Undergraduate Admissions

Freshman Admission

Requirements and Expectations

The University of Wisconsin is a world-class university and admission is both competitive and selective.

Our admission counselors review each application individually and are looking for students who demonstrate strong academic ability, as well as leadership, community service, creativity, talent, and enthusiasm. We also consider personal characteristics that will contribute to the strength and diversity of our university.

• Academic Course Preparation
• Academic Performance
• Standardized Test Scores
• Nonacademic Qualifications

Academic Course Preparation

Academic preparation, and specifically the strength of your high school course work, is the primary consideration for admission. This chart shows our minimum course requirements for application. Students who are most competitive for admission generally meet our typical standards (right column), including 4-5 academic courses each year and AP, IB, and honors courses whenever possible.

	Minimum for Application	Typical for Admission
English	4 years	4+ years
Math*	3	4+
Social Studies	3	4+
Science	3	4
Single Foreign Language	2	4
Additional Academic/Fine Arts	2	2+
Total Units	17	22+

^* Math requirement includes at least one year each of algebra, geometry, and advanced math, or an integrated sequence of courses.

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Academic Performance

Applicants are expected to achieve a high level of performance in the course work they pursue. This includes:

• Rigor of course work. A minimum of the academic courses listed above, including AP, IB, and honors courses as appropriate.
• Class rank. We request class rank and consider rank in addition to all other factors.
• Academic grade point average (GPA). We recalculate GPAs based on unweighted academic courses only.
• Grade trends. An increasingly strong academic record improves likelihood of admission; a downward trend diminishes it.

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Standardized Test Scores

We require results from either the ACT or the SAT, including results from a standardized writing test. This writing requirement must be fulfilled with the ACT Assessment plus the ACT Writing Test or the SAT (critical reading, math, and writing). Review our New SAT/ACT Writing Test Frequently Asked Question page for complete details.

For both the ACT and the SAT, we consider the highest composite score obtained in a single test administration. We do not combine best scores in the various content areas over the course of several test administrations to form a combined high composite score. If a student does take a single test multiple times or both the ACT and the SAT, we will ultimately look at all scores reported in an effort to get a true sense of the student’s achievement. However, as noted above, the student’s “official” score will be single highest composite score.

We must receive your test scores directly from the testing service. Our test codes are 4656 for the ACT and 1846 for the SAT and TOEFL.

Students whose native language is not English and who were not educated in an entirely English-speaking country will likely need to submit results from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Visit our international admissions Web site for more details.

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Nonacademic Qualifications

Numbers alone do not determine admissibility. We look for students with special or unique talents, who give of themselves, and who learn outside the classroom as well as inside. Please remember, however, that while nonacademic indicators will make a good applicant strong, they will never make an academically weak applicant admissible.

Some of the nonacademic areas we consider are:

• Extracurricular activities
• Leadership experience
• Community service
• Special talents and abilities
• Personal characteristics
• Alumni affiliation

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