For many colleges and universities, the academic criteria are the most important, with other criteria like extracurriculars and essays becoming important mainly near the borderline (if they are considered). However, at the most selective colleges and universities, this “borderline” is the zone at the top of the scale for academic criteria. At these schools, top end academic credentials merely get the applicant into the borderline zone where extracurriculars, essays, etc. then become the determining factor.