How Important Are Grades? A Former College Admissions Officer Breaks It Down

How important are grades when it comes to college admissions? Turns out, pretty important. In a survey from the National Association of College Admission Counselors, four-year colleges in the U.S. overwhelmingly indicated that students’ grades in high school courses were the most important factors in admission decisions, followed by the strength of the applicant’s high school curriculum.

So, how do colleges evaluate grades? The answer, of course, varies from school to school. But this month, Liz Jackson interviewed Mr. Azaari Mason (pictured) to learn how the process of evaluating grades worked at the University of Florida (UF). Mason, who is USM’s associate director of College Guidance, worked in the UF office of undergraduate admissions for six years before joining the College Guidance office at USM.  

We’ve heard that grades are the most important admission factor. Would you say that was true at the University of Florida?

When it comes to college admissions, GPA is a key factor, but it’s not the only one. During my time at UF, admissions officers established a "hard floor" GPA requirement—ensuring applicants meet a minimum threshold. This baseline requirement is unique to each institution, and is based on the applicant pool and the needs of the university. However, if students meet or exceed this minimum GPA, then a holistic approach is applied, taking into account applicants’ extracurriculars, essays, and test scores.

Can you talk more about how the University of Florida evaluated GPAs and courses during your time there? 

UF places significant weight on GPA, especially within core academic areas such as math, English, science, social studies, and foreign languages. Unlike standardized test scores—which reflect performance on a single test day—GPA represents three years of a student’s academic journey. UF recalculates GPAs on a weighted scale, with more rigorous courses like AP courses earning higher weights. A crucial aspect of the evaluation process at UF, and at most selective colleges, is course rigor. Colleges assess whether students have challenged themselves during high school, especially in senior year. This doesn’t mean students should overload on AP courses, but they should consistently look for opportunities to stretch their academic limits.

How, in your experience, did the admissions office compare applicants from schools with different grading systems and GPA scales?

At UF, students are evaluated in the context of their high school, and admissions officers also consider how students perform relative to their peers. Different schools offer different academic opportunities, so it’s vital for students to make the most of the resources available at their high school. These include honors or AP courses, and academic enrichment programs like independent research or, at USM, the transcript distinction and Tower Project programs. But students would never be expected to pursue opportunities that are outside the scope of their high school or community, and their GPAs are not compared to GPAs of students from different high schools.

What mistakes have you seen applicants make, and how would you advise USM students to avoid those mistakes?

One of the most common mistakes I saw applicants make was overextending themselves with too rigorous of a schedule. We were always wary of admitting students when we saw a dip in their performance (assuming there were no extenuating circumstances). Grades that were a significant departure from a student’s typical performance, or general decline in performance over time, makes admissions committees worry about whether a student will be prepared to thrive in an even more challenging environment than their high school. 

I tell USM students to take the courses that are right for them without overloading themselves. It’s better for applicants to earn an A in a regular course than a C in an AP or honors-level course. And they should be sure to take care of themselves to engage fully in extracurricular activities and life outside the classroom, too.