I have a low GPA (3.7) and low rank at a VERY competitive high school. My school technically doesn’t rank, but they do provide deciles in the school report that gets sent to colleges.
How will this affect me?
Can you look at where kids from previous classes matriculated? If the school routinely sends half the kids to the ivy league (as mine did back when I was at it) then obviously you don’t have to worry about being in the top 10% to get into an ivy league school.
GCs send a report about the school with each application so the adcom can view each app in context. If you’re at a school that’s known for its academics they probably already know all about it though. (e.g. http://www.browndailyherald.com/2011/04/27/top-high-schools-find-admissions-success/)
@iwannabe_Brown The thing is I feel like privates don’t like my school / don’t realize how competitive it is. It is usually only the top 10-20% that get into Ivies, but anecdotally, the top 40% all have a shot at UC Berkeley or UCLA.
I don’t think SLACs, where I want to apply, are familiar with my school. One top LAC (non WASP), has received only 13 (class size ~600) applicants since 2010, but only 2 have been accepted (although I have a higher GPA than the average applicant from my school).
It’s frustrating because I can’t use Naviance because I don’t want to base my perception off of such a small sample size, and half the time I can’t even look at the scattergrams due to student privacy concerns (in other words, way too few have ever applied).
I just feel super lost and in the dark right now. I don’t know if I’m clinging on to false hope thinking that the hypercompetitive nature of my school can make up for my low rank, or if I actually have a shot. If I were looking into large research universities, I would be able to have more of an idea about my chances. Plus, there’s a few other factors that (somewhat) differentiate me from typical applicants at my school that could help me, but that’s a different story.
Yes it will affect you. As to how much that will depend on the college.
What is your class rank (or rough decile)? Do you have any hooks (URM, legacy, first-generation, low-income, athlete, etc.)?
Are you at least in the top 40% to have a shot at UCB/UCLA?
@goldenbear2020 I’m in the top 40%, have a chance to get into the top 30%. I don’t want to go to a UC though 
I think I have somewhat of a hook.
If you have a UCB/UCLA-level GPA from a competitive high school with good test scores (2250-2300+) and somewhat of a hook, you should have a shot at top 20 schools just below the Ivy League, such as Northwestern, Vanderbilt, WashU, Rice, and Georgetown (especially with ED).
I’m sorry but it will hurt you a bit. As an individual who goes to a top school ( top 15 in the country based on standardized testing ) I see a lot of my friends getting screwed over because the classes are crazy hard. Their gpas are lower as a result and colleges don’t really seem to care. Many of the people at my school were valedictorian at their middle schools and could have excelled at their neighborhood high schools. If my school ranked, almost everyone would be in trouble beacuse anything below a 3.6 unweighted average puts you in the bottom 50% despite the hard courses. What my guidance counselor does (and hopefully yours do too) is try to explain that our courses are harder than average high school courses. Even then only people with super high averages are accepted to top colleges.
No such thing as “somewhat of a hook”. You’re either a recruited athlete or you are not. You either come from a famous and/or family or you don’t. You get the idea.
You’ll just have to rely on your GC both in appropriately building your list and in preparing a good secondary report. That’s how we did it before things like Naviance existed.
I have no idea what school you’re talking about so maybe I’m totally wrong here, but a lot of kids on here think their high school is really competitive and loaded with top tier students and that colleges should recognize it and not expect high GPAs and class ranks when in fact they’re not really that much more competitive and full of talent compared to your average, well funded public school where one would expect that only the top students are getting into the top schools.
I was high school class of 2005. 50% of my class had over a 1500 on the SAT (back when it was out of 1600). I don’t even think the valedictorian of my class had a 4.0 (pretty sure I recall gossiping about his meltdown over his first A- or a B+ in the second half of high school). That’s the type of environment where you see significant numbers of kids well outside the top 10% and with UW GPAs below 3.8 getting admitted. In my class, >45% of the kids matriculated to ivy league schools and if you included the other 12 universities in the top 20 and the top 5 LACs that covered probably 90-95% of the class. That’s what I (and probably colleges) are picturing when they think of “really competitive high school.” That’s big name boarding school (e.g. exeter, andover, deerfield) and elite day school (e.g. NYC interschool members, roxbury latin, harvard-westlake) territory.
@iwannabe_Brown Thanks for the response 
Yes, I guess my high school is not as competitive as I thought, though it is one of the top 10 publics in California. Luckily I’m not shooting for the Ivies or anything, haha!