Santa Catalina School: a small girls’ boarding school where faith, the coast, and daily life fit together

Know which school you are evaluating

Two schools, one campus

Santa Catalina's Upper School is all girls, grades 9–12, with day students and seven-day boarding. The 2025–26 profile counts 226 students: 135 boarders, 91 day students, a 7:1 ratio, and an average class of 14.

A coeducational PreK–8 school shares the campus as a separate division. Boarding belongs strictly to the Upper School; a Grade 6 leadership weekend is outreach, not middle-school boarding or early enrollment.

The nondiscrimination statement includes gender identity and expression, alongside an Upper School described as all girls.

Boarding and day life

The day is shared. The night is not.

Day students and boarders share classes, lunch, athletics, arts, clubs, chapel, and traditions. Day students help boarders explore Monterey and Carmel, and a student wellness committee includes both.

The 2025–26 profile reports 49 international students from 13 countries, 86 domestic boarders from 10 states, and 44 percent students of color.

Dorms are assigned by grade: Thompson for freshmen, Greer for sophomores and juniors, and Hills for seniors, with resident faculty close by. Each dorm has its own living room, and the central patio is for informal time together.

Weekend activities include paddleboarding, theatre, and trips to San Francisco or San Jose. Tuition includes an evening and weekend shuttle.

Airport shuttles for vacations are extra.

Every student takes an arts class, and a 500-seat theater stages two musicals and one play each year. Traditions include senior big sisters, Ring Week, Candlelight Mass, and Father-Daughter Weekend, alongside clubs like Safe Space and the Black Student Union.

Faith and girls’ education

Wednesday chapel, Sunday Mass

Santa Catalina describes spirituality as central and welcomes students across religious traditions. Weekly Wednesday chapel, Masses, prayer, retreats, religious-studies courses, and service sit on the timetable.

Sundays are Mass or a Communion Service, with Confirmation optional for juniors and seniors.

The Diocese of Monterey classifies Santa Catalina as an independent Catholic school, not a diocesan-owned school. In the Upper School, every classroom, team, production, publication, and elected role centers girls.

Classes and requirements

What she has to take

Academics run on a semester system with a 4.0 GPA scale and no class rank. Honors, AP, and Advanced Topics courses receive 0.5 weighting and require the academic dean's approval, with weighted options beginning in grade 10.

The curriculum guide requires four years of English; three years each of mathematics, science, and arts; three years of a world language or completion through Level 3; two and a half years of history; two years of religious studies; one year of health and wellness; and one semester each of computer science and Freshman Foundations.

Seniors must take five classes. A student who arrives after grade 9 should map her credits against this list, including religious studies, before counting on a science, language, or arts sequence.

The signature Marine Ecology Research Program runs three years. It begins with a selected sophomore group and can include original research with local marine partners.

Advising, tutoring, and wellness

Where help starts and stops

Freshman Foundations is an ungraded, homework-free weekly course on study and life skills. Journey, across four years, covers leadership, community, personal safety, finance, wellness, and college.

The Math Tutoring Center and the Writing Lab offer academic help alongside subject tutoring; private tutoring is an optional expense.

The 2026–27 counselor posting describes drop-in and scheduled counseling, individual or in a group, coordinated with resident life and off-campus providers. A 2026 posting for a part-time nurse describes evening and occasional weekend health-center support, coordinated with the head nurse and covering medication, care plans, first aid, and emergencies.

Both are job descriptions, so ask who is on duty overnight before signing.

Fall 2027 process

February 1, unless you are going Early Decision

For Fall 2027, the regular deadline is February 1 for both admission and aid. Decisions come out March 10.

Aid recipients enroll by March 24, and other admitted students by April 10. Fees are $75 domestic and $150 international.

The file uses the Standard Application Online: student essays, a parent statement, current English and mathematics recommendations, a school-head or counselor recommendation, and transcripts from the current year and the two years before.

Early Decision is binding for day and boarding applicants, and the calendar can get ahead of the aid letter. The deadline is December 4, 2026.

Decisions arrive December 18, and enrollment is January 8, requiring withdrawal from other schools and a 30-percent nonrefundable deposit.

The aid page says new-student awards go out with March 10 decisions, and neither page gives an earlier Early Decision aid date, so a family that needs aid should get the award timing and release terms in writing before choosing the binding route.

A visit is required, and a parent or guardian must accompany the applicant. Both in-person and virtual formats include a student-led tour, curriculum overview, student interview, parent interview, and writing sample.

The in-person visit runs about four hours on a Monday, Thursday, or Friday morning, adding a classroom visit, a student-run assembly, and a deeper facilities tour. Families who cannot travel can complete a virtual tour and a separate interview.

Standardized testing is listed as optional. Nonnative English speakers must submit the TOEFL iBT; Duolingo requires prior authorization when TOEFL is unavailable.

The checklist still says an assessment may apply.

Grade 9 is the entry the school is built around: Freshman Foundations, the freshman dorm, and the Veritas scholarship start there. The Early Decision FAQ refers to applicants for grades 10 and 11.

Rolling admission runs from mid-March to mid-August when space remains. Requirements stay the same.

A completed rolling file usually receives a decision within seven days.

Tuition, aid, and total cost

Tuition, then the rest of the bill

For 2026–27, tuition is $48,925 for day students and $79,300 for boarders. That covers meals, with lunch only for day students, plus network support, athletics, most athletic uniforms, performing arts, field-trip transport, publications, the yearbook, accident insurance, association membership, and laundry-machine use for residents.

Beyond tuition, budget a $400 incidental deposit, $500–$600 for uniforms, and $400–$700 for books and supplies. The school puts those posted extras at $900–$1,300, before adding a laptop, locally accepted health insurance, transport, or tuition-refund coverage.

Boarders should also budget about $40 weekly, plus vacation airport shuttles, taxis, and possible international insurance near $250 monthly. Payment-plan families must buy tuition-refund coverage at 1.45 percent of annual tuition, about $709 at the day price or $1,150 at the boarding price.

The school offers one-, two-, and 10-installment plans. A $350 graduation fee and other senior-tradition expenses are listed under optional expenses.

Aid is need-based, filed through Clarity for $65. The request does not affect admission, and families reapply each year.

Prior-cycle grants ranged from $6,500 to $41,000 for day students and from $15,000 to $73,000 for boarders, with 36 percent of students receiving aid in 2025–26. New-student awards go out with March 10 decisions.

The four-year Veritas award goes to one entering ninth grader a year, strictly through Early Decision. She must currently be in grade 8 and studying in the United States.

It covers tuition, a laptop, one school-sponsored travel experience, and a $500 annual enrichment stipend. Uniforms, books, insurance, and spending money are not promised.

Campus, commute, and comparisons

Getting there, and getting home

The campus covers 36 acres at 1500 Mark Thomas Drive. Monterey Bay, the beaches, and Carmel provide the local setting for science, arts, service, and weekends, with Big Sur down the coast.

The school estimates Silicon Valley at 90 minutes and San Francisco at two hours.

Optional buses take day students to Santa Cruz and Salinas via Highway 68. For boarders, the evening and weekend shuttle is included, but vacation airport transport and off-route taxis are not.

For a wider shortlist, start with the boarding-school guide and the Bay Area admissions guide. Cate and Thacher are other California coastal boarding schools with guides here. Castilleja and Head-Royce are Bay Area day-school paths. The admissions hub collects interviews, testing, aid, and deadlines.

Faith life, aid timing and the handbook at Santa Catalina

Santa Catalina is a Catholic girls' boarding school, so ask what chapel and service involve, when Early Decision aid arrives, and what the handbook says.