Francis Parker School Class of 2026 Profile: How to Read Its AP and College Pathways

Short answer: Francis Parker has 124 students in the Class of 2026, and its official profile publishes current curriculum, GPA, and AP context. As of August 23, 2026, however, the school had not published final Class of 2026 college destinations; the institution-level list still covers the Classes of 2022–2025.

The useful question is not how many famous college names appear. It is whether a student can build a coherent path from Grade 9 prerequisites through Honors/AP coursework and eventual college direction.

Separate the four data sets

Data	Population	What it can show	What it cannot show
2025–2026 School Profile	Class of 2026 and schoolwide context	Current courses, cohort size, GPA, and AP context	Final Class of 2026 destinations
Class of 2025 overview	142 seniors	Application volume, geographic spread, and destination breadth	Admits or enrollees at each institution
2022–2025 college list	Four classes combined	Higher-frequency historical matriculation	Class of 2026 results or individual odds
UC source-school data	Parker students applying to UC each year	UC applicants, admits, and enrollees over time	Other college outcomes or a full-class college rate

Parker's College Counseling page still labels its institution list “Classes of 2022–2025.” A Class of 2026 commencement does not mean final destinations have been published.

The core Class of 2026 profile facts

Metric	Official figure	How families should read it
Class of 2026	124 students	Smaller than a large public-school cohort, but course position and performance still matter
Upper School	550 students	Do not use the Pre-K–12 total of 1,330 as the high-school denominator
Average class size	16	Schoolwide average, not a promise for every Upper School course
Honors / AP	42 / 26 courses	The available course pool, not an expected load for one student
AP exams taken by the class	547 exams in 27 subjects	Cumulative while in Upper School, not a single-year count
AP scores of 3 or higher	87%	Exam performance, not a college admission rate
Highest weighted / unweighted GPA	4.99 / 4.29	Maximum values, not the cohort's GPA distribution

Parker does not rank students. Its GPA includes academic courses in Grades 9–12, and qualifying Honors and AP grades receive one additional point. A Parker 4.99 therefore should not be ranked directly against a CCA, TPHS, or UC GPA.

Why does Parker's AP path require early planning?

Parker retains AP courses, but a typical student does not begin AP until Grade 11. Students advanced in mathematics or world language may begin earlier. Honors/AP placement generally requires B+ or better in the first two trimesters of the prerequisite course.

Stage	Planning priority	Common mistake
Grade 9	Establish the right math, world-language, and writing starting points	Counting possible AP courses four years early
Grade 10	Preserve prerequisite sequences while testing genuine interests	Adding rigor only for weighted GPA
Grade 11	Align AP/Honors, activities, and an initial college direction	Treating course quantity as an admission result
Grade 12	Sustain rigor and complete a balanced, affordable list	Applying from historical college names alone

This differs from Bishop's, which has no AP program and communicates rigor through its own advanced courses. The useful comparison is how far a student can progress within each school's curriculum—not the raw number of AP labels.

Class of 2025: breadth matters more than trophy names

Parker reports that its 142 graduates chose 84 colleges across 29 states, Washington, D.C., and four international destinations; 37% stayed in California. The school also says that 237 different institutions made at least one offer to the class and that the counseling office reviewed 2,011 filed applications.

Those figures show a dispersed application and enrollment landscape. They do not reveal an average number of offers per student and are not Class of 2026 results. Likewise, the fact that 87% applied in an early round and 53% will attend an “early” school describes one cohort; it is not a reason for an individual student to apply ED.

2022–2025 history: use it for stable paths, not guarantees

The official list uses numerals to mark cumulative matriculation across four classes. Its higher-frequency destinations include:

Institution	Four-class enrollees	Institution	Four-class enrollees
UC Berkeley	24	UCLA	12
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo	21	USC	12
San Diego State	20	Northeastern	11
University of Michigan	18	NYU	11
UC Santa Cruz	11	Colorado Boulder	11
University of Washington	11	Wisconsin–Madison	11
Loyola Marymount	10	Purdue	10
UC Santa Barbara	10	University of San Diego	9

This supports a long-term pattern spanning UC, CSU, out-of-state public universities, and private colleges. Without applicant and admit counts, it cannot produce an admission rate or predict the next class.

UC 2020–2025: admission and enrollment are different

The UC Information Center reports the following universitywide source-school figures. Applicant and admit counts are unduplicated across UC campuses:

Entry year	Applicants	Admits	Enrollees	Admit rate	Admit-to-enroll yield
2025	96	64	17	66.7%	26.6%
2024	98	56	16	57.1%	28.6%
2023	95	58	23	61.1%	39.7%
2022	87	53	21	60.9%	39.6%
2021	94	56	18	59.6%	32.1%
2020	79	54	15	68.4%	27.8%

Parker's UC applicant count stayed within a relatively narrow range over these six years, while 15–23 students enrolled annually. In 2025, 37% of the class stayed in California but only 17 enrolled at UC, a useful reminder that “staying in California” also includes CSU and private institutions.

Planning matters more than tracking tables

Parker says formal college counseling begins at the end of the first trimester of junior year, with individual student and family meetings at the beginning of the second trimester. Grades 9 and 10 focus on interests, appropriate academic challenge, and grade-level programming.

Families should not wait for counselor assignment to discuss direction:

Entering in Grade 9: establish math, language, and academic-writing placement, then map the Grade 9–12 prerequisite chain.
Transferring in Grade 10: reconcile prior coursework early and ask whether Honors/AP prerequisites will delay the intended sequence.
Targeting UC: manage A–G, course rigor, and UC's own GPA methodology rather than treating Parker's weighted GPA as a UC GPA.
Still open on region: preserve UC, out-of-state public, and private-college pathways before narrowing by budget and field.

How should families compare Parker, Bishop's, LJCDS, CCA, and TPHS?

Parker: 124 students, 42 Honors and 26 AP courses; current public evidence is the 2026 profile plus 2022–2025 historical destinations.
Bishop's: 129 students, no AP, and rigor expressed through Honors/Advanced Honors. See the Bishop's Class of 2026 profile review.
LJCDS: a published final destination list for 108 Class of 2026 graduates. See the LJCDS Class of 2026 review.
CCA / TPHS: large public high schools with different course scale, counseling, and UC data denominators. See the CCA 2026 review and TPHS 2026 review.

Compare curriculum and the support a student needs before comparing outcome numbers.

FAQ

Has Parker published final Class of 2026 college destinations?

Not as of August 23, 2026. The current institution-level list is still labeled Classes of 2022–2025.

Were the 547 AP exams all taken in one year?

No. The profile states that Class of 2026 students took 547 AP exams across 27 subjects while in the Upper School.

Parker offers 26 AP courses. Should a student take as many as possible?

No. Parker typically begins AP in Grade 11 and uses prerequisite-grade requirements. The course sequence should fit the student's preparation, interests, activities, and direction.

Is the 66.7% UC admit rate an individual student's probability?

No. It is a 2025 universitywide aggregate for UC applicants from Parker, unduplicated across campuses. It does not control for campus, major, or student profile.

Do historical matriculation counts equal admission counts?

No. Matriculation means final enrollment; admission means receiving an offer. They answer different questions and use different denominators.

Sources and verification notes

Information	Source	How this article uses it
Class of 2026 size, GPA, Honors/AP, and exams	Parker 2025–2026 School Profile	Official school PDF; not extended into Class of 2026 destinations.
Class of 2025 overview and counseling timeline	Parker College Counseling	Official school page; verified August 23, 2026.
2022–2025 enrollees	Parker College Acceptances, Classes of 2022–2025	Uses only numbered matriculation entries; unnumbered acceptance names are not counted as enrollment.
UC 2020–2025	UC Admissions by Source School	Official, universitywide unduplicated data; rates are article calculations.