San Francisco Jesuit school
Jesuit college prep in San Francisco’s Sunset District, serving the city since 1855.
Honest Comparison
St. Ignatius College Preparatory vs Archbishop Mitty High School
If a Bay Area family is choosing between San Francisco and San Jose Catholic schools, the starting point is fit — city, school identity, programs, and aid. Deadlines and HSPT dates come second: they are logistics to plan around, not reasons to choose.
Quick verdict
Choose St. Ignatius if the family wants a San Francisco Jesuit education from a school serving the city since 1855, and can work a tighter fall timeline: application due November 16, HSPT on December 5.
Choose Archbishop Mitty if the South Bay commute fits better and the family wants a co-ed school known for academics, arts, and athletics, with need-based tuition assistance in the admissions path.
Both schools use the HSPT. Get the baseline before comparing score expectations.
A free five-section diagnostic shows where the student stands before the earlier St. Ignatius test date and the later Mitty window.
Try for free
3 days free · cancel anytime
School snapshot
San Jose Catholic high school
Co-ed Catholic high school in San Jose known for academics, arts, and athletics.
Feature comparison
| Area | St. Ignatius | Archbishop Mitty |
|---|---|---|
| Metro | San Francisco | San Jose |
| Students | 1,475 students (2025-26) | 1,775 students (2025-26) |
| Athletics | 15 sports, ~1,100 athletes on 55 teams + 9 club teams (WCAL) | 64 interscholastic teams in 26 programs (WCAL); 1,000+ student-athletes; 225 alumni competing at four-year colleges in the last 5 years; 19 CIF state titles since 2000 |
| Application opens | September 9, 2026 (12pm) | September 8, 2026 |
| Application deadline | November 16, 2026 (11:59pm) | Not listed |
| HSPT date | December 5, 2026 (9:00am-12:30pm) | January 9 or January 23, 2027 (9:00am) |
| Application fee | $100 | $75 |
| Other notable step | All applicants must submit an admissions video after the application deadline. | Need-based tuition assistance is available as a separate admissions and affordability step. |
| Financial aid | Not listed in current tracking | Need-based tuition assistance is available as a separate admissions and affordability step. |
Enrollment and athletics from each school's official 2025-26 profile; NCES Private School Locator (2023-24) as a secondary enrollment source. Numbers can shift year to year.
After graduation: where the Class of 2025 landed
College outcomes
95% of 363 graduates attend a four-year college
16% of graduates attend a Jesuit college; 3% attend another Catholic college
AP pass rate 76% — 125 AP Scholars, 95 with Honors, 61 with Distinction
SAT mid-50%: 1190–1420 (58% took); ACT mid-50%: 26–32 (15% took)
Selective: ~1,300 applications for 385 spaces in the incoming class
The school profile shows the geographic breakdown of college destinations as a graphic, not a text list; the full profile PDF is linked below.
College outcomes
100% attending college in fall 2025; 97% at a four-year institution, 3% at a two-year
AP: 2,526 exams by 909 students; 92% scored 3 or higher
National Merit: 24 finalists, 51 commended
Counts are Class of 2025 acceptances; * in the full list marks institutions where at least one student actually matriculated. The profile publishes the full list of ~300 institutions.
Mitty's top Class of 2025 acceptance counts
| Institution | Class of 2025 |
|---|---|
| San José State * | 132 |
| Santa Clara University * | 75 |
| Loyola Marymount University * | 72 |
| Arizona State University * | 69 |
| UC Santa Cruz * | 69 |
| UC Riverside * | 69 |
| CSU San Diego * | 64 |
| Cal Poly San Luis Obispo * | 63 |
| University of San Francisco * | 59 |
| University of San Diego * | 58 |
| CSU Long Beach * | 57 |
| UC Santa Barbara * | 56 |
Notable matriculations: UC Berkeley (15) · UCLA (23) · USC (32) · Caltech (1) · Carnegie Mellon (10) · Notre Dame (5) · Cornell (5) · Johns Hopkins (5) · Northwestern (3) · Dartmouth (2) · Amherst (2) · Williams (1) · Brown (1) · University of Chicago (1).
* Counts are acceptances, not enrollments; a star marks institutions where at least one student actually enrolled (matriculated).
How to choose
Start with fit, not dates. St. Ignatius is a San Francisco Jesuit school serving the city since 1855; Archbishop Mitty is a co-ed South Bay school known for academics, arts, and athletics. Geography is the most concrete constraint — a daily commute across the city or down the peninsula is a cost the family lives with every school day. Size is a real difference too: Mitty enrolls about 1,770 students to St. Ignatius’s 1,585, so a family that wants a bigger campus community has a concrete difference to weigh. If cost is a factor, Mitty’s need-based tuition assistance is part of the admissions path, while St. Ignatius’s aid picture is not listed in current tracking.
Deadlines and HSPT dates are planning inputs, not reasons to choose. Mitty’s January HSPT window leaves more prep time in the fall; St. Ignatius’s December date means the prep plan has to start earlier. Both schools use the HSPT, so whatever the family leans toward, build the prep plan around the earliest HSPT date on the list.
Frequently asked questions
Should the application deadline or HSPT date decide which school we choose?
No. Deadlines and test dates are logistics — they change how you plan, not whether a school fits. Choose on fit: location and commute, school identity, programs, and aid. Then build the admissions and prep timeline around whichever date comes first.
Which school has the earlier admissions deadline?
St. Ignatius lists November 16, 2026 at 11:59pm. Confirm Archbishop Mitty’s current application deadline with the school — published dates have conflicted, so this comparison does not name a Mitty cutoff day.
Which school gives families the later HSPT window?
Archbishop Mitty does: the current tracking shows January 9 or January 23, 2027, while St. Ignatius is set for December 5, 2026.
Do both schools use the HSPT?
Yes. Both schools list the HSPT as part of freshman admissions, so HSPT prep matters for either choice.
See where your score would land before you choose a school track.
The free practice test gives you a clean baseline before you start comparing schools, score bands, and scholarship fit.
Try for free
3 days free · cancel anytime
Bay Area HSPT scholarships
Why Bay Area families often compare multiple schools at once.
St. Ignatius school page
Admissions, timeline, and prep details.
Archbishop Mitty admissions and HSPT dates
Application deadline, tuition, and how to prepare.
HSPT vs ISEE
The test-level comparison if your list spans school types.