The Thacher School vs. Cate School

Founded in 1889, The Thacher School is a coeducational boarding high school located 85 miles north of Los Angeles, California.

The School serves academically talented students who will benefit from a rigorous college preparatory experience.

The faculty and students live and work closely together in a community in which cooperation, trust, honesty, and respect are the cornerstones of school life.

Together, we commit to the belief that demands in the academic classroom, when combined with those of mountains and horses, of sports and the arts, produce independent minds, strong bodies, and powerful character.

Founded in 1910, Cate School is a grade 9-12, coeducational, college preparatory boarding school in Carpinteria, California.

What began as a group of twelve boys and a few teachers has expanded into a 300-student, 57-teacher, deeply academic, and talented community with the most diverse student body of any boarding school of its size in the United States.

One of the most experienced and committed teaching faculty in the country: 82% hold advanced degrees, 18% of these have PhDs.

Cate is one of this nation's most selective boarding schools, accepting under 20% of our applicants each year.

60% of Cate's most recent graduating class attend the country's 25 top-ranked colleges and universities, and 18% went to Ivy Leagues and Stanford.

The Cate experience combines academics, athletics, art, and co-curricular activities in a close-knit, community setting where students are enriched by their relationships with their teachers and each other.

When students leave Cate, they have the tools and the conviction to seek out lives full of purpose and meaning.