From Quora: "What is the possibility of not getting top 10 in high school if I’ve been suspended?"

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It really depends on number of factors:

1. Are you in the United States? The U.S. is the country I know about - if you’re outside the U.S., I have no idea what school officials can do to you. My guess, and it’s only a guess, is most non-U.S. countries’ school systems don’t afford many rights to students (possible exception for Scandinavian countries).
2. How does your school define “top 10?” If it’s not just grade average, but also “attitude,” what your teachers think of you, etc. then you could be screwed. I know the high school I attended had awards based on both. One called “Quality Student” was based on both grades and teacher ratings (I think you had to be in the top half of teacher ratings, and maybe the top 10% in the grades). The other was class ranking based on weighted class grades (“honors” classes got a 10% bonus for class rank purposes). But let’s assume this class rank is based solely on grades. That brings us to the next question.
3. Why were you suspended? At least one state (New York) prohibits academic punishments for non-academic misconduct, so your school probably can’t deny you an award for a class rank you earned by your academic achievements if you did something that’s against the rules but wasn’t cheating (e.g. “smokin’ in the boys’ room” to quote the song by the same name). You might have to argue with school officials, and possibly even get a lawyer involved, but your state/county/city/school district, etc. prohibit academic penalties for what you were accused of doing, you should get your class rank.If you were suspended for cheating or whatever academic misconduct, then yeah, they don’t have to let you be in the “top 10.”
4. If you are disqualified, but you were the 10 students based on class rank, you can still honestly put that on college applications, resumes, etc., that you were “in the top 10 student based on class rank” “I had the 10th highest student grade average,” or something similar.

Hope this helps.

• John

I am not your attorney. Nothing in this answer is legal advice. This answer is for discussion purposes only - please consult an attorney if you have a real legal problem.