<p>opinion:</a> Robert Seltzer: An insider's guide to college admissions</p>
<p>The UW-Madison adcon assigned to review our school's applications talked at our H.S. in early September. He explained that the 2 notication periods (mentioned in the linked article above) are a change from previous years. That's a long time to wait, until January 15, if the application was submitted in September!</p>
<p>They say BY dates- this may still mean rolling admissions for many students with the better credentials. This means some students who apply early won't have to wait as long as later applicants to get the news and gives the university time to sit on iffy students while others are applying instead of needing to predict how many they can admit and still have room for those best students who don't rush their UW app. I'll bet some of those early applicants may have waited even longer to get bad news in past years. I suspect the great increase in applications has forced the changes. There would still be time in January for declined students to apply to other state schools. It also beats the private schools making everyone wait until March.</p>
<p>Whoa, I had no idea that private schools send out decisions in March!</p>
<p>UW also has the somewhat undesirable event of having to go deep into the waitlist late in the year. I am sure they do not want that to happen again.</p>
<p>IN RESPONSE TO:
This article is a complete lie.</p>
<p>"If you want to get into UW-Madison, have a 3.75</p>
<p>Admissions makes two piles, those with high GPAs and those that have lower GPA. If you have an ACT score over 30, and a GPA over 3.5, you go into the in pile.</p>
<p>It doesn't matter why you write on your essay or what activities you did in high school. Its all about the GPA (3.7) and ACT (30).</p>
<p>Why would someone write such blatant lies to children? We, who have been through they system or have worked in the admissions office know how it really works. Why keep up the public charade?"</p>
<p>^^^^^THIS ISN'T TRUE, IS IT????!?!?!?!?!? People on there were backing it up, and it sounded real.. and then someone said "the university's standard of 3.75..."
So do they require a 3.75 and a 30 now? Please tell me no...</p>
<p>Read the info found on this link:</p>
<p>Madison follows a holistic approach and according to the document referenced above, applicants are assessed in various respects including high academic standards (the middle 50% of admitted students have an ACT from 26-30, and a GPA from 3.5 to 3.9), leadership qualities, nonacademic achievement, diversity in personal background and potential for contribution to the Wisconsin community.</p>
<p>Those guides are not official, the numbers most likely represent a sure admission.</p>
<p>They sure like people to believe that their admissions counselors are pouring over these files in great detail. I would bet in any given year they give upwards of 8000 undergrad applications and likely have fewer than 20 admission counselors on staff. The decisions are made within the span of 5 months or so. The numbers suggest that there is a lot of sorting and piling and not much careful sifting and winnowing.</p>
<p>There are about 30 admissions counselors to review 25,000 applications (info from UW website).</p>
<p>I think you might be surprised how much detail they look at in the apps. Clear admits are easy. Same for rejects. They spend considerable time on the borderline cases. Lots of emphasis on quality level of the coursework.</p>
<p>Agree with Barrons. I have seen students with lower stats get accepted and higher stats get rejected. The difference? The rigor of the high school curriculum. Don't plan on only taking the minimum courses required for admission. You want to have 4 years each of English, History, Math, Science and world language. Take honors and AP classes when available.</p>