2021 Best Boarding Schools in the San Francisco Bay Area

About this List

Explore the best boarding schools in your area based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Find the right residential schools for you. Read more on how this ranking was calculated.

Best Schools

7 results

The Athenian School
Private School
Danville, CA
6-12
Rating 4.34 out of 5 70 reviews
#1 Best Boarding High Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Senior: If you find yourself valuing experiential academics over concrete grade-driven results, The Athenian School is the place for you. Challenging, driven, engaging, and above all unique, my seven-year experience at Athenian has been something I could have never dreamed of getting through the traditional public school system. While achieving high grades at Athenian is significantly harder than most public schools due to the overall workload and academic rigor, the quality of education I recieved through my time there has been nothing short of stellar.
Read 70 Reviews
grade A+
Overall Niche Grade
533 Students
9:1 Student-Teacher Ratio
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Woodside Priory School
Private School
Portola Valley, CA
6-12
Rating 4.03 out of 5 71 reviews
#2 Best Boarding High Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Alum: Work Culture: Priory emphasizes balance. The people within this community care about your wellbeing and are more focused on creating great people than producing more robots who fuel Silicon Valley's toxic work culture. But, don't get me wrong, kids still care about academics a lot. For example, in one class, around fifteen kids got into ivy league schools and six kids got into Stanford.

Social Life: Your social life is determined by who you hang out with and the general attitude of your class. Luckily, there were a lot of people in my class who loved to host parties or knew kids from other schools who were throwing parties. During my senior year, there were stretches where my friends and I were going to a party every weekend for eight weeks straight.

Dating: Dating at Priory is pretty normal, but due to the small class sizes, it's pretty hard to keep your business private.

Sports: Basketball, XC, and Girls Soccer are the strongest programs.

Campus: Best in NorCal easily.
Read 71 Reviews
grade A+
Overall Niche Grade
382 Students
6:1 Student-Teacher Ratio
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San Domenico School
Private School
San Anselmo, CA
K-12
Rating 4.4 out of 5 98 reviews
#3 Best Boarding High Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Parent: San Domenico did an amazing job during COVID. While many other schools in the Bay Area were not open, SD was alive, in-person and students were thriving! What's more, they were also providing distance learning for their international students who were stuck in their home countries during the travel bans. (They even had sessions offered in our evening time, so that the international students could take their synchronous classes in their morning time. The teachers really went above and beyond.

The Covid protocols were clear, testing was available and provided at the school every week. I felt that we were working together as a community to make sure all families were safe and this was nice. The teachers were dedicated, reassuring and handled the extra stress of distance and in-person teaching with grace. My hat is off to all who work at SD. Great job.
Read 98 Reviews
grade A+
Overall Niche Grade
680 Students
9:1 Student-Teacher Ratio
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California Crosspoint Academy
Private School
Hayward, CA
3-12
Rating 4.13 out of 5 16 reviews
#4 Best Boarding High Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Senior: I’ve been going to California Crosspoint Academy all of my academic life. From Kindergarten to my Senior year of high school, I have seen myself, as well as the school, grow academically and spiritually. California Crosspoint Academy has-and will always be-my second home as I have been able to be a part of a great, loving community of students, teachers, and friends. California Crosspoint Academy is constantly growing in student population, in building complexes, and in doing the works of Jesus Christ. If your looking for great education, exceptional academics, and long-lasting friendships, California Crosspoint Academy is the place to go.
Read 16 Reviews
grade A+
Overall Niche Grade
348 Students
8:1 Student-Teacher Ratio
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Archbishop Riordan High School
Private School
San Francisco, CA
9-12
Rating 4.11 out of 5 124 reviews
#5 Best Boarding High Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Parent: My son is a sophomore at Archbishop Riordan and he absolutely loves school. As an all-boys school, the focus centers on guiding boys to become young men. There is a mandatory "frosh" skills class, where students learn skills such as shaking hands, balancing a checkbook, taxes, ironing a dress shirt, creating a resume, and more. The fact that Riordan is all-boys, means that the instruction targets specifically how they learn and the distractions faced at a co-ed school don't exist. Overall, we are so happy with the school and we highly recommend!
Read 124 Reviews
grade A
Overall Niche Grade
820 Students
13:1 Student-Teacher Ratio
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Eastside College Preparatory School
Private School
East Palo Alto, CA
6-12
Rating 4.04 out of 5 141 reviews
#6 Best Boarding High Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Senior: This is a great school if you want to be on the path to a 4 year university, I’m sure this is many student’s goals however, Eastside College Prep provides a clear lay out and plan for successful admission into college. My experience here for the past 3.5 years has been both challenging yet compelling simultaneously. I receive great support from teachers and have been able to develop connections with the teachers and staff so that I could take full advantage of the opportunity I was given here at Eastside.
Read 141 Reviews
grade A
Overall Niche Grade
336 Students
14:1 Student-Teacher Ratio
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St. Patrick-St. Vincent Catholic High School
Private School
Vallejo, CA
9-12
Rating 3.98 out of 5 130 reviews
#7 Best Boarding High Schools in San Francisco Bay Area
Senior: The courses at SPSV can be challenging but can ultimately prepare you for college level courses. Despite being on the small side for school campuses, they offer a variety of activities that you can participate in. The place has gotten better over time and has progressed well. I would say though that the constant replacements for teachers for a set of courses is a downside, however, they still do their best to relay information and use technology to carry out their courses. Overall, it's a good college prep school that has its negatives but can be overshadowed by its positives.
Read 130 Reviews
grade A
Overall Niche Grade
479 Students
15:1 Student-Teacher Ratio
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Challenger School - Berryessa
Private School
San Jose, CA
PK, K-8
Rating 5 out of 5 1 review
Middle School Student: Challenger Berryessa is a great school that has amazing teachers, resources, academics, and culture. I will always remember my times at Challenger for the rest of my life. I would like to see an improvement in the clubs at school because they are very few and limited, which limits individuals' oppurtunities to pursue what they seem interesting.
Read 1 Review
839 Students
18:1 Student-Teacher Ratio
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