You need to ask your guidance counselor a very important question, often schools will tell you they do not rank but what they don't tell you is there maybe a class percentile in place. this will tell colleges where your son or daughter falls in the class. Ivy's require you to be in the top ten percentile which can be tricky because depending on the class even very high GPA's can be miss the top ten percentile of a class based on class size and strength. Very tricky stuff and generally the school will not tell you unless you ask
When your official transcipt is sent to an institution, the High School will also send along a school profile document. This will include a listing of the top courses offered in each subject area and a breakdown, typically by decile, of the grade point averages in the class. Whether you realize it or not, you are being ranked within your High School class and that data is shared outward. Furthermore, your target college will indeed know whether or not you have earned your stripes in the most aggressive academic courses.
