Nueva School Upper School Admissions Consulting
Independent guidance for families applying to grades 9 and 10 at Nueva’s San Mateo campus, ranked the #1 high school for STEM in America.
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About the School
About The Nueva School Upper School
The Nueva School Upper School is a private, coeducational day school for grades 9 through 12 in San Mateo, California, enrolling 450 students on a campus purpose-built for project-based learning. Founded in 1967 to serve gifted learners, Nueva built its high school program around design thinking, engineering, and student-directed inquiry rather than a conventional honors-and-AP ladder. Niche ranked it the #1 high school for STEM in America in its 2026 rankings, out of 8,859 schools. Classes average 16 students, the student-teacher ratio is 6 to 1, and every recent graduating class has gone on to four-year colleges. Families come to Nueva for the intellectual ceiling. They stay for how seriously the school takes adolescence itself.
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Fast Facts
Location
131 E. 28th Avenue, San Mateo, CA 94403 (Upper School campus)
School Type
Private, coeducational, nonsectarian day school
Grades Served
9–12 at the San Mateo campus; PreK–8 at the separate Hillsborough campus
Upper School Enrollment
450 students (967 across all three divisions)
Average Class Size
16 students
Student-Teacher Ratio
6 to 1
Student Body
76% students of color
College Outcomes
100% of graduates admitted to four-year colleges
Athletics
9 sports, including basketball, cross-country, flag football, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, and volleyball
Applications Open
Early September 2026, through the Ravenna portal
Transportation
Caltrain passes provided to upper school students, plus Nueva bus routes and carpool
What Makes Nueva’s Upper School Admissions Process Unique?
Nueva neither requires nor accepts entrance testing. No ISEE, no SSAT, and no IQ assessment for upper school applicants. That single policy reshapes the entire application. With no score to hide behind and no score to be filtered out by, the writing sample, the questionnaires, the interview, and the Activity Session carry nearly all the weight. Nueva is also unusual in concentrating admissions in grades 9 and 10, with roughly 35 to 45 spots at ninth grade and almost nothing after. For most families, the practical question is not whether your child tests well. It is whether your child can think out loud, under observation, with strangers.
Admissions Calendar
Nueva has published the back half of the fall 2027 admissions cycle but has not yet released the application deadline or the fall event calendar. Both typically post when applications open in early September. We will update this page as soon as the school confirms them.
Applications open
Early September 2026 (Through Ravenna, Nueva’s application and event registration platform)
Fall admissions events
Visit the school website for updates. (Expect Program Previews, Upper School campus tours, and virtual office hours; registration runs through Ravenna)
Application and supplemental materials deadline
Visit the school website for updates. (The prior cycle closed on January 8)
Admissions decisions released
March 12, 2027 (Delivered through Ravenna for all grades)
Campus visits for admitted families
March 16–18, 2027 (Upper School admitted families)
Enrollment reply deadline
March 19, 2027 (Applies to all grades)
What the Nueva Upper School Application Requires
- 01Top Tips for Applying to Nueva
Apply to grade 9 if you have the choice. Grade 10 admits roughly zero to three students, and grades 11 and 12 are special-circumstance only. Prepare your child for a timed, unassisted writing sample rather than a polished essay they can revise over weeks. Treat the Activity Session as the real interview. Nueva is watching collaboration, curiosity, and how your child handles not knowing something. Take the Parent/Guardian Written Questionnaire as seriously as your child’s materials. It carries genuine weight. Do not send extra recommendations. Nueva explicitly declines additional documents, including from current Nueva families.
- 02Best Practices for Families Applying to Nueva
Create a Ravenna account as early as you can. Event registration and application components both run through it. Attend a Program Preview or campus tour before you apply, so your child can speak specifically about Nueva rather than generically about rigor. Be honest with yourself about fit. Nueva’s open-ended, project-based structure suits some strong students poorly, and admissions officers can tell when a family is applying to a name rather than a program. Start the conversation with your child early. The application asks them to be self-aware in writing and in person, and that is not something anyone can produce in December. Keep a written record of deadlines as Nueva posts them, since the fall event calendar tends to fill quickly once it goes live.
- 03Testing Policy
Entrance testing is neither required nor accepted. Nueva does not consider ISEE or SSAT results for upper school admission. IQ assessments are not required for the Upper School either, though families who already have results may submit them to the admissions office by email.
- 04Timed Writing Sample
Administered virtually through Kira Talent as part of the questionnaire process, the writing sample gives your child 30 minutes to plan and write an essay in response to a provided prompt. It must be completed independently. Kira Talent runs monitoring designed to detect adult assistance or AI tools, and an application flagged for either is withdrawn, with the student barred from applying to Nueva in this or any future cycle.
- 05Written Questionnaires
Both an Applicant Written Questionnaire and a Parent/Guardian Written Questionnaire are submitted through Ravenna. These replace the conventional personal statement and parent statement and are read closely.
- 06Interview and Activity Session
Interview importance is high. Applicants also spend time on campus in an Activity Session involving individual work, hands-on collaborative activities, and group conversation with faculty and other applicants.
- 07Transcripts and Recommendations
Nueva requires a school transcript and teacher recommendation letters submitted through Ravenna. The school asks that no additional documents or recommendations be sent on an applicant’s behalf, including from current or former members of the Nueva community, and states that unsolicited materials will not be accepted.
- 08Family Information Form
Families begin by inquiring through Ravenna, then complete and submit the Family Information Form along with a nonrefundable $100 application fee.
Nueva Upper School Academic Snapshot
SAT, Evidence-Based Reading and Writing
Mean 760 (mid-50% 730–790)
SAT, Math
Mean 770 (mid-50% 740–780)
ACT, Composite
Mean 34 (mid-50% 34–35)
Faculty holding advanced degrees
80% or more
College counselors on staff
4
Honors or AP courses designated
None
Nueva does not designate Honors or Advanced Placement courses. Rigor comes from the depth of the coursework and from student-directed projects rather than from a course label, which changes how your child’s transcript should be read and how it should be presented to colleges later.
Academic departments span design thinking, engineering, computer science, fine and performing arts, history, social sciences, civics, lab science, literature, communications, mathematics, and world languages.
Upper School Openings by Grade
Grade 9
35–45
Grade 10
0–3
Grades 11 and 12
Considered only in special circumstances; contact the admissions office directly
Nueva concentrates upper school admissions at two entry points so that students have the most time to become part of the community.
Accreditations and Memberships
Accreditations
California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS); Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)
Memberships
Association of Independent Schools for Gifted Students (founding member); Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools; California Independent Schools Business Officers Association; Council for Advancement and Support of Education; Independent School Data Exchange; National Association for Gifted Children; National Association of Independent Schools
For a deeper look at Nueva’s curriculum, student life, athletics, and admissions strategy, read our complete Nueva School admissions guide for parents.
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Nueva Upper School Admissions Consulting | San Mateo, CA
Meta Description
Independent Nueva School Upper School admissions consulting for San Mateo families. Requirements, timeline, testing policy, and expert guidance for grades 9 and 10.
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nueva school upper school admissions, nueva school san mateo admissions, how to get into nueva school, nueva upper school application requirements, nueva timed writing sample, nueva school admissions consultant, private high school admissions san mateo
How Cardinal Education Helps Nueva Upper School Applicants
Because Nueva accepts no test scores, the work we do with your child is not test prep. It is the harder thing underneath: helping a bright fourteen-year-old figure out what they actually think, and then say it clearly under a 30-minute clock and in a room full of faculty they have never met. We coach the timed writing sample, prepare families for the Activity Session, and work with parents on the questionnaire. We also tell you honestly when Nueva is not the right fit for your child, which happens more often than families expect at a school this specific. Asian American families navigating Nueva’s admissions process can read our dedicated guidance for their situation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Nueva Upper School Admissions
How hard is it to get into Nueva’s Upper School?
Does Nueva require the SSAT or ISEE?
How big is the Asian American population at Nueva?
Which grades can my child apply to at the Nueva Upper School?
Does Nueva require an IQ assessment for upper school applicants?
What is the Nueva timed writing sample?
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