Ensuring student success has been a ubiquitous and enduring goal of institutions of higher education, making it paramount to identify how this goal can be achieved. The researchers identified social integration, perceived institutional commitment to student success, and academic preparedness as potential predictors of student academic success. An ordinal regression model was used to test the relationship between the predictor variables and class grade. A sample of students enrolled in a freshmen-level general education, gateway course was surveyed. Perceived commitment of the institution to student welfare and social integration were not statistically significant. However, academic preparedness was found statistically significant in predicting the acute measure of academic success. These findings suggest that, in the quest to ensure student success, social integration and commitment should be considered secondary factors to academic preparation.