Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    Hands-On Career Preparation
    An AI-Driven Work Force
    Alternative Pathways
Sign In
Admissions

Don’t Send ACT/SAT Scores to Northern Illinois U. It Just Went ‘Test-Blind.’

By Eric Hoover January 29, 2020
Altgeld Hall at Northern Illinois U.
Altgeld Hall at Northern Illinois U.Andy McMurray

Northern Illinois University on Wednesday announced that it would stop using standardized-test scores in all general-admission and merit-scholarship decisions.

Many colleges have adopted test-optional policies, which allow applicants to decide whether to submit ACT or SAT scores. But Northern Illinois has gone a step further. Starting in the fall of 2021, the university’s new “test-blind” policy will cut tests out of the picture on the Dekalb, Ill., campus.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Northern Illinois University on Wednesday announced that it would stop using standardized-test scores in all general-admission and merit-scholarship decisions.

Many colleges have adopted test-optional policies, which allow applicants to decide whether to submit ACT or SAT scores. But Northern Illinois has gone a step further. Starting in the fall of 2021, the university’s new “test-blind” policy will cut tests out of the picture on the Dekalb, Ill., campus.

If an applicant sends scores, “we’re not even going to review them,” Quinton Clay, the university’s director of admissions, told The Chronicle.

Starting in 2021, Northern Illinois will guarantee admission to any applicant with a 3.0 grade-point average. Freshman applicants will be automatically considered for institutional merit scholarships based on their high-school grades. The university will no longer require students applying to the honors program to submit test scores. (Applicants to the nursing program will still be required to send them.)

In an interview with The Chronicle, Clay described the thinking behind the new policy — and why he believes it’s more honest than the alternatives.

Why adopt a test-blind policy instead of a test-optional one?

Test-blind is our way to translate to students that we are going to take action on very compelling national and institutional research. We know what the greatest predictor for success is, in terms of a strong academic performance, persistence, and graduating in a timely manner. We know the correlations point back to the GPA, not to the standardized tests. That’s the predictor that we need to build our policies on.

This really reflects the values of this institution and our compelling desire to do the right thing. When we’re shaping our institutional policy, it’s important to be honest. Our institutional policy is that a standardized-test score is not predictive of success. In that sense we felt that it would be disingenuous to make test scores optional.

After a while, you find yourself in a position of trying to make the test score predictive of something. For so long we’ve been conditioned to believe that it does something that our own institutional analysis finds that it doesn’t do. So we stopped trying to find a reason to include test scores in our process.

That’s a key point. If a test score isn’t helping predict success on a given campus beyond what grades are telling you, then its value comes into question.

ADVERTISEMENT

We launched a strategic enrollment-management plan a year ago, and that really helped galvanize us to look deeply and critically at our practices. We started looking at reducing equity gaps. We looked at scholarship practices that are predicated on standardized-test scores. We looked at admission requirements. We looked at admission to the honors program. Then we looked at the common denominator: We were factoring test scores in ways that data tell us are inappropriate.

I’m very slow to call a tool a bad tool. It’s the application of the tool that’s good or bad.

What kinds of applicants might this new policy help get admitted who weren’t being admitted before?

This isn’t some kind of tactic to target a specific market. We are thinking about what is right for all students. Some students had a 4.0, but, previously, their test score prevented them from getting that merit scholarship that they had earned, in my opinion, based on sweat equity. The right thing to do is to give them access to those scholarships.

ADVERTISEMENT

We also know that some students from underrepresented and underresourced communities can be deterred by testing requirements.

What other changes are you making to your admissions process? What about applicants who don’t have a 3.0 GPA?

We’ve instituted a holistic admissions review that will be a way for us to evaluate students who don’t have that 3.0 or higher. We will put in the effort and labor to learn their story, to uncover the elements that are crucial.

For select applicants, we’ll take in additional qualitative information. We can require a personal statement. We can require an admissions interview. Whatever we think we can use to get a complete picture of those academic achievements.

Quinton Clay, director of admissions at Northern Illinois U.
Quinton Clay, director of admissions at Northern Illinois U.Northern Illinois U.

This will give us valuable information to help students once they’re here. Many students have struggles that extend far beyond the admissions process. We want to make sure we’re engaging with that and thinking about that in every way possible.

ADVERTISEMENT

It’s going to be a highly individualized process. The power in holistic review is to not overly prescribe it. When you remove a barrier, the last thing you want to do is introduce a ton of unnecessary hoops. You don’t want to create a holistic review process that encumbers a student.

Last fall Northern Illinois saw its enrollment fall to the lowest point in a half-century. Did that factor into this decision or its timing at all?

Any institution facing those kinds of challenges thinks deeply and broadly about anything that can be done. We have developed a comprehensive strategic enrollment-management plan. One of those great opportunities for us is to think about affirming continuity, from the point of admission through all of our persistence efforts, that supports students.

How do you feel, personally, about this decision and what it might mean for your work in admissions?

I was a first-generation college student. We found a structural opportunity to make a difference. This is just one of the proudest moments of my life.

A version of this article appeared in the February 14, 2020, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Admissions & Enrollment Innovation & Transformation
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
Eric Hoover
About the Author
Eric Hoover
Eric Hoover writes about the challenges of getting to, and through, college. Follow him on Twitter @erichoov, or email him, at eric.hoover@chronicle.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Photo-based illustration of scissors cutting through a flat black and white university building and a landscape bearing the image of a $100 bill.
Budget Troubles
‘Every Revenue Source Is at Risk’: Under Trump, Research Universities Are Cutting Back
Photo-based illustration of the Capitol building dome topping a jar of money.
Budget Bill
Republicans’ Plan to Tax Higher Ed and Slash Funding Advances in Congress
Allison Pingree, a Cambridge, Mass. resident, joined hundreds at an April 12 rally urging Harvard to resist President Trump's influence on the institution.
International
Trump Administration Revokes Harvard’s Ability to Enroll International Students
Photo-based illustration of an open book with binary code instead of narrative paragraphs
Culture Shift
The Reading Struggle Meets AI

From The Review

Illustration of a Gold Seal sticker embossed with President Trump's face
The Review | Essay
What Trump’s Accreditation Moves Get Right
By Samuel Negus
Illustration of a torn cold seal sticker embossed with President Trump's face
The Review | Essay
The Weaponization of Accreditation
By Greg D. Pillar, Laurie Shanderson
Protestors gather outside the Pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
The Review | Conversation
Are Colleges Rife With Antisemitism? If So, What Should Be Done?
By Evan Goldstein, Len Gutkin

Upcoming Events

Ascendium_06-10-25_Plain.png
Views on College and Alternative Pathways
Coursera_06-17-25_Plain.png
AI and Microcredentials
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin