@SculptorDad You just have to get good test scores and apply to Honors Colleges in state schools with scholarships. You cannot think you will get into top schools just with perfect GPA. My feeling is you should not (you can if you want) have it as your high school goal to get into HYPSM and should have good safety schools. For our kid, UCLA and Berkeley were his match schools and two Honors Colleges were his safeties, and Stanford was a Hail Mary attempt. There are different ways to end up where you want to go.