Below you will find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions our admissions ambassadors and staffulty members get each year, as well as links to pages where you will find more information.
The best way to get to know our program and community is to come for a student morning visit and open house. Our 2026 admissions season runs from September 9 to November 14.
ACADEMICS
Immersives are three-week terms during which you take just one class! These are academic classes—UC-approved, graded, and required for graduation from Bay—so they are unlike intersessions or the one-week terms offered at other schools.
Some Immersives take place mostly off-campus, like Filmmaking and Water in the West. Others are taught mostly on-campus, but with frequent field trips and daily work on a final project.
There are about 14 students per class. Our total enrollment in 2026–2027 is 404.
Yes, every student has three “flex” blocks per week during semesters. One of the three each week will be used for Bay’s co-curricular classes, which are different for each grade. (See “What happens during flex?” below.)
Flex blocks are intended as a time for you to do homework, study, and take a break during the day. Bay sets limits on weekly homework load according to grade level, and flex blocks can really help decrease your workload in the evening.
9th and 10th grades
Two flex blocks are free each week. During the third, you’ll take 9th Grade Seminar (two semesters) or Choices in 10th grade (one semester; this is Bay's wellness, health, and relationships class).
Flex is monitored for 9th and 10th grades: Students go to an assigned classroom (noted on their schedule) with a staffulty member who takes attendance.
11th and 12th grades
In spring semester, juniors will use one flex for college counseling. This continues into the fall semester of senior year. Flex is unmonitored in 11th and 12th grades.
The Advanced Placement model emphasizes memorization, and it does not provide the depth and interdisciplinary perspective that distinguish a Bay education. Bay instead offers honors courses, which let students who are academically ready for college-level work go all-in on subjects of interest. Honors classes are developed by expert Bay faculty and reflect our commitment to depth over breadth.
Bay graduates are not at all disadvantaged by a lack of AP credits on their transcripts; colleges and universities are well-informed as to the rigor of Bay’s honors courses, and our college counselors routinely provide comprehensive information about our offerings to college admissions officers.
Courses are given the honors designation by the University of California, and Bay students must get permission from their current teachers in the relevant subjects to take them.
First, if you or your student anticipate needing learning support during high school, please reach out during the admission process to our Director of Learning Services, Kristina Sears, [email protected].
Students can work with Learning Services in formal and informal ways. Students with documented learning disabilities may need a learning plan, and they should get this in place before the start of each school year. This starts with getting any needed evaluations done in the late spring.
Get the details on Learning Services at Bay, including documentation requirements and what support looks like at each grade level.
College counseling at Bay is comprehensive. It starts in spring semester of junior year, with a class during a flex block and meetings between counselors, individual students, and their parents/guardians. In addition, our college counseling team hosts online and in-person information events about financial aid and other topics.
At the start of senior year, there is a kickoff night for parents/guardians, and the program continues with classes, regular student meetings, and test prep as needed. We are the only school in the area to offer a yearlong dedicated college counseling class, which is a feature of our commitment to equity: Every Bay student gets the information, preparation, support, and—importantly—time they need to go through this process.
Learn more about college counseling at Bay and see where our graduates are attending college.
ATHLETICS
In 2026-27, we’ll have 20 sports and 34 teams, across varsity, junior varsity, and intramural teams depending on the number and skill level of players who try out.
Our reputation for positive team culture is well earned—we aim to win and play competitively and we equally value sportsmanship and ethical competition. Our teams develop tight bonds between athletes who support each other and push each other to grow as players.
While we do not have a no-cut policy, we aim to give every student who wants to play the opportunity to do so in a supportive environment. We always encourage students to try a new sport, and students often discover new athletic talents and passions.
Parents/guardians: We have a volunteer booster group! This is a fun way to get to know fellow Bay families, support our student-athletes, and build community while wearing cool Bay merch.
Visit the Bay Athletics and Activities website for a deep dive into our program.
STUDENT LIFE
We want this place to feel like home, so Bay really prioritizes helping students make connections and understand their new school. It starts with Welcome Day (in early May), when new students come to campus for food, socializing, and meeting members of the Bay staffulty. You’ll stay connected via admissions over the summer, and come August, students participate in a two-day orientation.
In addition to community-building activities and “nuts-and-bolts” lessons, we have a lot of formal and informal supports. To name just a few: summer sports and theater workshops, 9th Grade Seminar (yes, a class just to help 9th graders get a great start at Bay), advisory, clubs and affinity groups, and tutorial. Check out our Student Support page to learn more about these programs.
Students run the clubs here, and we usually have at least 40 going during the year! In early September, our Student Life team hosts a fair at lunch. The Great Room is filled with tables (and treats) for both established and proposed clubs, with volunteers who want to win you over. And you can always start your own! Most clubs meet at lunch, with some (like Robotics) meeting after school for extra prep time. The Outdoors and Astrophysics clubs do weekend trips throughout the year.
Whether you want to crochet with friends, play games, or compete with Model UN, there are so many ways to get involved and shape your Bay experience.
The Bay Family Association is a great way to get to know other parents/guardians. The BFA hosts monthly meetings, a casual First Friday walk in the Presidio, and other social gatherings, including receptions after grade-level Meet the Dean nights in the fall and spring.
We welcome you to sign up for admissions events, where you can get to know Bay's culture and community through our admissions programming. You'll have opportunities to speak with current students, faculty and staff, and families who are happy to share their experience of Bay. Besides our Open House and Morning Visits, we offer events that are designed to give you insight into particular aspects of Bay life; for example, co-curricular activities like our theater event or our Belonging at Bay evening where we explore the ways we welcome our whole community at our school.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
Bay is located across the street from the Presidio Transit Center. The Presidio Go downtown shuttle (for BART riders) stops there, as well as the Muni 43 bus line. We are also a short walk from the Muni 30 Stockton line and Golden Gate Transit lines that serve Marin. A lot of students carpool from all over the City and beyond.
Bay’s bus service has two routes, one serving Marin (mornings and afternoons) and one that comes from southern San Francisco (mornings only.)
A big question, but a few distinctions stand out.
The most obvious is our focus on experiential education grounded in transferable skills. This is not outdoor education, but rather an approach that emphasizes the teaching and application of relevant skills as much as subject matter knowledge. While there are recognizable features of traditional education at Bay (you do have to memorize vocabulary and grammar in world languages), our classrooms are active and engaged places: In a math class, students collaborate at whiteboards to solve problems, history and literature classes are discussion based and feature projects that deepen the textual understanding.
The Bay Immersives program is the clearest expression of this philosophy, with classes doing hands-on work toward a final project nearly every day for three weeks and many classes taking place in locations that are relevant to the topic. A few examples:
- Assembling SF: Geology of the Greater Bay Area travels to many geological points of interest, including Point Reyes and the Marin Headlands.
- In Better Cooking Through Chemistry, student groups run controlled experiments by varying one condition, like the baking soda in pancakes or cooking temperature for fudge. They then write detailed lab reports on their results.
Our array of courses on specialized topics, many of them interdisciplinary, means that Bay students discover their interests and can go deep into them. And our focus on transferable skills and application of knowledge allows them to see how those interests can be meaningfully applied in the world.
Learn more about our academic program.
Another distinction is that our Academics and Student Life teams work closely together. Our students are known, and we strive to create many ways for them to connect with each other and with the staffulty.
During semesters: On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we start at 8:30 a.m. with Morning Meeting, and classes start at 9. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we start with advisory at 8:30 a.m., and classes start at 9. Classes end at 3:05 Monday through Wednesday, and at 2:30 on Thursday and Friday. After classes are when you’ll do sports and activity classes, including theater.
During Immersives: You’ll take just one class. Class times are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. However, many Immersives have extended overnight trips, including over weekends, and while instructional time ends at 3 p.m., the day may extend later.
FOOD
Yes. Accommodating those who have particular needs—allergies, gluten-free, and vegetarian/vegan—is standard for our food service, which is provided by Acre Gourmet. Allergy plans are collected with the health forms that all families must fill out for their students. The list of students with allergies is passed on to Acre and the student’s advisor at the beginning of the school year.
We are fortunate to have the services of Acre Gourmet, and every delicious meal is prepared from scratch right here in our kitchen. There is so much variety that everyone finds their favorites. Some of our most popular items are coconut curry, caesar salad, garlic noodles, and build-your-own chili bowls.
Remember that all meals, from morning toast to afternoon treats, are included in Bay’s tuition—no swipe cards or extra payment needed.