<p>I’m led to believe that colleges like to use class rank to gauge how you compare to your classmates. An unweighted 3.98 doesn’t look quite as good if you’re also ranked 23 out of 40 students. Some schools aren’t reporting rank any more, because it can give the false impression that a good student isn’t up to par, if that student happens to be part of a strong high school student body. In cases like that, it can hurt some students applying to elite colleges, so it’s in their best interests to remain unranked.</p>