JMPO, but it is everything and not just one aspect or another. Something nobody has pointed out yet is they request a school profile when they ask for the transcript.
IE. My children are military brats. The eldest two went to two different HS in two different states. One HS required students to take std or honors before taking any AP. For example, DS could not take AP Chem until he took std/hon. Chem. Same with Physics or Biology. Our DD could take AP right off the bat.
~ when they look at the school profile they wouldn't hold it against my DS because he couldn't take AP Bio if the school didn't allow it.
At our DSs school class rank was unweighted cgpa, thus because he was in all APs, he ranked lower than the students that took standard and a lot of electives with a 4.0. On top of that his cgpa on his school transcript was rejigged by USAFA, it went up by 0.25 because the school used a 7 point scale.
~ DDs school was 10 point. A 90 for her was an A. A 90 for DS was a B. An 84 for him was a C, for her it was a solid B.
In the school profile they gave the number of APs offered, the prereqs for AP and the amount (%) of students that took AP. You get dinged impo if you opt to not take the most rigorous course load, but not if you are unable due to their system.
Finally, in the school profile they are going to look at the % of students that go Ivy, 4 yr. Private/public, Community College/tech schools or straight into the work force. You could be ranked top 25% with a 3.4 and be seen higher because 50% go Ivy than the student that has a 3.7 and ranked 15% with 0% going Ivy.
Like everything else it is the Whole picture and the school profile is part of that picture.