Everything you need to know regarding the graduation requirements, application process, and success stories of Crystal Springs Uplands School

In the TV series Little Farewell, Xiaoyu’s father donated a library to the school in order to let his son enroll in Crystal Springs Uplands School (also referred to as CSUS). What is it that makes Crystal Springs Uplands School in particular so charming? Today, Amei will introduce you to this Bay Area academic institution and what it has to offer.

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Content at a glance:

• Basic Information
• Graduation Requirements
• Application Tips and Timeline
• Parents’ Opinions
• Success Stories of Graduates

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Basic Information

Address: 400 Uplands Drive Hillsborough, CA 94010

Grades: 6-12

Number of students: 568

Average class size: 14

Teacher-student ratio: 1:8

Admission rate: 28%

U.S. private school ranking: 19

California private school ranking: 6

Tuition: $49,110 (not including the cost of books and materials)

Firstly, CSUS’s suburban campus is close to San Francisco and has convenient transportation nearby. Surprisingly, it only takes 30 minutes to reach downtown San Francisco by car!

Academics

In terms of academic success, CSUS has a 100% four-year university admission rate! Making it a strong educational institution for Science and Technology related fields in the Bay Area. However, it is worth mentioning that CSUS no longer provides AP courses. 

Instead, they offer designed honors (H) classes that are similar to AP courses. Many other top high schools use this system as well. With its excellent classes and teachers, CSUS students still perform extremely well on AP exams.

Graduation Requirements

The graduation requirements of CSUS far exceeds the admission requirements of the University of California A-G sections. Students also need to complete the learning requirements of various subjects with different grades. 

In addition, the various courses offered by CSUS are very rich in diversity as they provide many different types of art classes. However, the CSUS sports program is relatively poor and there is not much social life. Because of this, students at CSUS may not effectively develop their social skills.

Admission Tips and Timeline

CSUS is a relatively traditional school that pays more attention to students’ academic achievements. Because of this, it prefers to recruit students who are hard-working and have outstanding academic records. During the application process, CSUS focuses on the test scores of ISEE. In addition, CSUS recruits a large number of students from The Carey School every year.

If you want to apply for the 2021-2022 school year, you can contact the school office at admission@csus.org. You can also find more information on their admissions process here. The application requirements include passing the ISEE or SSAT test and attending an interview. The approximate application timeline of the school is as follows:

October

• Admission Open House

November

• Admission Open Houses
• Submit transcript, confidentiality, and recommendation forms to current school

December

• Admission Open Houses
• Financial Assistance Information Session

January

• Financial Assistance Information Session
• Application and Financial Aid Deadline

February

• Admission testing should be completed
• SSS tax forms and other Financial Aid information applications are due

March

• Admission & Financial Aid decision letters mailed
• Admission Welcome Week
• Enrollment contract and deposit due at 12:00 pm

Parents’ Opinions

“The school is undergoing a lot of changes. Our two children are attending junior and high school respectively and their experiences at the junior level schools are completely different. The junior level schools have more young teachers and new administrators as well as more classes and a wider range of academic fields. As a mother, I have to say I prefer ‘old’ Crystal to ‘new’ Crystal. The school seems to be more focused on keeping all of the children in the same level rather than encouraging unique academic talents. In general, the high school teachers are great.”

“My son has just entered grade 6 and he is very happy at school every day. The teachers are very enthusiastic and professional. In addition, the students are friendly and love learning. However, the sports curriculum and food need to be strengthened.”

Success Stories of Graduates

Since 2016, CSUS has maintained a 100% four-year university admission rate. CSUS also has a high Ivy League school admission rate. Every year, many students are admitted to Ivy League schools as well as other universities such as Stanford, Berkeley, and MIT.

Stanford 36

MIT 27

Harvard 18

Princeton 18

Caltech 21

Cornell 38

Duke 26

Brown 12

Yale 17

Berkeley 144

Georgia Tech 35

In the 2020 National Merit Scholarships competition, CSUS also performed very well and many students entered the semifinals. The selection criteria used in the National Merit Scholarship Contest overlap with the admission criteria of top American universities. Furthermore, winning awards in this contest can give students many advantages in undergraduate applications.

In terms of mathematics awards, although CSUS has performed very well in the AMC and other competitions in the past and beat schools such as Harker. The institution has gradually fallen behind as of late and its recent performance in mathematics competitions has also not been outstanding.

Finally, if there any specific schools that parents would like to know about. We welcome everyone to leave a message in the comments to let us know!