https://uwmadison.app.box.com/s/a6924b0oncjo12hq7kjzdvl6c4yirjob
Looked at the admissions/enrollment data. Looks like a lot more students are adding UW to their applications. However, many of them do not intend to go to UW. The Common App started, didn’t it? Hopefully it will not make for more work/expenses for admissions than is best for the school and students.
Common app certainly added many. Hard to guess intentions but you are not in the game if you dont get them to apply. OOS income is too important now to leave to the old ways. Many OOS still have little awareness of what UW is. https://news.wisc.edu/meet-the-record-breaking-class-of-2022/
I am curious about the impact of the large increase in # of enrolled freshmen over the past several years on university resources such as dorm availability, class size, number of sections offered, class scheduling, etc. I understand the search for more out-of-state tuition money, but wonder if resources are becoming more scarce as a result. Does anyone have comments or experience with this?
UW has built some new dorms in recent years. They also had an initiative several years ago to increase availability of classes at the entry level. The number of new freshmen, up 250 from the year before per the link, is still in the 6000’s, not that different from recent years. It is not a requirement to live on campus, even freshman year although most choose Res Halls. There have been private alternatives some prefer as well. Recent campus culture (over a decade by now) has most students choosing nearby apartments. These students are still a part of the campus culture.
I agree that year-over-year increases don’t look that large, until you look back say 10 years to 2008 & see there were 5774 enrolled freshmen vs 6862 this fall, which is a 19% increase. Assuming that undercapacity wasn’t an issue in 2008, that’s a significant increase to accommodate & educate, so I’m curious how they are handling that. Perhaps more freshmen are having to live off campus despite some new dorms? Probably there are some clues in the CDS, & I realize that the impressions & experiences of individual students & families of changes over time are anecdotal but would still find those helpful.
A couple of clues in the CDS would be retention rate and 4/6 year grad rate. UW-Madison seems to have maintained its freshman retention rate or even upped it a bit in the last 10 years (94% in 2008 vs. 95% in 2017), and 4/6 year grad rates have improved several percentage points. Notably, the four-year grad rate has increased nine points: 60% vs. 51%; the six-year rate about half that amount (87% vs. 82%).
The total UG number is little change over last 10 years. Many new admits now enter with soph standing. Actual new freshmen are pretty flat to declining. Sophs are up. .https://uwmadison.app.box.com/s/epbh1zhdsudpjvyki38jl7wo8a9gl5w8
Those new freshmen- the spring HS grads- don’t get sophomore standing until they complete first semester.