CATE SCHOOL · PRIVATE SCHOOL GUIDE
Cate sits on 150 acres in Carpinteria, California, and describes itself as less than three miles from the beach. For fall 2027, it takes new boarding and day students in grades 9, 10, and 11. Start here to picture daily life and prepare each part of your application.
Fall 2027 entry
GET TO KNOW THE SCHOOL
You take five academic courses each trimester, plus the arts, and classes meet on Saturdays too. In 2012, Cate replaced Advanced Placement (AP) courses with its own Advanced courses, and it doesn’t give AP exams to its students.
IN CLASS
Most students take their first Advanced course then. The 2026–27 school profile lists Advanced Chinese, French, and Spanish, plus courses such as multivariable calculus, computer science, and advanced science electives.
IN YOUR DORM
Most faculty live on campus, and faculty teams and senior prefects support each dorm. Rooms come furnished, laundry is free, and all-gender housing may be offered, depending on interest.
STAYING ACTIVE
Choose a team sport, outdoor activities, surfing, dance, or strength and conditioning. Fall theater can take the place of athletics, and so can service in the Learning Center.
Your adviser follows your schoolwork and well-being and stays in touch with your parents.
Entry points: For fall 2027, Cate takes boarding and day students in grades 9, 10, and 11. It doesn’t take new students in grade 12, for a postgraduate year, or in the middle of the year.
A typical grade 10 year: Cate’s 2024–25 curriculum guide lists English 10, math, a modern language, World History, the arts, chemistry, and the grade 10 seminar.
Science, in order: The same guide sets physics in grade 9, chemistry in grade 10, and biology in grade 11, or in grade 12 with approval. Joining in grade 10 or 11? Ask how your earlier courses, science especially, will count.
Repeating a grade? Cate warns that under the high school sports rules it follows, you get eight semesters of eligibility in a row, starting when you first enroll in grade 9, whether or not you play. Repeating grade 9 or a later grade can cost you eligibility in grade 12.
English and history: Cate’s 2024–25 curriculum guide asks for English every year and three years of history, including Humanities, World History, and U.S. History.
Math and a language: Math through grade 11, reaching at least Algebra 2, and three years in a row of one language, through level 3.
Science and the arts: Three years of lab science. In the arts, you take Foundation Arts in grade 9, a half-credit yearlong course in grade 10, and another in grade 11 or 12. The guide also lists grade seminars.
Health care: A nurse is available around the clock at Ellis House, Cate’s health center.
Counseling: Counselors offer short-term individual support, usually for six to eight weeks, and groups.
Help with your work: Start with your adviser. Teachers hold office hours every week, and there are evening peer labs and supervised study.
Accommodations: Cate encourages families to talk about learning needs during admission. It reviews a psychoeducational or neuropsychological evaluation, generally from the past three years (the past year for a psychiatric disability), and a medical note alone isn’t enough. If you qualify, drafting a plan takes three to four weeks during the school year, and plans for final exams must be in place by May 1.
UNDERSTAND WHAT CATE LOOKS FOR
Every applicant interviews and takes a test, but Cate sets no minimum score. Its mission rests on four pillars: commitment, scholarship, companionship, and service.
YOUR MOTIVATION
Cate says it seeks “exceptional and motivated students” who are willing to immerse themselves in a challenging education.
Letrado’s advicePick one subject you’ve taken further on your own, and show what you did with it, not only the grade.
YOUR PLACE IN SCHOOL LIFE
Cate’s 2026–27 school profile puts weight on contributing positively to school life.
Letrado’s adviceName one way you show up for other people every week, and say exactly what you do.
YOUR INTERVIEW
Every applicant interviews, usually on Zoom, for about 45 minutes: a conversation with you first, then time for your parents.
Letrado’s advicePractice answering the same question from different starting points, and let yourself pause before you answer.
WHAT CATE DESCRIBES
Submit your Candidate Profile on Gateway to Prep Schools, the online application many boarding schools share
Pay the application fee, or have a fee waiver approved
Send your English test score, if you need one
Schedule your interview with Cate’s admission office
Interviews run from September to January. Applying through the Standard Application Online (SAO) instead? Ask the admission office how to book.
Cate’s admission team also travels. Its 2026–27 travel page lists events abroad in Accra, Bangkok, Shanghai, Seoul, and Hong Kong, and in some places you may be able to interview in person, once the regional officer confirms.
Campus visits are optional but encouraged: about three hours, by appointment on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with an assembly, a tour, and a presentation. Cate lists closures for October 15–19, November 23–December 1, and December 21–January 8.
WHAT CATE SAYS
The SSAT or the ISEE, both at the Upper Level
The PSAT, SAT, or ACT
The SSAT is the Secondary School Admission Test, and the ISEE is the Independent School Entrance Examination. Cate counts tests taken between January 15, 2026 and January 15, 2027. Name Cate as a score recipient when you register (SSAT code 2170, ISEE code 050485), so the testing agency sends your official scores.
Cate sets no minimum score, but it calls these ranges competitive:
These ranges are Cate’s guidance, not cut-offs, and they don’t describe the students it admitted.
WHAT CATE DESCRIBES
On weekends, school shuttles run, and there are organized outings on and off campus. Clubs include the newspaper, Model UN, scuba, and music and art groups, and students can start their own.
CATE’S PUBLISHED FIGURES
Cate doesn’t publish an applicant count or admission rate.
PLAN THE APPLICATION
Start with Cate’s inquiry form, which sets up your Cate Admission Portal. The portal isn’t the application: you apply through Gateway to Prep Schools or the Standard Application Online (SAO), two applications many private schools share.
Application
Jan 15, 2027Aid, for new families
Feb 1, 2027Decisions
Mar 10Dates without a year are as Cate lists them.
Start with your Candidate Profile. The fee is $85, or $125 for international applicants, and SAO adds a $10 processing fee. For a fee waiver, contact the admission office.
From your principal or counselor, your current English teacher, and your current math teacher. Your school sends this year’s grades through at least the first semester, plus last year’s final report. If you’re applying for grade 10, that’s your grade 9 grades so far and your grade 8 final report.
On Gateway, Cate’s section is called “Mad Libs, Essays, and Parent Statement,” and its questions appear inside the application.
Required for every applicant, usually on Zoom, from September to January. You can book once your Candidate Profile, fee, and any English score you need are in. Applying through SAO? Ask the admission office how to book.
The SSAT or ISEE for grades 9 and 10, or the PSAT, SAT, or ACT for grade 11, taken between January 15, 2026 and January 15, 2027. You may need an English test too.
You can add a Special Interest recommendation. Want to send a graded paper, a video, or arts or athletics work? Ask the admission office first.
Gateway, step by step: Part 1, the Candidate Profile, can go to several schools, and you can unlink a school’s copy to change it. Part 2 holds Cate’s own writing, which you can submit after Part 1 and the fee. Part 3 sends your requests for recommendations and school records.
SAO: A parent or guardian opens the account for a student under 18, and submitted forms are final.
Boarding or day: Where your family lives decides. Families in Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Paula, Carpinteria, Summerland, Montecito, Santa Barbara, and Goleta apply as day students, and boarding is for families who live outside those areas.
Day students: They come to classes and to required parts of community life, including seated meals, Saturday classes, and Monday evening events. They can also stay for meals, evening study, and weekend activities. Cate runs no commuter bus.
Your grade: Choose it before you add Cate in Gateway, and contact the admission office if it needs to change later.
Who counts as international: You apply as an international applicant if your family’s main home is outside the U.S., or if you need an I-20 (the form required to apply for an F-1 student visa), whatever your citizenship. International applicants are read in the same pool, against the same standards. An official in Cate’s admission office oversees I-20s.
English tests: If your first language isn’t English, Cate asks for one English test: the TOEFL, the IELTS, or the Duolingo English Test. It waives the test if you’ve spent at least two years in a row at an international school outside the U.S. that teaches mainly in English, or at a U.S. junior boarding school. For grade 10, that means grades 8 and 9. Cate’s Gateway listing asks every international applicant for an English score, so check with the admission office early. Your score has to be in before you can book your interview.
Scores: Send the score from one test, taken within a year of the application deadline: at least 110 on the TOEFL’s 0–120 scale, 7.5 on the IELTS, or 140 on the Duolingo English Test. The TOEFL moved to a 1–6 scale in January 2026 and still reports a 0–120 score during a two-year changeover. Cate’s TOEFL code is 8529.
Breaks and travel: Before you book flights, ask whether dorms stay open over breaks. Cate describes itself as minutes from Santa Barbara and 90 minutes from downtown Los Angeles.
WRITE IN YOUR OWN VOICE
No AI, under any circumstancesCate says “an applicant’s use of artificial intelligence is not permitted under any circumstances.” The rule covers your essays, short answers, and everything else you submit, and it names ChatGPT and GrammarlyGo.
You’ll find Cate’s questions and word limits inside your application.
Letrado’s adviceDon’t use AI at any step, not even to brainstorm or fix grammar. Our mentors follow Cate’s rule too: we ask questions and point out where a reader might get lost, but we never write or rewrite your words. We still help you choose schools, plan, and practice for the interview.
On Gateway, Cate’s section is called “Mad Libs, Essays, and Parent Statement.” You can submit it once your Candidate Profile and fee are in.
Whatever the questions, use small, true details from your own life, told the way you’d tell a teacher you trust.
It’s their view of the child they know, so it should sound like them, not like a polished essay.
Gateway’s Candidate Profile asks you to certify that your materials are “factually accurate and honestly presented.” False information can cost you your place.
MAKE ROOM FOR THE FINANCIAL QUESTION
Cate’s aid is based on need. It decides on admission first, then on aid, and new families hear both decisions together.
2026–27 AID BUDGET
for need-based financial aid.
WHO CAN APPLY
Families abroad can apply too, though Cate says aid for international students is limited.
HOW AWARDS ARE SET
Clarity, the online aid application Cate uses, recommends an award, and Cate decides within its budget and policies.
PUBLISHED 2026–27 TUITION · BOARDING
$87,340Day tuition is $70,990. These are tuition figures, not a full budget, so ask Cate what fees, books, insurance, and travel will add.
For fall 2027 entry, use the 2027–28 costs when Cate publishes them.
Tuition and financial assistance (opens in a new tab)
AI illustrationLetrado’s adviceApply if there’s any chance you’ll need aid: the aid decision comes with your offer. Living abroad? Gather two income documents for each working parent now, and start translations early.
Families receiving aid of 50% or more can apply that same percentage to the cost of a learning evaluation with one of Cate’s contracted providers.
Cate’s accommodation policy (opens in a new tab)ADMITTED TO CATE · J.P.
He came from a South Korean day school with an international curriculum and applied for grade 10. He had studied cello for seven years and enjoyed physics, but he had no national prize, and his first interview answers sounded memorized. We helped him describe both interests honestly and answer naturally.
It linked the patience of tuning a cello with a lab result that went wrong. Later drafts added concrete moments from both, including the parts that annoyed him.
Prepared answers sounded polished, but an unexpected follow-up sent him back to short phrases, so practice moved away from scripted paragraphs.
His parents preferred the East Coast, while he was curious about a smaller Western setting and outdoor education. The family agreed he would make the final choice, within their budget.
Cate’s AI policy (opens in a new tab) asks for work written only by you. Keep the phrases that sound like you, even when a fancier one comes to mind.
AI illustrationHIS CATE OUTCOME
Offered a place at Cate School
HIS CHOICE: CATEThe Cate School sign · Photo: Cate School, used with permission. Cropped.
He weighed Cate’s size, science program, and access to nature, and he could keep playing music without it becoming his whole identity. His parents supported the choice after reviewing travel and living arrangements.
ALSO ADMITTED TO
Deerfield AcademyWHEN YOU’D LIKE A HAND
Bring your questions to a free 45-minute introduction with your proposed mentor. Afterward, we’ll email a personalized plan with recommended next steps.