% | 4 | 4.26 |
| UC Los Angeles | 152 | 13 | 9% | 8 | 4.25 |
| UC San Diego | 156 | 27 | 17% | 12 | 4.25 |
| UC Davis | 111 | 44 | 40% | 3 | 4.18 |
| UC Irvine | 163 | 37 | 23% | 15 | 4.20 |
| UC Santa Barbara | 112 | 39 | 35% | 5 | 4.23 |
| UC Merced | 56 | 56 | 100% | — | 3.91 |
| UC Riverside | 146 | 138 | 95% | 26 | 3.94 |
| UC Santa Cruz | 54 | 44 | 81% | — | 3.95 |
Student Body at Valencia High School
In 2025-26, 68.6% of Valencia High School students were socioeconomically disadvantaged and 11.4% were English learners.
Valencia High School: Frequently Asked Questions
Can Irvine families apply to the IB, Cambridge or Val Tech programs at Valencia High School?
Valencia High School's enrollment page sets out an academy process for out-of-district students: students accepted to IB, Cambridge AICE or Val Tech take the acceptance letter to their home district for an inter-district release and then enroll at the school. Students from Irvine families can therefore apply through PYLUSD's fall High School Academy Application, which closed on October 23, 2026 for 2027-28. Families can also file a district School Choice Transfer request; the 2027-28 priority window ended on November 6, 2026, and later requests are handled on a rolling basis as space allows.
What grades must Pre-IB students at Valencia High School maintain, a question Irvine families often ask?
Valencia High School requires Pre-IB students in grades 9 and 10 to earn an unweighted GPA of 2.5 each semester in the core subjects (language arts, foreign language, social science, science and math), with a cumulative core GPA of at least 2.0 in grade 9 and 2.25 in grade 10. A student below 2.5 in a semester is placed on academic probation and is dropped if the GPA does not reach 2.5 the next semester; a "U" in citizenship in any course for two consecutive semesters may also lead to removal.
How does Valencia High School weight GPA, a question Irvine families often ask?
Valencia High School uses a 4.0 scale and reports both unweighted and weighted GPAs. According to the 2026-27 School Profile, courses weighted by the University of California and all IB, Cambridge AICE and AP courses receive an extra grade point. In line with district policy, the school does not rank students but provides percentile ranges when universities and scholarship organizations request them.
Does Valencia High School offer Chinese, as many Irvine families ask?
Valencia High School offers Chinese. According to the 2026-27 School Profile, its world languages are Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish, with honors sections at levels 2 and 3; the IB program offers Chinese B SL, Cambridge AICE offers Chinese AS, and students also take the AP Chinese Language and Culture exam.
Other Public High Schools in Placentia
- El Dorado High SchoolPlacentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District
Compare all public high schools in Placentia → · Orange County public high schools by city →
Sources18 sources · checked 2026-11-14
Enrollment, student body, CAASPP and graduation data come from the California Department of Education. UC admissions data come from the University of California Information Center public data tables, downloaded Nov 2026.
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