How Carefully do Colleges Look at GPA/Rank?

<p>From what I've seen, being ranked 1 helps a lot with college admissions. My school doesn't rank, but only gives the highest GPA in the class for comparison. If I have the highest GPA will colleges automatically see that as being ranked 1 (which it is), or will they extrapolate my GPA and hurt my admission chances?</p>

<p>Very. </p>

<p>But the ranking/GPA thing is weird, because it differs from HS to HS... My school submits neither GPA nor rank (trust me, it DOESN'T hurt in any acceptances...).</p>

<p>The schools work with what they have. In this case, they have the GPA and the highest GPA in the class, which is yours. That is good. If you are worried, you could just have your GC briefly mention it in the rec.</p>

<p>So there's no set formula anymore, like the academic index?</p>

<p>Well, that's arguable. For recruited athletes, there still is. Hernandez writes about how the AI is used for everyone - but that's over ten years ago. Basically, no. Because so many HSs are so different in grading, the AI is a useless comparison tool.</p>