I applied to Madison with a 3.4 UW GPA and have been postponed. It’s time to submit midyear grades, but my grades are horrible. 3.09 for first semester. Granted, my classes are ridiculously hard (all the while I’m trying to juggle an FFA presidency), and my grades have never been this terrible before, but do I ruin my chances? I applied to CALS. I don’t know what to do. Madison is my first choice.
What’s your ACT?
@HopefulBadgerPlz
27 Writing 10
My semester GPA I bumped up to a 3.14 last minute
Are you in-state? If not, I’m gonna be blunt, the chances seem somewhat slim.
^ which doesn’t mean that UW is not in your future. You just may need to do some quality work at a different college before you get admitted. This doesn’t have to a bad thing; you can save some money and benefit from small class sizes.
Personally, I went from a technical college, to UW-Platteville, to UW-Madison. If it is your goal, it is your goal. Don’t give up hope!!
That being said, it doesn’t mean you won’t be admitted right away. It’s just best to have a back-up plan.
If you think your HS classes are “ridiculously hard” and you’re getting mainly B’s it doesn’t sound like you are ready for the rigor of UW-Madison yet. UW classes will be faster paced and have many students who can handle top HS classes plus activities and still get mainly A’s. You would likely be better off at a different college where you can learn the material to get A’s and transfer to UW-Madison if you still want to. UW does not want to set students up for failure.
@HopefulBadgerPlz I am in-state.
@wroblewskij my back-up is NDSU 
@wis75 I’m taking 3 APs, 1 CAPP, and 2 accelerated classes while serving as the FFA president (this can and does interfere with school, always), so it’s not the rigor per se. It’s a full plate that results in some B’s. Actually, it’s all A’s and two C+'s, which I’ve never encountered before, but nevertheless. Plus, I applied to CALS, and ag is my strong suit, so hopefully I get some leverage there.
Some honesty is required here. I think wis75 may be correct. At any rate, whether or not you are ultimately accepted – there’s a chance, but not a great one with the downward trend – you must prioritize your studies through your college years. If you want to do well at a school the caliber of UW, you will need to apply more effort to your classes. It will not reflect well upon your chances if you try to rationalize mediocre grades with extracurricular activities.