SF high school where 94% flunk math has Californias highest Berkeley acceptance rate

A San Francisco high school where students get top grades simply for showing up now has the highest acceptance rate in the state to the prestigious University of California, Berkeley — as critics blame rampant grade inflation and rock-bottom standards for a surge in ill-prepared college students who end up dropping out.Mission High School had a 45% acceptance rate into the elite university, with 34 out of its 76 applicants gaining admission last fall, far ahead of the state average of 15%, according to data compiled by the San Francisco Chronicle.But it’s not because of superior academics, critics say, but rather because of low standards and a lefty policy that eliminated SAT testing requirements in the University of California system, sending a flood of students who can barely do fractions into demanding courses like Calculus.

“Grades were sometimes too easy to earn,” Levi Lum of Mission High told the San Francisco Standard.“In many required classes, attendance and basic completion could be enough to receive a grade that would ordinarily signal strong proficiency.”Only 17% of Mission High’s 11th graders scored proficient or above in English, along with a shocking 6% in math on the 2025 state assessment exam, the lowest of any school in the San Francisco Unified School District — which averaged 59% and 43%, respectively.San Francisco resident Liz Le is among many who have noted the academically rigorous Lowell High School, where around 71% met math standards, has a lower acceptance rate in the University of California system than Mission High.

“UCs punish Lowell students for working hard because of their race, while setting up Mission kids up for failure & depression,” said Le, who claimed “race-based admissions fails all kids.”Although University of California can’t legally consider race in admissions decisions, its decision in 2020 to drop SAT and ACT testing requirements as part of a settlement was presented as a bid to promote ...