New ‘test-blind’ policy is first of its kind for an Illinois institution. Northern Illinois University announced it will eliminate the use of standardized test scores for general admission and merit scholarship decisions. This new “test-blind” policy will begin for students applying to NIU for the fall of 2021. Any high school graduate who applies to NIU with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above will be guaranteed admission. All freshman applicants will be automatically considered for NIU Merit Scholarships, based on their GPA. The sweeping change includes the University Honors Program, with students applying to that program for the fall of 2021 no longer required to submit standardized test scores. National higher education studies and NIU’s own data show a student’s high school GPA is a better indicator of future academic success than performance on a standardized ACT or SAT test. The new practices aim to empower disadvantaged students without the means or resources to prepare for tests, and they reflect well-documented findings that standardized test scores often are more reflective of a student’s socioeconomic background than their academic abilities.