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San Domenico

“Study, Reflection, Community, and Service”

AKA: SDSan Anselmo (Marin)Independent

Students
~380
Ratio
9:1
Tuition
Indexed

Tuition set by family income, no published sticker price.

Admissions

Applications open
Late August
Application due
Early January
Decisions released
Mid-to-late March
admissions@sandomenico.org
Visit admissions site

What makes this school special

  • California's first independent school, founded in 1850, on a 515-acre Marin campus; the Upper School is co-ed day and boarding, with about 378 students in grades 9–12
  • 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

World languages

Mandarin, Spanish

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

See the full list

Athletics, arts & activities

Athletics · Bay Counties League (BCL)

BadmintonBaseballBasketballBeach VolleyballCross CountryFlag FootballGolfMountain BikingSailingSoccerSoftballSwimmingTennisTrack & FieldVolleyballWater Polo

Arts

MusicDanceTheatreVisual ArtsDigital Arts

Clubs & activities · 38+

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

Often on the same list

Marin Academy

Independent

The Branson School

Independent

Sacred Heart Preparatory, Atherton

Catholic (co-ed)

Sources

  1. About — founding, "California's first independent school," Dominican heritage
  2. Admissions and Boarding — co-ed day and boarding, international community
  3. Tuition & Affordability — indexed tuition, 34% participation
  4. Apply — test-free policy, requirements, deadline
  5. Upper School — world languages, block schedule
  6. Athletics — sports roster, Bay Counties League
  7. Arts and Virtuoso Program — arts, music conservatory
  8. Signature Programs — Wayfinder, IDC, Global Education, sustainability
  9. Student Clubs — clubs
  10. Student Support & Wellness — learning support
  11. NCES School Detail (ID A0300549) — grades 9–12 enrollment (89+99+102+88), not broken out on the school's own site
  12. San Domenico — Why SD — 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio (the school's published figure, for the whole K–12 school)
  13. About San Domenico — motto / four core values ("Study, Reflection, Community, and Service," named the school's foundational values)

Last reviewed July 2026