@patatty That is good to hear! It is not something we have spent a ton of time thinking or worrying about, but once I starting digging in a little bit, it does seem like the methodology does incentivize the wrong things. At any rate, no doubt that the kids will end up in a great school and make the most of it! Nice to hear that it all seems to work itself out.
My S’s HS provides both W and UW rank to colleges (actual number).
S2’s STEM school did not rank, but S1 and D went to a regular school that was based strictly on unweighted GPA. The top 10% was loaded with choir/art/PE kids. The top science kid in the school was somewhere around 160/435 with a 3.6, Bs and Cs in English and History.