Admission Process FAQs

We encourage families to create an account on Ravenna-hub.com to register for our fall Admissions events and learn more about Castilleja.

The Admission team is excited to offer a series of virtual Discover Castilleja events and in-person opportunities that will showcase Castilleja to prospective families. Please create an account on Ravenna-hub.com to register for all of our events. A description of each event may be found here.

Castilleja’s earliest entry point for enrollment is in 6th grade, with approximately 60 spaces available. Due to our new Conditional Use Permit approval, we can begin to enroll more students in the 9th grade. This is exciting new for us and for our 9th grade applicants! We also welcome applicants to grades 7, 8, 10, and 11, but we want families to be aware that admission in these grades is very limited and contingent upon having a space available. 

The Committee evaluates several hundred applications for 6th grade and over one hundred applications for 9th grade and through the process identifies girls who truly love learning.

Successful applicants are intellectually curious, actively engaged and strong members of their school community. We seek girls who embody and appreciate our core values, the 5 Cs- conscience, courtesy, character, courage and charity, and who also appreciate these values in their classmates.

Castilleja welcomes international students to apply for admission. All applicants must go through the same admission process and must be fluent (oral and written) in English.

Upon admission to Castilleja, we are able to offer student visas to international students. It is expected that all Castilleja students will live with immediate family members in the Bay Area.

Castilleja will not require standardized tests during the admission season. Further, if we receive test results, we will not add them to applicants’ files. The admission committee will continue to rely on a holistic approach to our process, considering the countless ways that applicants can contribute to and thrive within our learning community.

Admission decisions are made independently of tuition assistance applications and decisions.

Castilleja is committed to enrolling a diverse student body and encourages families to apply for admission and tuition assistance. Twenty-one percent of our families receive tuition assistance awards ranging from $5,000–$56,000.

Admission decision letters and Tuition Assistance decision letters are mailed on March 16, 2023 and posted on Ravenna on March 17, 2023 at 4:00pm.

While the majority of our students live in the areas surrounding Palo Alto, our entire study body comes from over 50 different zip codes all over the Bay Area.

Castilleja is committed to providing many transportation options to help girls get to and from school. Many girls walk, bike, or carpool to school daily. Other girls take Caltrain and we have shuttles for morning pick up and after school drop offs. We also provide shuttles that pick up in East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Woodside and Los Altos each morning.

Yes. As a school for girls, Castilleja will consider any applicant who aligns with the mission of the school and identifies as a girl, whether or not that identity is different from the gender identity traditionally associated with the person's physiology, assigned sex at birth, or school records.