SAN DIEGO -- The Preuss School in La Jolla is the highest-ranked California school on Newsweek magazine's list of elite schools.

The San Diego charter school ranked ninth on the nationwide ranking.

The school is an intensive college prep program for low-income students who would be the first in their families to attend college. It is jointly chartered by the San Diego Unified School District and the University of California, San Diego. Students go through a selection process to get into the program.

"Students apply," Principal Doris Alvarez said. "They have to be low income. Their parents couldn't have graduated from college. They have to want to go to college."

Patty Villanueva's children graduated from Preuss. Now they attend Claremont McKenna College and Brown University.

"They had to study a lot sometimes," Villanueva said. "That's part of the sacrifice."

Preuss requires parents to volunteer at the school for a minimum of 15 hours per school year.

"Most of the parents are committed," Villanueva said. "They help a lot."

Villanueva started as a volunteer and is now a full-time employee at the school. Her children inspired her to earn a college degree.

School officials said most students take full advantage of the opportunity, trying to make their parents proud.

"My parents brought me here from Mexico," ninth-grader Saul Hernandez said. "They wanted me to have a better future, so I want to make them happy."

Another San Diego school to make the Top 100 on Newsweek's list is the San Diego High School for International Studies, ranked at in No. 51.

The complete list is available on MSNBC.com