[mklinker]

In my real life job as a school counselor I see this issue FAR too often.

Some but not all schools DO recalculate GPA.
Some but not all schools do use GPA as a significant factor in determining admission.

This has all been brought upon us by wanting to provide a "trophy" to all students. The simplest solution is to eliminate the weighting of grades and force a much more holistic approach when making admissions decisions. An even easier solution would be to eliminate class rank altogether thus making the weighting unnecessary.

None of those changes is easy to implement (see "trophy" above).