Often they are read first by someone who is thoroughly familiar with a region and the high schools from which those applicants come. Generally, if students don't have strong academic records, they are not in the running right off the bat. However, top grades don't automatically admit applicants to an institution. Admissions counselors spend a lot of time looking at the context in which GPAs were achieved. For instance, grades can peak in the freshman and sophomore years and then flatten out when more demanding courses are taken in the junior and senior years.
Some students have a burning intellectual passion for physics but flub history.
Then there are those students who make high grades but care less about the subjects, observes John A. Blackburn, Dean of Admissions at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. At Case Western, Conley says their litmus test is to determine if students took full advantage of the curriculum offered, regardless of whether students were in the best high schools in the nation or in poorer areas. Dartmouth College, too, wants students who have challenged themselves and taken the toughest courses they can handle, adds Karl M. Furstenberg, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid. While a top academic record is a big portion of the decision to admit, many admissions office systems don't start with grades. Instead the essays are read first, which is the case at Dartmouth College and at Reed College.