A great high school education focuses on academic, social and emotional growth. It prepares students for the various challenges and opportunities of college and beyond. Because college represents the next important phase in a KLS student’s life, the school recognizes that college admissions is of great interest and value for students and families. KLS’s college counseling philosophy emphasizes:

• An enriching and engaging high school experience that supports of academic and whole person development
• Cultivation of life skills
• Fostering student agency and independence

The college application experience serves as an excellent opportunity for self-realization and personal growth for students preparing to transition to college. KLS provides support to students (and parents) at each grade level in the upper school (grades 9-12).

KLS students perform exceptionally well in college admissions, with many gaining acceptance to highly selective institutions globally. However, it's crucial to understand that:

• The "most selective" college isn't always the best fit for every student
• Some students choose less selective schools for specific programs, scholarships, or campus culture
• Selectivity extends beyond acceptance rates, with some programs at less selective schools having single-digit admit rates

For example, KLS students have chosen to turn down admission to Harvard, Brown and other highly selective schools, because they viewed themselves as a better fit elsewhere. Similarly, students often attend a less selective school because of a particular program, scholarships, or campus culture. Some colleges with relatively high acceptance rates have specific programs that have acceptance rates in the single digits.

Looking at another example, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has an acceptance rate of 44.8% and is well-known for its engineering programs. Chapman University has a 73% acceptance rate and also has very strong film and music programs with single digit admit rates.

KLS encourages students to focus on finding the best overall fit rather than solely on college rankings or selectivity. The school's approach balances academic excellence with student well-being, resulting in successful college placements and well-prepared graduates.

By any standard, KLS students do very well. The median KLS student matriculates at a school with a 13% acceptance rate. So 50% of our graduates have matriculated at a school with a lower than 13% acceptance rate—essentially the country's most selective schools. We also estimate that roughly 80% of KLS graduates are matriculating at one of their top 3 choices (this clearly depends on having viable top choices). This is especially notable given that our matriculations are merit-based and not influenced by legacy, celebrity, or donations, nor do we have a “big” athletics program which creates another pipeline for elite high school athletes. It is even more notable considering that our students tend to be less stressed and more balanced during their high school years than many of the other schools in the area, due in large part to the nature of our program. 

Click Here To View Our College Acceptance/Matriculation List

KLS offers a high level of support. The 15-20 graduating seniors along with 50 or so other high school students receive direct support from thought leaders in education and college admissions. In addition to dedicated on-site counseling staff, students also receive support from a KLS college counseling team and KLS/Khan Academy Founder Salman Khan. 

9th and 10th Grade Support
KLS provides early guidance through regular meetings with academic counselors and comprehensive information sharing. Communication channels include morning coffee events, presentations, online announcements, and dedicated digital platforms.

11th Grade Support
The college search process intensifies with:

• A fall workshop to kick off the search
• Weekly college planning courses covering the application process, profile development, college research, and personalized timelines
• Guidance on essay drafting, recommendation requests, and application platform preparation

12th Grade Support
Senior year focuses on finalizing applications through:

• Weekly planning sessions to create compelling applications
• Individualized assistance with specific college application requirements
• Parent workshops on admissions and financial aid

This structure provides a clear progression of support throughout the high school years, emphasizing increased intensity and personalization as students approach college application deadlines.

The term "Ivy League" often evokes notions of academic excellence, but its origins are primarily athletic. The Ivy League consists of eight private universities in the Northeastern United States: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell. These institutions, originally grouped as a football conference in the 1950s, are also among the oldest in the country.

While Ivy League schools are indeed prestigious and known for their academic rigor and faculty expertise, they are not the only institutions like this. Several other private research universities, such as Stanford, MIT, Caltech, University of Chicago, Duke, and Georgetown (and others), are considered comparably selective and prestigious. Public institutions like UC Berkeley and UCLA also cater to a similar caliber of student (at a fraction of the cost for CA residents). Finally, there are several liberal arts colleges that are among the most selective schools in the country (e.g., Wellesley, Claremont-Mckenna, Pomona, Amherst, Swarthmore, Williams, Grinnell, Harvey Mudd, US Military Academies, etc.).

KLS students with strong academic profiles have been successful in gaining admission to Ivy League schools. However, some admitted students have chosen to attend other institutions that better align with their personal goals and preferences. Many strong KLS applicants choose not to apply to Ivy League schools for various reasons, including geographical preference, school size, campus culture, or academic majors that better suit their needs.

As KLS,  we encourage our students to aim high while honoring their strengths, interests, and goals for the future.

KLS students' success in college admissions can be attributed to several factors:

Student Quality and Preparation: KLS attracts talented students and fosters their development. Our mastery-based learning approach prepares students for rigorous coursework and standardized tests without sole focus on assessments. Students demonstrate academic mastery through college dual enrollment credits, Schoolhouse.world certifications, and strong standardized test scores.

Academic Flexibility and Challenge: KLS offers various outlets for academic challenge, including dual enrollment, standardized tests (AP/SAT/ACT), subject mastery testing, and faculty support for applied learning. Schoolhouse.world certifications, recognized by prestigious universities, serves as a primary method for demonstrating math mastery at KLS. Twenty colleges (and growing)–including University of Chicago, MIT, Yale, Brown, Columbia and CalTech–consider Schoolhouse.world in their admissions process. 

Authentic Extracurricular Engagement: KLS provides flexibility, space, and support for students to pursue authentic interests. Many students engage in advanced activities typically reserved for college students, such as teaching classes to their peers, launching businesses, producing plays, creating courses at Khan Academy, and participating in internships. This is facilitated by students often completing core high school work early, allowing time for meaningful extracurricular pursuits.

This is possible because many of our students finish the core of their high school work early.  The school then provides time, space and support during the school day for students to pursue these interests. In contrast, many traditional schools have rigid schedules and predetermined academic trajectories that limit students’ ability to engage in meaningful activities beyond the standard curriculum. This flexible structure allows KLS students to explore and develop their passions while still in high school, giving them a head start on college and real-world experiences.

Personalized College Admissions Support: With a small graduating class of 15-20 students, KLS offers substantial support in the college admissions process. Students benefit from counseling by a dedicated expert counselor and the school's leadership, who know them well.

School Recognition: Despite its size and age, KLS is well-known and respected among admissions officers. This is due to college outreach efforts, connections to Khan Academy and Schoolhouse.world, and the school's thought leadership in education.

Absolutely not. The best school for a student is one where they can grow and find compelling opportunities, which isn't always the most selective institution.

While more selective schools may offer, on average, stronger peer groups and more rigorous coursework, this environment isn't ideal for everyone. Many students have thrived at less selective schools, while others have struggled at highly competitive institutions.
Less selective schools often provide advantages such as:

• Honors programs where a student can get more attention and opportunities than if they attended a more competitive school
• Scholarships that dramatically lower the cost. 

Furthermore, the most competitive graduate programs in the country are seeking students who have excelled at a diverse range of undergraduate programs. So, attending a less selective college and standing out through access to opportunities for research and collaboration with faculty can distinguish applicants to these graduate programs. This list of undergraduate institutions of incoming Harvard Law School students reflects this scope of schools. 

The key is finding the right fit—a place where a student can excel academically, grow personally, and access opportunities that align with their goals and interests. Selectivity is just one factor among many to consider.

The most selective schools in the country can fill their classes many times over with academically qualified students who have perfect grades and test scores. Colleges are trying to build a college community with representatives from many backgrounds and who have different skills sets. This is before accounting for special consideration for athletes, donors, and legacy.

Given these factors, it is unreasonable and potentially unhealthy for any student/family at any high school to become overly attached to a specific highly-selective school. It is more beneficial that students/families think about a balanced list of schools at which they could thrive.

It’s worth noting that every KLS graduate to date has matriculated at a college where they are academically challenged and surrounded by equally talented peers.

While other strong independent schools in the area have great college placement records, it's important to consider several factors when making comparisons:

Class Size: The size of the graduating class. Most of the other well-reputed independent schools in the area have a class size 6-10x larger than KLS’s (or 2-3 times the total number of graduates that KLS has ever had). So multiplying each entry in KLS’s matriculation table by 2 or 3 would be a more direct comparison in which KLS fares very, very well. 

Athletics: Many of the local independent schools also have very strong athletics programs which creates an additional pipeline into selective colleges. Schools like the Ivies and Stanford have Division I athletics programs which mean that they actively recruit top athletes. This often happens in an entirely different process where students find out that they are admitted their junior year of high school.  

Legacy Admissions: Parent legacy/notoriety can still be a factor for admissions at some colleges, but has played little to no role in KLS admissions as far as we can tell (we have a large number of applicants whose parents attended college outside of the United States). 

Application patterns: Where our students tend to apply. Many strong KLS applicants choose not to apply to Ivy League or other similarly strong schools for various reasons, including geographical preference, school size, campus culture, or academic majors that better suit their needs. Some of our strongest applicants intentionally didn’t focus on, say Stanford, because they wanted to live in a new area.  

In the end, we are very confident that, controlling for the talents and achievements of the student, KLS students have at least as good (or better) a chance of admission to a college as any of the top high schools in the area (assuming that the student isn’t looking to be a division I athlete). And we believe that KLS does this while providing a much more collaborative, supportive and healthy environment for its students. 

At KLS, we encourage students to apply to a maximum of 15 colleges. We recommend a balanced list of schools, typically distributed as follows: four “reach” schools,  four “target” schools and three or four “likely” schools. This distribution allows students to have a strategic and manageable application process. Applying to significantly more schools can be counterproductive, as it spreads thin the student's effort and the support KLS can provide for each application.

Colleges can discern whether students have carefully researched and selected schools that align with their interests and goals, as opposed to applying indiscriminately to a large number of institutions. The classification of a school as a "reach," "target," or "likely" varies depending on the individual applicant's profile. However, the most highly selective schools are generally considered "reach" schools for all applicants due to the subjective nature of their admissions processes and extremely low acceptance rates.

This approach helps students create thoughtful, focused applications that demonstrate genuine interest in each school, increasing their chances of admission and finding the best fit for their academic and personal growth.

It's important to remember that highly selective schools are not suitable for everyone. They don't necessarily lead to better long-term outcomes. For example, Khan Academy's competitive internship program often selects students from less selective colleges who demonstrate superior skills over applicants from highly selective institutions.

To be in contention for acceptance a student from the Bay Area coming from a well-resourced community should ideally be at the mid-to-upper end of those test scores and show mastery in the most academic rigorous courses available to them. We say “in contention,” because a majority of applicants to a school like this are likely in that zone from a test score/coursework point-of-view and only a small fraction will get in. We say “from the Bay Area coming from a well-resourced community” because colleges know that most of the students from a place like KLS did not overcome major adversity and had access to plenty of opportunities. They are also looking to admit students from a diversity of backgrounds (including geographic diversity) and the Bay Area tends to disproportionately produce many competitive applicants. 

Keep in mind that there are diminishing returns to say having a 1550 on the SAT vs. a 1500. Likewise,  strong performances in dual enrollment classes and AP tests are generally well regarded, but there are diminishing returns to performing well on say, 10 college-level assessments/courses vs. 4 or 5. This can even be a negative if a narrow academic focus has squeezed out time for the student to have other notable experiences/accomplishments.  Schools tend to look at scores and GPA to ensure that the student is ready to be a productive member of their community. They aren’t just taking the students who maxed out their numbers (in fact, they reject many, many students with near perfect/perfect scores). 

A student who is a bit lower than those ranges still has a shot if they have truly noteworthy extracurriculars and a compelling story. Likewise, a student with great academic achievements may be a stretch to get in if they don’t have noteworthy evidence of “spikes” in other areas or a compelling story. At the extreme, a student with incredible academics can easily kill their application if their essays or recommendations hint that the student is narcissistic, entitled, egotistical, unethical or not a team player. Another red flag on an application is if it seems like achievements were more due to obsessive parents than the student’s actual initiative and drive. Colleges like ambition, authenticity, resilience and courage. They don’t like inauthenticity, self-centeredness or being simply driven by parents’ aspirations.

A noteworthy extracurricular is more than just starting/leading a club, writing a research paper, or founding a non-profit/business. Whatever it is, it should have substance and authenticity. Admissions officers at highly selective universities have told us that they pretty much ignore research publications from applicants in the Bay Area unless it is in a real journal that they have heard of (since they have so many students from the area that try to pad their resumes with lesser known journals, many of which families can buy their way into). Likewise, they ignore “starting a non-profit”, unless it has demonstrable impact. 

Example of meaningful activities from past KLS graduates have included:

• Starting a business around a real problem that generated $1m in revenue in the first year
• President of the class or major club and could describe how they used that leadership to make a real impact for others
• Teaching advanced courses like multivariable calculus or linear algebra (very few students nationally get opportunities to be student-faculty members like some of our upperclassmen often do)
• Work at internships or jobs on par with college students or even college graduates
• Being one of the strongest tutors in the country on Schoolhouse.world 
• Being an accomplished playwright/actor, singer. musician or visual artist (even here, initiative and creativity can be more interesting than just being great at the craft)
• Being a notable athlete
• Sustained community engagement and meaningful contribution to the common good

With that said, one of the main pitfalls that a lot of students fall into is just trying to replicate what seemed to work for past graduates. Or just joining an activity since “everyone else seems to be doing it.” This might be ok if that lane is a true passion for the student (and everything shouldn’t be about getting into college anyway). But for selective colleges, being original and having genuine commitment is always more impressive.

A compelling story–which typically comes out in essays and recommendations–isn’t about making everything a sob story, especially when you come from a fairly privileged community. It could be about showing unusual humor, courage, empathy, introspection, creativity, grit, or quirkiness. It can come from genuine service to others. The last point is why being a highly regarded tutor on Schoolhouse.world is valued by some of the most selective colleges–it shows content mastery, the ability to communicate, as well as a true investment in helping others.

Evidence of academic mastery is always important. As you move away from the most selective schools, being strong academically alone goes a long way. These schools tend to prioritize academics over extracurriculars (sports excellence being an exception that can have disproportionate impact).

At KLS, the close-knit community and personalized learning approach provide unique opportunities for college recommendation letters. When it comes to college letters of recommendation, students should seek out teachers and mentors who know them well and can speak to their academic abilities, personal growth, and character. Ideally, these should be teachers from core subjects (English, math, science, social studies, or world language) who have taught the student recently, preferably in junior or senior year.

The best recommenders are those who have seen the student excel, overcome challenges, or demonstrate leadership in class. Students should also consider asking a teacher who has witnessed their involvement in extracurricular activities or community engagement. It's important to choose teachers who can provide specific examples and insights rather than generic praise.

Remember, the best recommenders are those who can offer the most meaningful and personalized recommendations. The KLS college counseling office will guide you through the process of identifying and approaching potential recommenders as part of your college application planning.

The landscape of test-optional policies is evolving. Some selective colleges have reversed their test-optional policies, finding that SAT/ACT scores, when considered alongside other factors, can be predictive of college success.

Second, to gain admission to a selective school–even one that is officially test-optional—applicants need to have some strong evidence that they are academically capable. Grades are hard to index heavily on because of inconsistency of rigor across schools and rampant grade inflation.

Outside of SATs/ACTs these schools might consider a student academically ready via evidence from dual enrollment or perhaps AP tests. Performing at a very high level in academic competitions could also help (but any student like this would typically do very, very well on standardized tests). The reality is that even at test-optional schools, the bulk of admits from a community like ours submit SAT or ACT scores. 

At KLS, we have our students take the SAT 2-3 times while in high school and administer the test on-site. The SAT is also one of many ways that we benchmark our students’ competencies and track their growth through high school. We do this because we think it much more valuable for internal standardized testing to be aligned with measurements that are valued by outside stakeholders like colleges.