<p>“Only a few of the very top students in the state apply to Ivy League or other highly-ranked private schools.”</p>
<p>I don’t know what you mean by very top students, is it top 1% or top 10%?</p>
<p>My daughter is in a public high school with a class size of about 500. Year after year, the top 5 students (well, top 1%) went to top 20 universities. Top 5% mostly applied to top 20 universities but only some were admitted. The other top 10% students mostly stay at state schools.</p>