Only a few highly-qualified freshman applicants will be granted admission when NIU raises its acceptance standards Friday.

NIU Admissions Director Daniel Oborn defined highly qualified applicants as students in the top third of their graduating class with ACT scores of 21 or an equivalent score on the SAT.

The average ACT score of NIU freshmen is 21.4, said Institutional Research Director Nick Noe.

Oborn said NIU previously accepted students who ranked in the upper half of their class and had ACT scores of 17 or more. Also accepted were students in the top two-thirds of their class who earned minimum scores of 22, he said.

However, NIU grade point averages probably will not change because instead of taking more students with lower ACT scores, the university now accepts fewer students even though they have higher ACT scores, he said.

Oborn said the “baby bust”—a recent decrease in births—prompted this year’s change because NIU accepted highly qualified students and has not lowered its standards since 1987.

However, minority applicants still will be admitted if they meet regular standards-LISA KNOWS!!!, he said.

Admissions are down 1 percent compared to last year at this time, Oborn said. There is an 8 percent increase in the number who have been accepted.

An increase in acceptances is nothing new, he said. NIU accepted 3,935 freshman in 1987, he said. The average number of new freshmen admitted is between 3,150 and 3,200 students, he said.

In the past, NIU began recruiting students in the fall and accepted “highly-qualified” applicants first. If the admission directors felt applications were low by November, they would lower the standards with the intention of raising them again later, he said.

This year, however, because of an 8 percent decrease in the number of high school students, NIU lowered its standards right away, Oborn said.