<p>OP, you need to take a look at your school’s profile. That’s the document that your GC will send along with the GC recommendation and your transcript as part of your application package. Ideally, the profile explains the school’s grading policy, e.g. the scale (0-4.0, 0-100, or other), if and how weighting is applied, and the number of marking periods per school year. The profile would then also explain how class rank is calculated. You want to see if your school profile explains that ranking is based on unweighted GPA. </p>
<p>Many high school profiles also list what honors, AP and/or IB courses they offer, along with the number of students who take AP and IB, and the pass rate. </p>
<p>If all of this information is on the school profile, then you are in good shape for being evaluated in the context of your school. Especially if your GC indicates that you took the most rigorous schedule possible. If it’s NOT on the profile, then you should encourage the school to update the profile. Better yet, have one of your parents volunteer to update the profile. If you still can’t get the thing changed, ask your GC (who you hopefully haven’t alienated) to include that information in the GC recommendation.</p>