The newly acquired college records of James Holmes show that the accused in the Aurora rampage, which resulted in the death of 12 and injured many, was brilliant in academics, securing A grades in most of the subjects and graduating with a 3.94 grade-point average.

College transcripts obtained by many news outlets show that while a student at the University of California Riverside, Holmes received A+ grades in biology, chemistry, economics and Spanish. He managed to secure an A in one philosophy class taken in the winter of 2010, titled "Ethics and the Meaning of Life."

The records say he graduated from the university with 'high honors' in June 2010, ABC News reports.

However, one of the former mentors who oversaw Holmes' 2006 internship said his academic bookish knowledge did not translate into practical applications.

"He was not an exceptional mind," said John Jacobsen, a former researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.

"He was a second-rate student. Not very good at all," Jacobsen told ABC News.

Jacobsen recalled giving Holmes an experiment to be conducted on a computer, which he failed to do.

The academic records and UC transcripts of Holmes were obtained through University of Kansas under the Kansas Open Records Act as requested by several media outlets. He submitted the transcripts as part of his application to the University of Kansas' Ph.D program in neuroscience.

Last week it was revealed that Holmes had applied to the same program in the University of Iowa. But after the interview, the university rejected his application.

The reason behind the flat-out rejection is not clear yet. But, emails from the program director, Daniel Traniel show that he strongly advised his colleagues to reject him.

One of the emails says: 'James Holmes: Do not offer admission under any circumstances.'

Psychology professor Mark Blumberg, who interviewed Holmes, vehemently agreed with Tranel and urged the admissions committee to reject Holmes.

University of Iowa spokesman Tom Moore said Holmes was academically qualified but officials did not see him as a 'good personal fit' for their neuroscience program.

The same records released last week also show that he had applied to Texas A&M, the University of Michigan and the University of Alabama schools apart from Iowa and Kansas. But he ended up joining the Colorado school at Denver.