University High School, a college preparatory school, provides curriculum in mathematics, science, social studies, English, fine arts and modern languages. The high school serves academically-focused and intellectually-gifted students through the curriculum and social support. All academic courses are Honors or Advanced Placement courses. All students are required to take the AP exam. The school offers a variety of foreign languages, including Chinese, French, and German.

University High School has a partnership with the University of Arizona to provide concurrent enrollment in an engineering course.

The school shares a campus with Rincon High School, and University High School students have access to the classes offered by Rincon High School in addition to the classes at University High School. The schools share most of their clubs, except the University High School chess team, Science Olympiad, Academic Decathlon, Mock Trial and a handful of other clubs. Students compete in regional, state, and national academic competitions.

The school bases admissions on qualifying scores on the Cognitive Abilities entrance exam and grade point average for the two semesters prior to enrollment.