Former High Schools

In Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, it is stipulated that to be considered for recruitment to Hope's Peak Academy, a student must already be attending high school. This rule also carried over to Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, and to the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles featured in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. Although the students' former schools are never mentioned by name in-game, the schools were revealed in the games' associated art-books, and school emblems can be seen incorporated into most characters' designs.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
＊ The following school names were translated by, based on 1.2 Reload artbook scans.

Trivia

 * Leon's school, LL Academy, seems to be a combination of and the the  real-world  highschool of his namesake -  professional baseball player   - who attended PL High School.
 * Chihiro's school, St. Elbandia Academy, is a reference to (エルヴァンディア ストーリー Erubandia Sutōrī) which was also published by Spike.
 * Kiyotaka's school, Kaiseidan High School (開成灘高校), is a reference to two real-world schools that are two of Japan's top academic schools: 開成高校 (Kaisei Koukou) and 灘高校 (Nada Koukou). The Kanji 開成 (Kaisei) and 灘 (Nada) are combined to make 開成灘 (Kaiseidan).
 * Byakuya's school, Green Hills High School, is a reference to the, the most first, and most famous, level in the video game franchise.
 * Toko's school, 川端女子高校 (Kawabata Joshi Kōtō), is likely a reference to Japanese novelist, who was the first Japanese person to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. As 女子 is Japanese for "Girl", this would refer to Toko, a female novelist, as a "Girl Kawabata".
 * Aoi's school, Asunaro High School, is likely a reference to the conifer, known as Asunaro in Japan.
 * Junko's school, Gunma Prefectural Shibutani High School, is a reference to real-world school Gunma Prefectural Chuo Secondary School which gained national attention for its specialization in English language immersion.

Danganronpa 2
＊ The following school names were translated by, based on 1.2 Reload artbook scans.

Danganronpa V3
＊ The following school names were translated by, based on Danganronpa V3 artbook scans.