Hey guys, so i just got rejected from uw-madison yesterday and tbh i felt terrible about it… I’m a transfer student majoring in computer engineering (top 10 program in U.S) in a 4 year university. I chose applied mathematics, engineering and physics to be the first choice major because i have a pretty low gpa 3.1… it’s been pretty hard to get a rather high gpa in this major at my current college. I’m just wondering if applied mathematics, engineering and physics a very competitive major at uw-madison? not to offense but i didn’t see any ranking about this major in anywhere and uw-madison doesn’t really say a lot about this major on the website.
Currently i’m thinking about appealing and do you guys think it’s a nice move?
I would not appeal unless there are mistakes on your application or you have new information. Your GPA suggests you are a B student in math, etc., and their expectations may be higher at the UW.
MAE&P was one of the most challenging majors at my university (back in the day). Only the brightest of the brightest made it through. My guess is that you’d need a much higher GPA to be competitive for that major anywhere.
I agree with the above poster that unless something has changed with your GPA/application, there is no sense appealing.
oh i didn’t know this major was that competitive…
however, there actually was something wrong in my application because I changed my second major to environmental sciences like 10 days before the decision was out, so I assume that the admission officers didn’t see the change of request. The school replied me saying that they would review my request after I receive the decision , but I didn’t really know what it meant…
Wait, are you from Purdue too?
My daughter is at Purdue.
oh ok.
Purdue is good in engineering. I just don’t fit in here a lot 
Hope you find a better fit!
Thank you! 
By competitive if you mean ability to get in the major, no. If being in a top tier program then definitely so- you need strong credentials to handle the math physics and engineering offered by UW. You did not get rejected on the basis of your major, your stats did not make you competitive for a UW transfer. UW was telling you they would review your major change if you were accepted- no reason now since you were rejected.
Yes，you’re absolutely right. I’m not competitive based on my GPA, which is cold but true. However, I tried a lot to compensate for that. I’m a leader in my school’s robot club, and we won the third place in last year’s international game. I had 2 intern experiences from Qualcomm and caterpillar, both of which were in software engineering group. I attended a competition held by NASA about designing a space station in high school and won the 4th place. I had more activities and more experiences on the application, but I know they were nothing when GPA comes in. I know a lot of people who have really good GPA in my class, they are brilliant I gotta admit that. I’ve tried pretty hard too to get myself better on it but the truth is I still couldn’t and I blame myself every single day. Success is hard and it needs sacrifice, and I need my salvation.
So thank you for your response and advice，i’ll still appeal the decision since the admission officer didn’t see my undated second major request. I’ll try hard on this one too.
Extracurriculars do not trump academics. The bottom line is that you go to college for the education and not the activities. You cannot substitute activities for top grades in courses. I suspect ECs count as much as they do in HS because so many students get high grades and that’s one way of differentiating the students who need all of their time to do well from those who have time to do more. College allows you to take more/fewer credits than HS does.