It could have been us
- Thread starter EvanstonCat
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That is what they have done at NU. What we are talking about is the academic credentials of FB players vs the academic credentials of the general populations students, If the average ACT scores of the general population is about 33 and the average HS GPA is around 3.8, FB players are allowed in with ACT scores of 22 and GPA's as low as 3.0. (these are numbers we have seen on incoming recruits) Average might be around 27 and 3.3. Though these numbers are very high for FB players, this is still not comparable to the general NU student population, But even so, it is still significantly higher than requirements at other D1 schools. The only other program with standards truly as high as ours is Stanford
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I thought that the average gpa and graduation rate for the football players are comparable or higher that the general population of Northwestern. I don’t know the average GPA of the students but I do know the graduation rate is 83%. I can’t imagine the average GPA is greater than 3.5 but I do understand that all Universities have grade inflation since the 1980s, although that has plateaued a bit. But I believe that was one of the selling points for allowing athletes in with lower than average high school scores than the typical NU student. Basically as long as the athletic department can keep graduation rates above the general population of the school, the University would accept lower high school scores.
I’m not posting this as an expert, but something I picked up over the years. Does anyone know for sure what the policy is?
We are talking about the HS ACT scores of incoming football players. Once they get in, they do just fine. I assume this is the justification admissions uses for taking these test scores as you state.
I have not seen any specific numbers on FB recruits so I have to try to piece things together. What I have seen on this forum, the absolute lowest numbers we can bring in seems to be about a 20 ACT (58th percentile) and more generally 22(67th) with a 3.0 GPA. General incoming population is a 33-34 and 3.9 GPA which is about the top 2%.
Therefore I would guess that average ACT is 25-27 and I put out the higher number. That is still in the 80th(25) and 86th(27) percentile. Even if it is 24, that is still 76th percentile. I used to be more familiar with SAT standards and there our recruits tended to be around 1100 which was based on the old scale. By comparison Mich State was beloe 800. I think the 1100 was about 75-80th percentile.
Average ACT Score in 2025 | Stats by State, Schools + Guide
Learn how to understand your ACT scores. This guide will teach you all you need to know about how ACT is scored, percentiles, FAQs and more.
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If you have more specific data, please share.
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I have not seen any specific numbers on FB recruits so I have to try to piece things together. What I have seen on this forum, the absolute lowest numbers we can bring in seems to be about a 20 ACT (58th percentile) and more generally 22(67th) with a 3.0 GPA. General incoming population is a 33-34 and 3.9 GPA which is about the top 2%.
Therefore I would guess that average ACT is 25-27 and I put out the higher number. That is still in the 80th(25) and 86th(27) percentile. Even if it is 24, that is still 76th percentile. I used to be more familiar with SAT standards and there our recruits tended to be around 1100 which was based on the old scale. By comparison Mich State was about 800. I think the 1100 was about 75-80th percentile.
Average ACT Score in 2025 | Stats by State, Schools + Guide
Learn how to understand your ACT scores. This guide will teach you all you need to know about how ACT is scored, percentiles, FAQs and more.
If you have more specific data, please share.
I have more specific data because it was my job, once upon a time. The team average is nowhere near a 27, you’re kidding yourself.
1) The team average is 26. I have that on good authority. Which is amazing in this disgusting era of “college” sports. Most programs - including good schools like Michigan, ND, etc. - are taking guys who can barely speak English or write their names yet somehow get an 18 (NCAA minimum).
2) The earlier discussion about “everyone doing extracurriculars so it shouldn’t matter” was comically bad. Foreign students almost never do anything outside of class (look at Japan, South Korea, India, etc) - which is fine and their cultures - but as a result their test scores and GPAs better be more elevated than a talented football player, musician, debater, etc.
3) We continue to resist the NIL auction game which is fine by me. Do we really want to reward guys who don’t show loyalty? Screw them if they want to throw away an amazing degree at an incredible school to “chase a bag.” They can eat rocks as far as I’m concerned.
2) The earlier discussion about “everyone doing extracurriculars so it shouldn’t matter” was comically bad. Foreign students almost never do anything outside of class (look at Japan, South Korea, India, etc) - which is fine and their cultures - but as a result their test scores and GPAs better be more elevated than a talented football player, musician, debater, etc.
3) We continue to resist the NIL auction game which is fine by me. Do we really want to reward guys who don’t show loyalty? Screw them if they want to throw away an amazing degree at an incredible school to “chase a bag.” They can eat rocks as far as I’m concerned.
Putting aside whether the school should lower academic requirements for recruits (even if just for a few), the program needs to do a better job of finding and attracting recruits and transfers who meet the current standard (there probably are enough players who do so to fill the roster many times over).
To do that, the program needs to start winning on a more consistent basis and have a high level coaching staff who are known for developing players.
Regarding doing a better job finding players, Mendoza had the academics (initially pledged to Yale before he landed at Cal).
Despite losing Mendoza, Cal managed to recover pretty well with one of the best true frosh QBs (prior starting true frosh QB for Cal was Goff) and despite out-reach from other programs, has decided to stick around.
To do that, the program needs to start winning on a more consistent basis and have a high level coaching staff who are known for developing players.
Regarding doing a better job finding players, Mendoza had the academics (initially pledged to Yale before he landed at Cal).
Despite losing Mendoza, Cal managed to recover pretty well with one of the best true frosh QBs (prior starting true frosh QB for Cal was Goff) and despite out-reach from other programs, has decided to stick around.
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Completely agree. Mendoza is exactly the same type of guy we should be targeting. Highly intelligent, 3 star, unheralded, etc. He’s a class act.
There was a major at NU we all used to call "Teaching Football Players How to Shake Hands" when I was in school. I forget which major it was (and I apologize profusely in advance if any of you were also that major
)1) I said SCHOLARSHIP, not TEAM. Would still likely be high.
2) OK?
3) We aren’t resisting, we are just slow to adapt. It’s coming.
We already do lower standards for a handful of recruits annually, there’s a waiver/appeal process.
Low 20s at best, at least amongst scholarship players. You’ll have the occasional Pat Ward-style outlier (I.e., 35 ACT), but low 20s is the norm.
Under the new rules of 105 roster and up to 105 scholarship, are there enough walk ons to pull up the average any significant amount?
According to interview last night (60 minutes) during segment on Indiana, thought it was more like $2mil
At NU, yes. As far as I know we are still only funding 85 scholarship spots with the remaining 20 used for preferred walk-on’s that have a higher academic profile.
As an econ grad who went into mostly sales oriented type positions over my career as opposed to analyst heavy type positions, my "teaching students how to shake hands AND read a spreadsheet" degree has been niceThere was a major at NU we all used to call "Teaching Football Players How to Shake Hands" when I was in school. I forget which major it was (and I apologize profusely in advance if any of you were also that major
From what I had seen on this forum was that it was a real stretch to maybe once in a while get someone in with a 20/21 but it was real iffy for a guy that low. Other than that it seemed that the lowest outside of those extremely special situations was a 22. That would tend to indicate a median around 25
No. The low side was more like 19 in my experience, as long as the English sub-score was >20.
That’s definitely not true. One of my good buddies worked in the athletic department and it was a STRUGGLE to get Dererk Pardon into NU and he had a 23 overall. Collins was told he was only getting 1 exception like that every 4 years. And admissions really did their homework on Pardon. Obviously, it worked out and he was a high character guy but it shows how we have real standards.
But with good extracurriculars. Well, extracurricular. One. Football. So pretty much the same as any NU admit.
It was literally my job to get football scholarship offerees through NU Admissions, albeit 15 years ago (though I can’t imagine things have gotten more strict since).