School Profile

Entering its 30th year as the premier public arts high school in the Bay Area, the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts (SOTA) combines a rigorous traditional high school academic program with unparalleled pre-professional training.  Offering instruction in nine artistic disciplines, mornings are devoted to academics designed to prepare students to enter top universities and colleges, while afternoons are dedicated to instruction in the arts.

Achievement

SOTA consistently ranks as one of the two highest achieving public high schools in San Francisco in  standardized test scores and college admissions.  Our students meet or exceed graduation requirements for the San Francisco Unified School District and the State of California, and also meet University of California college entrance requirements.  

Honors and Advanced Placement (AP)

Students may take advantage of honors and advanced placement courses.  Our dedicated faculty and staff build bridges between traditional academic subjects and the arts – connections that further engage students in all aspects of their academic and art instruction.

In the arts classes, SOTA students work with the school's gifted arts faculty who, together with our experienced artists-in-residence, coach and instruct students while preparing them for concerts, exhibitions, and productions.  

Pay Us A Visit

Visiting SOTA's campus in the afternoon is an exhilarating experience. 

Walking through the corridors and courtyards, one can hear singers blending harmonies, while pianists and other musicians practice for performances. 

One can watch theater students rehearing Shakespeare and media students editing their own movies.  Moving through the visual arts corridors, visitors observe students painting and sculpting and then view an impressive array of works in one of our student galleries. 

Creative writing students are hard at work on their fiction or poetry works, and our Theatre Design and Technology students are building sets and hanging lights for one of our frequent performances.  The dancers - in separate studio facilities -  are dedicated to choreographing their own work and kicking higher than anyone thought possible!

SOTA provides students with a nurturing and supportive environment in which to study and create.  This intimacy, all too uncommon in most public high schools, encourages academic and artistic growth while, most importantly, the students develop respect for one another and for each other's art.