<p>Just a quick question. Suppose we have two schools (both are hypothetical), the first one is High School A, which offers a variety of honors and AP courses, yet also has severe grade inflation due to lax teachers, to the point that the average weighted GPA there is a 3.65. And now we have High School B, which is highly strict and rigorous, but offers few honors and AP courses, to the point that the average valedictorian wGPA falls around 4.1. High School B is also more competitive and has more college-bound students(%-wise) than High School A. Now imagine these two situations. </p>
<p>1) Joe is a hard working student, and he is currently 2/167 in his class at High School B, while holding a wGPA of 3.94. Suppose that after his junior year, his family moves and so he must attend High School A, which means that now he falls at the class rank of 141/473, what would happen to him when he is applying to colleges? Would his class rank hurt his chances?</p>
<p>2) Bill is a meh-ish student from High School A, not exactly what you would call Ivy material. His class rank there is 162/473 and has a wGPA around 3.81. So after his junior year, he transfers to High School B because his family moved, and ends at the class rank of 13/167, despite working far less than most other students. Would this end up giving Bill an unfair advantage in the college applications process?</p>
<p>I have been curious about this ever since I've read an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about grade inflation and deflation at several schools across the nation. I mean, I know that several colleges use class rank to know whether a school is rigorous or not, but what would happen in the events of a transfer? Am I over-thinking about a hypothetical scenario too much?</p>