According to a little research project undertaken by Jay Mathews at the Washington Post, there are approximately 30,500 high schools in the United States.
And in an endearingly Collegewise-nerdy project undertaken by my colleague, Arun, there are approximately 30,000 spots available in the combined freshman classes of the schools listed in the top 20 of the US News rankings.
So if the one highest achieving, valedictorian-winning, test-score perfecting kid from every high school wants to attend one of the schools atop the US News list, there would be just barely enough spots to fit all of them, with no space left over. Of course, this doesn't even take into account how many students from outside the United States are also applying, desperately hoping to get into one of the coveted "top ranked" schools.
The numbers don’t lie. Whether or not you’re willing to accept the reality that the schools sitting atop the rankings don’t necessarily represent the best schools, or give better college experiences, or produce happier, more successful graduates, if you’ve worked hard in high school, you deserve better than to limit yourself to the 20 schools who are most likely to reject you.