(Sorry for being all over the place but I need to put everything in to context and I wrote thus on a phone and in a hurry) Right now I’m just sophomore really interested in top 20’s and HYPS, thus I only have a freshmen weighted GPA of 4.25 which ranks me at 25 out of 370(ish) students. I also feel the need to mention that some students in the top ranks will most likely be heading to NCSSM next year. I made all A’s in 4 honors (2 each semester out of 4 classes every semester) classes and 4 non honors classes, which lowered it alot, This also apparently puts me in the top 6%(ish) of my class. The reason for why I have such a low weighted is because since I came from out of state during middle school which meant I could not take math 1 during 8th grade year due to this and I had to take foundations of math 1 for the entirety of 9th grade year, another reason is I have no guidance from any family on school related stuff (EC’s, Tests, and what classes to take) unlike the other students at my school since none of them went to college and they’re not even from the country and don’t even speak English, I’m also an only child. I also need to take elective non honors classes, so this was inevitable, but there was a honors elective class I didn’t even know existed available to freshmen, which most top people took. This puts me behind the other students since they took math 1 8th grade year and took math 2 and math 3 honors 9th grade year which puts them at a 4.5 GPA and right now in 10th grade are doing pre calc honors ,AP CS or AP Statistics. From what my current counselor told me, there could be multiple #1’s though I don’t know how true this is since I personally know #1 and #2 and those 2 make 100’s on mostly everything… Am I at a good enough class rank for HYPS or do I need a higher rank? From what I know, I’m at the highest rank in terms of my race, all the other ones are either Asians or Whites whose parents and family have been to college and are higher income…
The schools you listed don’t admit based on class rank. Most applicants and just about all the acceptances will be doing very well in the most rigorous classes their high schools offer. They’ll have the recommended classes for the recommended number of years. They’ll all have excellent test scores. Those are pretty much baselines (unless you’ve got a building named after a parent or grandparent or have mad skills that get you recruited or hooked).
Very few acceptances from the tippy top schools go to kids outside the top 10% of their class. But beyond that, class rank is a very minor factor for them. HYP could fill each class with only vals and sals (and still reject some), but, year after year, they choose not to. They admit holistically, and for good reason.
Worry less about rank. Focus on challenging yourself, growing as a person, mastering your skill sets in and out of school (through ECs). Be and become interesting. Your applications will reflect that one day.