I have noticed that the top 5 or so from my class all got into prestigious universities such as Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Wharton, and Princeton, while the lower ranked students who were still in the top 5% got into places like WUSTL, Rice, Smith, Berkeley, and UCLA. Based on college confidential, I had always assumed that these tippy top kids who racked up 18-20 AP courses would not reap the rewards of their singular focus on counting up APs. But it appears that the biggest admissions winners at my school were the ones who used all the weighted GPA inflating strategies mentioned by @atomom. Very interesting to compare reality with the sometimes dubious advice given out by those who don’t really know.
Val at my high school fits the profile in the article. She got val by taking study halls instead of electives to raise her weighted GPA. Students like me that chose electives found ourselves lower in the rankings. Val went to the local college and didn’t even live on campus. I have no idea what she is up to these days, and I honestly don’t care. Can’t remember who was sal to save my life. (Sal didn’t give a speech at graduation.)
We tease my dad about being salutatorian of his class in the big town of Sabinal, Texas. There were 25 kids in the class. He went on to become a member of the National Academy of Engineering and was the first American given honorary membership in the Russian Academy of Engineering. Not sure what happened to the val of his class. 
My own HS didn’t have grades, certainly not rank. My kids’ HS didn’t rank either. I don’t understand the figuring, racing, class choosing and such that goes on with the Val/Sal thing at all.
I also see kids here on CC say should I take a study hall because taking a “fun” class would bring down my GPA because it is not weighted. We should want kids who explore new things in HS, not just ones who only work for the GPA.
I was the salutatorian of my class of 200. I received $62 and introduced our guest commencement speaker. I doubt that anyone but me remembers who was salutatorian, 25+ years later. I was actually hoping to drop to 3rd so I wouldn’t have to speak!
My kids’ school doesn’t rank. Kids with over a weighted 4.0 get listed as “Honors” students. They have a graduation speaker, but anyone who wants to can submit a speech and I guess there’s a vote.
D1 was Sal and D2 was Val at the same HS, five years apart. Both took full loads of rigorous classes. Both went to selective colleges where they did well but they were no longer top of the heap. Both graduated from college in four years. D2 went to grad school but D1 did not. Neither one has changed the world as of yet. Both are still kind of young to be world changing, but I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen any time soon. However, both are successful, well-adjusted, and happy. If that turns out to be as high as they fly, I’ll take it with no complaints.