Balboa High School

What makes this school special

The first SFUSD school to go wall-to-wall on career pathways: every junior and senior belongs to one of five — arts (CAST), game design, law, social justice (PULSE), or wilderness education (WALC), so a 1,200-student school works like several small ones
A short walk from Balboa Park station, where BART and three Muni Metro lines (J, K, M) converge — one of the easiest commutes of any SF high school
A Wellness Center with an on-site DPH Teen Clinic, plus the CYC after-school program

Academics

Curriculum

All instruction runs through small learning communities; every junior and senior joins one of five career pathways.

Advanced Placement

10 AP courses

See the course list

World languages

Spanish, Mandarin, Filipino

Schedule

Semester

Signature programs

CAST — Creative Arts for Social Transformation (arts & entertainment CTE)
Game Design Academy (GDA)
Law Academy
PULSE — Peers United for Leadership, Service and Equity
WALC — Wilderness, Art and Literacy Collaborative

UC admissions

In fall 2025, 152 students applied to the UC system from this school; 120 were admitted to at least one campus, and 60 enrolled.

See UC’s data

What these numbers can and can’t tell you

Athletics, arts & activities

Athletics · CIF San Francisco Section (AAA)

BadmintonBaseball (boys)BasketballCheerCross CountryFencingFlag Football (girls)Football (boys)GolfSoccerSoftball (girls)SwimmingTennisTrack & FieldVolleyballWrestling

Arts

BandOrchestraGuitarVocal MusicArtMedia ArtsCreative ComputingDJ Audio Media ProductionCAST Media Arts (video, animation, motion graphics, theatre production)

Clubs & activities · 20+

Asian Student UnionBlack Student UnionLatinoamerica UnidaChinese ClubDragon BoatLion DanceMock TrialRoboticsJROTCEco ClubPhotographyBook ClubBal EmpowerHerStudent Association

See all clubs

Life there

Food

Free for all students (SFUSD)

Learning support

Wellness Center with on-site DPH Teen Clinic, counseling, College Room, Special Education, CYC after-school program

Notable alumni

Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead)
Solofa Fatu / Rikishi (WWE Hall of Famer)
Cindy Herron (En Vogue)
Herbert Sigüenza (playwright/actor, Culture Clash)

Applying

Key dates

Applications open: October 23, 2026
Main Round application due: February 1, 2027
Assignment letters mailed: Week of March 15, 2027
Accept assignment: March 25, 2027

The application

Balboa is part of SFUSD's citywide choice process: one application, list your schools in preference order, no test and no feeder middle schools. When more students list a school than it has seats, tiebreakers (sibling, Willie Brown Middle School attendance, CTIP1 test-score area) decide — not grades. Apply by the Main Round deadline in late January or early February for fall enrollment.

Application requirements

San Francisco residency
SFUSD enrollment application by the Main Round deadline (list your school choices)

Testing

None — SFUSD choice lottery

Sources

Balboa High School | SFUSD — name, address, neighborhood, hours, support services
Balboa Pathways | SFUSD — the five career pathways, wall-to-wall model
Balboa Departments | SFUSD — AP courses, world languages, arts
Balboa Clubs | SFUSD — club list
Balboa Athletics | SFUSD — sports by season and gender, league
NCES Common Core of Data (2024-25) — enrollment, student:teacher ratio, % students of color
How student assignment works | SFUSD — application process, deadlines, tiebreakers
Balboa High School | Wikipedia — 1928 founding, school colors, motto ("First on the Pacific"), alumni
SFUSD Grading Periods — two-semester (Fall/Spring) structure ("18 weeks in a semester")
Balboa Details | SFUSD — language programs (Mandarin, Filipino, Spanish)

Details checked August 2026

Balboa