High school students have a lot of questions about the college admission process.

Amariyah Callender, a rising senior in the Atlanta area, decided to go straight to the source to get hers answered.

Callender interviewed NACAC member Latrina Fisher, associate director of admissions at Spelman College (GA), in a new podcast for VOXatl. She admitted to starting her senior year off with a 2.9 GPA and asked Fisher how much she needed to be stressing about the final numbers.

“The GPA is extremely important in that it is a score that’s built up over a number of years, so at the time of application, we usually have about three years of grades. That is where we key in on how well the student has been doing in class,” Fisher told Callender. “We’re looking at the types of courses, not only general education courses, but also if they have challenged themselves with honors, dual enrollment, or AP courses, so GPA plays a huge role in our admission decisions.”

The two also discussed how much the college search process and the culture surrounding it has changed in recent years.

Listen to the full podcast.

Ashley Dobson is NACAC’s communications manager for content and social media. You can reach her at adobson@nacacnet.org.