Our son was in a similar situation, small class, many gifted students. He wasn't in the top 10% but high in the ranking. I don't remember exactly where. Anyway, he graduated in 2011. I'm sure they look at the whole person.
Privateer,
We also are from a great seafaring state (Illinois). Our son made it all the way through and graduated in 2011. Working for MSC somewhere in the middle east.
You need to keep your own insurance. Our 2011 grad damaged his shoulder in the spring of his 4th class year. They called it a preexisting condition because he dislocated his shoulder his sophomore year of high school. They dropped the $18,000 surgery bill back in my lap.
Doing great by the way...
This keeps coming up over the years. It would be a great honor for any sitting President to give a commencement speech. No matter what your politics are, he is still the commander in chief. George Bush gave the address in 07 and while not everyone's favorite President, he was given the respect...
I went up to his room (I think he is around the Philippines or somewhere) and looked for the box of announcements. They came from Balfour. The order date is 05/13/11 so you have a while yet. Here is a link to the site, don't know who they will use this year...