<p>I agree with ag54. My daughter attends a private high school where (I’m told) no one has ever graduated with a perfect GPA. The grading is ridiculously harsh and even star students have B’s in their transcripts. It’s an incredibly talented group of kids: Each year, at least half the class is commended/semi-finalist/finalist/or winner of merit scholarships. Moreover, there’s little difference between the first decile and the third because they’re all smart, smart kids. The effect has been that kids in your son’s position have done just fine. The top half of the class (and then some–depending on the year–this last year was an unusually accomplished class) ends up at top tier schools. In fact, we saw lower ranked students get into one HYP-type school while the tippy top students were rejected from that school but accepted to a different HYP-type school. </p>
<p>By comparison, our local high school is an excellent suburban public school with lots of able, bright kids. Even though many more of these kids graduated with perfect GPAs and high SATs, relatively few of them were accepted at the same top schools. </p>
<p>Rank may be less important when you are dealing with a competitive private school. I suspect your son will be fine with colleges where the high school is known.</p>