San Domenico

“Study, Reflection, Community, and Service”

Independent · San Anselmo (Marin) · AKA: SD

San Domenico School

“Study, Reflection, Community, and Service”

Students: ~380
Ratio: 9:1
Tuition: $70k

Enrollment: ~380
Student:teacher: 9:1
Base tuition: $69,650
Real cost: $71k–$75k
Flexible tuition: ~35%

What makes this school special

California's oldest independent school, founded in 1850, on a 515-acre Marin campus; the Upper School is co-ed day and boarding
The Virtuoso Program, a music conservatory for aspiring professional string musicians, with its own rehearsal studios and professional faculty in a 300-seat hall of the arts
A boarding community drawing students from more than 20 countries, with Global Education and curriculum-based travel woven through the program
A Dominican-heritage identity expressed through service-learning capstones, ecoliteracy and a working garden, and the Wayfinder purpose-and-life-design program

Academics

Advanced coursework

24 AP courses · 23 UC-approved honors courses

See the list filed with UC

World languages

Mandarin, Spanish, Latin

Schedule

Block schedule

Signature programs

Virtuoso Program — a music conservatory for high-school string musicians
Wayfinder purpose-and-life-design program
Interdisciplinary Design and Creation (IDC)
Global Education and an international boarding community
Garden of Hope and campus-wide sustainability

College matriculation

Barnard, Boston University, Bowdoin, Cornell, Dartmouth, Emory, Georgetown, Middlebury, Pomona, Santa Clara University, Stanford, Tufts, UC Berkeley, USC

See the full list

UC admissions · For fall 2025 entry

applied: 60
admitted to at least one campus: 44
enrolled at a UC: 11

See UC’s data

What these numbers can and can’t tell you

Athletics, arts & activities

Athletics · Bay Area Conference — BCL West

BadmintonBaseball (boys)BasketballBeach VolleyballCross CountryFlag FootballGolfMountain BikingSailingSoccerSoftball (girls)SwimmingTennisTrack & FieldVolleyball (girls)Water Polo

Arts

MusicDanceTheatreVisual ArtsDigital Media

Clubs & activities · 40+

Model United NationsSpeech & DebateMathletesNational Honor SocietyPanther Press (newspaper)Black Student UnionJazz BandChess Club

See all clubs

Life there

Food

On-campus dining hall

Learning support

Learning Resource Center — peer tutoring, a Math Lab, and drop-in homework support

Applying

Key dates

Applications open: August 17, 2026
Application due: January 5, 2027
Indexed tuition application due: January 5, 2027
Decisions released: March 12, 2027
Enrollment contracts due: March 19, 2027

Tours and events

See the school's schedule Sign up on Ravenna

The application

San Domenico is test-free: its application checklist includes no SSAT, ISEE, or other admissions test. (Through the last cycle the apply page said outright it would not require or accept SSAT or ISEE scores; the current page simply lists an application without any testing step.) The application runs through Ravenna, the shared application platform. Day and boarding run on separate calendars: boarding applications are due about ten days after day applications in January, get decisions a week earlier in March, and have a later contract deadline, so a family weighing both tracks is watching two sets of dates. 35% of families pay below the top of the tuition index.

Application requirements

Ravenna application and student profile
Teacher and principal/counselor recommendations
Transcripts
Student interview (1:1)

Testing

Test-free

Getting there

1500 Butterfield Road, San Anselmo, CA 94960

Transit

School bus from San Francisco
No transit stop within a mile

Transit directions

Why is this school included?

Contact the school

admissions@sandomenico.org Visit the admissions site

Still thinking about San Domenico?

Save it to your shortlist and come back anytime.

Often on the same list

Marin Academy

Independent

The Branson School

Independent

Marin Catholic High School

Catholic (co-ed)

Sources

About — founding, "California's oldest independent school," Dominican heritage
Admissions and Boarding — co-ed day and boarding, international community
Tuition & Affordability — the 2026-27 tuition index (families pay from $500 to the top: $69,650 for grades 9-12 day, $86,800 boarding), 35% pay below the top
Apply — requirements (no testing step in the application checklist), 2027–28 deadlines
Upper School — world languages, block schedule
Athletics — sports roster, league membership
Arts and Virtuoso Program — arts, music conservatory
Signature Programs — Wayfinder, IDC, Global Education, sustainability
Student Clubs — clubs
Student Support & Wellness — learning support
NCES School Detail (ID A0300549) — grades 9–12 enrollment (89+99+102+88), not broken out on the school's own site
San Domenico — Why SD — 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio (the school's published figure, for the whole K–12 school)
About San Domenico — motto / four core values ("Study, Reflection, Community, and Service," named the school's foundational values)
Bay Area Conference — conference structure and division membership
Tuition & Affordability — "Tuition includes daily meals and bus transportation," and "Our buses run north to Novato, east to Richmond, and south to San Francisco with many stops along the way." The stop list is behind the parent portal, so no San Francisco stop is named here
UC A-G course list — San Domenico School — the 2026-27 course list the school files with the University of California: 24 AP courses and 23 UC-approved honors courses beyond AP. The same filing names the languages the school teaches: Chinese, Latin, Mandarin, Spanish. UC's list doesn't distinguish Mandarin from Cantonese; we carry the school's own name for the course

Details checked August 2026