I know college admissions people look at school profile, but the context I’ve always heard it in is “if you go to a crazy magnet high school, we understand if your GPA is lower than it would be if you had gone to your local high school”. I go to a Title I, academically mediocre school. (I’m not low-income, however.) Our average SAT score is something like a 1250/2400, and I imagine our ACT score is in that range too. I did well on my standardized testing (top 1%), and I’ll be graduating as valedictorian. Will coming from a school that does very poorly on these standardized tests (and has never sent anybody to a top school) give me an advantage or is it not considered?
I think they always look at class rank, so being top in your class is a plus, sure. My kids also attend(ed) a Title 1 school and historically we have a handful of standouts who go on to Ivies and such, so I do think “Look how well I did at this pretty not-so-great school” has some merit.
On the other hand, if the rigor simply isn’t there (our local school does offer a ton of AP and dual-enrollment options, at least), that can be a drawback. If you rank highly and have those hard classes, though, I think it’s a plus.
I don’t think it will help you per se, but I think that strong standardized test scores (ex. in the mid-to upper range of a particular college) can help make a case that you are academically qualified to do the work at that school.
I’ve heard that doing well at a middle of nowhere school is a bonus, but doing okay or even just pretty decent at a “great” school is more of a liability, since you are being outshone.