Colleges know which schools are harder. At my daughter’s old school, very very few kids graduate with a 4.0 (maybe none?). But all the schools know it’s a good school and the admissions proceed accordingly. Maybe 100 kids from that school every year get into top colleges. It does not stop kids from thinking about transferring to a school where their weighted classes will boost them to a higher rank. But it’s pointless. Kids with 3.0s who have even flunked classes in HS get into competitive colleges all the time. Don’t believe the College Confidential hype.