<p>“In the absence of a class rank, the school profile is used alone.”</p>
<p>You are mixing up applying for admission and applying for scholarships.
There may be some instate scholarships where rank is a factor, but private colleges, which draw students from all states, rank is rarely asked for when evaluating the tip top applicants [ based on GPA, SAT, ACT. EC’s, LOR’s ] for the tip top full tuition or 1/2 tuition scholarships. Those students have generally already been accepted at those colleges [ many of whom accept 50% of their incoming students from HS’s that dont rank] and the committees deciding on who to award them to do not consider the student in the context of his HS. They look far far beyond that narrow criteria.</p>