1. The differences in grade-point averages among high-achieving students are usually statistically insignificant. It’s therefore both pointless and misleading to single out the one (or ten) at the top. Indeed, very qualified students at high-performing schools may end up looking less desirable to colleges just because they’re not in that select group. This possibility seems to have been more decisive in convincing some high schools to stop ranking their students than the deeper and more widespread harms of this practice.

2. Ranking provides little if any practical benefit. Class rank has much less significance to college admissions officers than a range of other factors, and the proportion of colleges that view it as an important consideration has been dropping steadily. Even a decade ago, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling [NACAC], nearly 40 percent of high schools had either stopped ranking their students or refused to share those numbers with colleges — a shift that apparently has had no effect on students’ prospects for admission. More recently, “college admissions officers said they have seen a steep drop-off in the number of applicants who come from schools that rank students.”

3. What is rewarded by singling out those with the best grades isn’t always merit or effort but some combination of skill at playing the game of school (choosing courses with a keen eye to the effect on one’s GPA[2], figuring out how to impress teachers, etc.) and a willingness to sacrifice sleep, health, friends, reading for pleasure, and anything else that might interfere with one’s grades.

“The most important reason that class rank is on the decline is because it really isn’t a direct measure of student achievement,” David Hawkins of NACAC told the Washington Post.

One reporter described the process as follows:
As early as ninth grade, top students figure out the selection procedures and find ways to improve their standing in comparison to classmates. They’ll take, for instance, an “easier” Advanced Placement course — AP Biology instead of AP Chemistry. Others don’t take certain required classes — namely courses that don’t carry bonus points — until the latter half of their senior year, after class rankings are tabulated and sent out in college applications. More worrisome is the practice of teenagers who won’t pursue an interest in, say, photography for fear of lowering their average. Those classes normally do not carry bonus points. “A client of mine told me that taking music or journalism was out of the question because she couldn’t justify what it would do to her GPA,” [education consultant David] Altshuler recalls. “I can tell you there was a lot less joy in her curriculum.”[2]

To be honest, I don't feel strongly about whether ranking students is good or bad but see the advantages of doing away with it. My son is a junior in high school and ranked top 10 but it is ridiculous the stupid games you have to play to keep that rank. I am very pleased that many universities don't care if you were valedictorian vs being top 10-15 in your class.

TLDR: It becomes a dumb game to finish with the highest weighted GPA and isn't really statistically significant.