Sunny Hills High School College Planning Guide

Sunny Hills High School was founded in 1959 and sits in the hills of northwest Fullerton on a 39-acre campus. It is one of the eight high schools in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District. Its attendance area covers Fullerton and parts of Buena Park, and most students come from two elementary districts, Fullerton School District and Buena Park School District. Enrollment in the 2025-26 school year was 2,348 students, including 599 students in grade 12. The school is a National Blue Ribbon School and a California Distinguished School, and it is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. This page does not rate the school. It answers one question: how a student at this school should plan the four high school years.

How Sunny Hills High School Is Structured for College Admissions

Public data point to three features of this school.

First, it runs two advanced course systems, AP and IB, side by side, and has done so for four decades. The 2026-27 course list includes 25 AP courses; the IB Diploma Programme has been authorized since 1985, and in 2025, 84 students sat 230 IB subject exams. The two systems are weighted identically on the transcript, so the choice between them depends on the learning structure the student wants, not on which one earns more grade points.

Second, the district weighting rules are more generous than those at Irvine schools. Honors, IB, and AP courses all earn 5 points for an A, 4 for a B, and 3 for a C, and every course except physical education counts toward the academic GPA. As a result, grade 9 courses such as English 1 Honors, Geometry Honors, and Biology Honors already create differences in weighted GPA, rather than the gap opening only when students take AP courses in grade 11, as in Irvine.

Third, AP participation is large and the pass rate is moderate. In 2025, 1,177 students took 2,490 AP exams, and 81% of exams earned a score of 3 or higher, counted by exam. This rate is clearly below the level of about 95% at several Irvine high schools. The reason is the large and broad base of test takers, not screening that holds the number of candidates down.

Twelve Years of UC Application Data: Applicants, Admit Rates, and GPA

The following data come from UC Infocenter, published by the University of California Office of the President. The data are reported by high school of origin and updated annually. They answer two questions: how many Sunny Hills High School students apply to and are admitted by the University of California each year, and what GPA admitted students hold. GPA is the UC weighted, capped GPA, which counts only courses taken in grades 10 and 11.

Applications and Admissions by Campus, 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: Set by the District, with Honors Courses Weighted

This rule shapes course selection. At most Irvine schools, honors courses are not weighted, so parents often hear that there is no need to rush into honors courses in grades 9 and 10. At Sunny Hills High School, the situation is the reverse: honors courses are weighted, and they are the only entry point to AP and IB. Geometry Honors, Algebra 2 Honors, Pre-Calculus Honors, Biology Honors, and Chemistry Honors are all stated prerequisites for later AP courses. Note that the University of California calculates GPA with its own weighting method, which recognizes only certified honors courses and caps the number of bonus points, so the weighted GPA calculated by the school is usually higher than the UC figure.

Four-Year Timeline

Three milestones actually determine the direction: the Honors and Pre-IB placement exam in January of grade 8, which sets the grade 9 starting point in English, math, science, and social science; the February meeting in grade 10 with the IB coordinator, which decides whether the student pursues the IB Diploma; and the PSAT/NMSQT in October of grade 11, which determines eligibility for the National Merit Scholarship Program (selection is based on the grade 11 PSAT score). The first two are difficult to recover from if missed.

Student Organizations and Academic Competitions

The Sunny Hills High School website does not publish a complete list of registered clubs. The following student organizations have their own official pages and are tied to courses.

• Future Farmers of America (FFA): part of the Agriculture Science Academy; students raise livestock, grow greenhouse crops, and work on the campus farm
• SkillsUSA: the career and technical student organization of the EPIC engineering program; meets twice a month and competes at the regional and state levels
• IB Council: made up of IB students in grades 11 and 12 and run under the guidance of the IB Coordinator; organizes events and peer mentoring, with applications opening in mid-March
• ASB Leadership: taken by elected students; counts toward UC A-G category d
• Link Crew freshman orientation: by application; counts toward UC A-G category g
• Journalism and Yearbook: Journalism, Advanced Journalism, and Advanced Journalism Honors, plus Yearbook Publications and Yearbook Advanced Design Publications Honors, all by application
• eSports: an extracurricular activity of the Coding & Gaming Pathway

Compared with several Irvine high schools, student organizations here grow more directly out of the curriculum: Future Farmers of America is part of the Agri-Science Academy, SkillsUSA is the career technical student organization of the EPIC Engineering program, and the IB council is made up of IB students in grades 11 and 12. For academic competitions, the school website publishes no information on Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, FBLA, DECA, or AMC teams, so students who want to pursue these tracks need to do so through outside programs.

Signature Programs

• International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme: Fully authorized by the International Baccalaureate Organization in 1985, it is one of the earliest IB programs in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District. In 2025, 84 students sat 230 subject exams, 91% of which earned a score of 4 or higher; 21 of the 23 eligible senior diploma candidates earned the IB Diploma. The program is run by a dedicated IB and Honors Placement Coordinator, who meets individually with honors students in the spring of grade 10 to build a two-year plan
• EPIC (Engineering Pathways to Innovation and Change): Housed in a dedicated engineering and technology building, the course sequence is Introduction to Engineering Design, Principles of Engineering, and Engineering Design & Development, along with their honors versions. The advanced courses count toward UC A-G category g (elective), and Engineering Design & Development also counts toward category d (laboratory science). Students join SkillsUSA, a career and technical student organization that meets twice a month and competes at the regional and state levels. The program runs alongside AP and IB coursework, and the IB Design Technology exam is taken through this pathway
• Conservatory of the Fine Arts (COFA): Covers visual arts, dance, music, and theatre across nine strands: winds and percussion, theatre, orchestra, vocal music, drawing and painting, art and media, dance, 3-D design, and interdisciplinary. All courses meet the UC and CSU visual and performing arts requirement. Students who complete three years earn COFA Laureate status; those who complete four years and attend three program events each year earn Laureate with Distinction. In 2025 the program had 943 enrolled members, with 18 Laureates and 44 Laureates with Distinction
• Agriculture Science Academy: The school has its own on-campus farm. Courses include Biology and Sustainable Agriculture, Agricultural Soil Chemistry, Veterinary Science, Advanced Animal Science, Introduction to Floral Design, and Advanced Floriculture, all of which meet the high school science graduation requirement or UC A-G requirements. The program combines classroom instruction, Future Farmers of America (FFA) activities, and a Supervised Agriculture Experience. No public high school in Irvine offers this pathway
• Coding & Gaming Pathway: Level 1 builds interactive projects in JavaScript, and Level 2 develops 2D and 3D games in Unity and C#; an eSports program is also offered. The courses meet the high school career technical education or elective graduation requirement and count toward UC A-G category g
• AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination): Open to students with a GPA of 2.5 or higher who are taking college-preparatory, Honors, AP, or IB courses, AVID is a full-year elective taken each year from grade 9 through grade 12 and counts toward UC A-G category g. AVID 3 in grade 11 is combined with TOK Honors. The program currently enrolls 288 students, or 12.3% of the school; 63% of them take at least one Honors, AP, or IB course. In the Class of 2025, 99% of AVID students graduated having met the A-G requirements, 100% applied to four-year universities, and 98% were admitted
• North Orange County ROP (NOCROP): On-campus courses include three levels of Auto Technology, three levels of Art of Video Production including an honors version, Medical Careers, and Sports Medicine. Off-campus courses include health careers, digital design, and culinary arts. After-school classes are free and open only to students from the five North Orange County districts served by the program; students must pre-register with the ROP counselor and attend the first session to be officially enrolled

Admission: Attendance Area, Open Enrollment, and Special Program Applications

School type: Comprehensive neighborhood high school with no exam-based magnet program. Families living within the attendance area enroll directly through Aeries online registration, without applying to any program.

How to Use the Counseling Office

For the requirements of each course, see Courses and Course Selection; for math levels and the placement exam, see Math Pathways; for choosing between AP and IB, see AP and IB Course List.

Data verified on 2026-09-21. Course catalogs are updated each spring; prerequisites follow the school's current Course of Study.