There are approximately 17,245,000 high school students in the USA. Divide by 4 and that’s 4,311,250 high school seniors.
431,125 are graduating in the top 10% of their class. That’s 431,125 students who have likely have impressive GPAs and lots of AP/IB/dual enrollment/Honors classes and activities. It doesn’t make anyone unique based on these criteria.
All the prestigious schools combined won’t admit anywhere close to 431,125 students.
PLEASE don’t convince yourself or your child they have to attend Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, UCLA or (fill in prestigious brand name school) to be successful.
With more than 2000 four-year colleges in the USA alone scarcity is a myth.