Most schools have gone to a pass-fail or modified pass-fail format in recent years. In fact, it's probably a yellow if not red flag to find a school that still uses traditional grading and GPAs.
Ask for class rank, they still exist but are somewhat deemphasized in this era. My school kept them and they were used for different honor societies and all sorts of odd stuff, but they were never public knowledge and the majority of students weren't interested in the number itself.
What my school also did is kind of put you in quadrants, especially for clinical grades. You got a certain number of points for how many high pass and honors grades you got, and your cumulative score determined how fancy your adjectives was in your deans letter. I can't speak to all schools of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if something like this was decently standard.
Long story short, some sort of ranking will always exist, what the culture around medical education and collaboration in most schools is so much better in this era.
David D, MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors
