It is well renowned for producing the highest number of fresh graduates to Indonesia's top notch universities, most notably the Bandung Institute of Technology more than any other high school in the country on an annual basis.

[1] SMA Negeri 3 Bandung was established in 1953, occupying a former Dutch colonial school building.

Ever since the enactment of new regulations by the Ministry of Education (currently known as the Ministry of Education and Culture) that significantly restructured the procedures of state-owned universities (PTN) admission process, SMAN 3 Bandung continues to perform well in admitting its students to top ranked state universities in the country.

Based on the new regulations, there is now a common streaming selection process called 'SNMPTN Jalur Undangan' when it was first established and currently just 'SNMPTN', is a means of admission conducted collectively by state-owned universities overseen by a board of academic/governmental dignitaries from the Ministry of Education and Culture to select student on the basis of academic grades on their report card along with other considerations such as non-academic merit.

Students are also selected by the credibility of the educational institution he/she is currently enrolling in, thus due to SMAN 3 Bandung's highly accredited status, its students still manage to fill a large portion of the quota available and even still outperforming its rival SMA Negeri 8 Jakarta and SMA Negeri 5 Bandung (which is also concurrently its neighbour).

There are also records of students enrolling in foreign universities at an undergraduate level, however due to qualification constraints (as SMAN 3 Bandung is a standard public school offering only local qualification) such cases are rare.

They are: Moslem Society Council, Angklung Ensemble Society, Sundanese Culture Society, Classical Music Club, Tiloe's Theater, Japanese Language and Culture Study (Nihongo Kurabu 3), UBBAS3 (Basketball Club), Debating Club, also known as SEF 3 (Student English Forum 3), scouts movement ( Gugus Depan Kota Bandung 08033 dan 08034 ) and several others.