My experience with our son is it's not just their GPA, but also their ACT/SAT scores as well. As the counselor noted, different schools put different weights on different things, but generally speaking the big ones are GPA (no matter how they weight it) and the ACT/SAT scores. Extra-curricular activities play a role as well.
My opinion is one should always set goals. I don't think striving for straight A's is unreasonable - that was the standard we laid out for all of our children. Did they meet it? No, but that was the expectations from my wife and I. If you put the goal as straight B's that's what they'll work for and probably no more. By setting a high goal, if they don't quite meet it, they've still done well.
Generally speaking, the higher the GPA the better the chances of admittance. Some of the colleges are around here (UMW, UVA, VA Tech) have pretty high standards. For many a minimum of 3.5 GPA and high ACT/SAT scores. They tend to take the best of the best.
An alternative is to go to Junior College and earn an AA/AS degree with no class below a 2.0 (C). Upon transfer the 4 year school (within the state - not applicable for out-of-state schools) has to accept them and all the classes transfer. At least that's how it works in VA. My daughter did this. She earned her 2 year degree (took 4 years to do it earning a B+ average) and then was accepted to ODU via this method. She graduated with a Bachelor's two years ago.
When you throw in sports, the minimum GPA required by the NCAA is 2.0. The school and/or coach may have higher standards. When my son was looking to transfer to the local university (UMW) the minimum GPA for a transfer student was 3.0. He had a 2.6 at junior college. It would take the coaches recommendation to get him accepted. Ultimately he did not go this route as they did not have the specific program of studies he was interested in. The university where he ultimately transferred to (out-of-state) had a minimum GPA requirement of 2.0. The coach would accept no less than 2.5.
A side benefit (or possible benefit) is higher GPA's open the doors to more academic scholarships - more than ever will be available via sports (football being the exception).
Hope that helps.