I am a Wisconsin resident who is currently a freshman student UC San Diego. I am looking to transfer back home to UW Madison after this year (Fall 2016). What are my chances of getting in? Here are my stats:
High School
GPA: 4.0 unweighted (valedictorian)
AP Tests: 4 on Calc AB, 3 on English Lang
AP/College Credit: 19 credits
ACT: 28
ECs: NHS Secretary, Student Council VP, Pep Band, Marching Band, and Concert Band for all four years (drum major for one year), Varsity Volleyball Manager, National History Day State Alternate, member of volunteer group, and pre med club
College
Major: Microbiology (might change to chemistry)
First Quarter Classes: General Chem, Psychology, Biology
ECs: Girl Up, Active Minds, school musical, I hope to play an intramural sport later in the year
GPA: I have not completed a full term yet, but I am expecting around a 3.0-3.3 for the quarter
Essay 1 (something that is overlooked): I wrote about overlooking my mental health during school and my ongoing battle with mental illness. I mention how this affected my GPA this quarter.
Essay 2: I wrote about how my dream of living in CA was too good to be true and how I would contribute to UW as a student and citizen.
Some Questions I Have:
Will UW take into consideration the level of difficulty of UC San Diego because of my GPA, which seems relatively low for their standards?
Does being a WI resident or transferring from a UC school give me any advantage?
Being a first year transfer student, how heavily will UW consider my stats from high school? Obviously they are much better than my college stats.
I am so unhappy here at UC San Diego so it’s very important to me to be able to transfer back home. Thanks in advance for your input!
Did you previously apply to UW-Madison as a senior in high school? If so - were you admitted?
I don’t know if writing about mental health issues will help you or hurt you in the admissions process.
The 28 ACT and 4.0 from high school with a few APs are decent. A 3.0 from college might be the minimum you need.
How are freshmen intro courses harder at UCSD than at UW-Madison? Is that what you are saying?
SOOO many Wisconsin kids think they need to go far away from home for college. What made you give up the Wisconsin Academic Excellence Scholarship, Wisconsin Covenant grant and go to school in California for $56,000/year? Did your parents try to talk you out of it? Was it peer pressure - wanting to tell friends in high school about your exotic college plans?
Thanks for your reply. I didn’t finish my application freshman year because I had already gotten into CU Boulder and the U of M. I’m pretty certain I would’ve gotten in.
I’m saying that the schools in the UC system are wildly competitive and really hard to get into, so will they take into consideration the difficulty when reviewing my application?
I guess it was peer pressure and the fact that I didn’t have a great time in high school and thought I could get a new start by changing my life completely. The money isn’t really an issue for me. My parents still tried to talk me out of it because they wanted me closer to home.
Well I’m a fellow applicant like yourself, so I don’t know everything UW-Madison looks for in an applicant, but from information I’ve gathered talking to transfer advisors at the University and their average transfer stats, I’d say you have a moderate chance. Like stated above, a 3.0 appears to be on the lower end of the required GPA. In your statement, I wouldn’t necessarily avoid the mental health issues if it offers an explanation to your GPA, but definitely explain how you’re overcoming these obstacles and how you will improve as a student overall. If they don’t find any sense of resolve in your mental health in your application, its possible they’ll assume you will not improve your GPA in future semesters and will only be detrimental to your application.
In regards to your question of how heavily they will consider you high school stats, this is what I found on the UW website:
“Generally speaking, students who are in their first two years of college-level course work will have their high school records more carefully analyzed. The more college-level work you have completed, the less we will rely on high school performance criteria such as rigor of course work, academic GPA, grade trends, and class rank.”
So yes, because you are a freshman, I think your high school grades will definitely affect their decision in a positive way. Also, for the next semester I suggest taking courses other than the sciences that will go towards your degree. UW-Madison seems to find a wide breadth in courses and academically well-rounded students to be very important in their admission decisions. So maybe some general education courses in Humanities or Communications may be beneficial? Just an idea.
I hope you succeed in getting in! Good luck!
Thanks for your reply. Next quarter I am taking 3 courses in the humanities/arts and 3 science/math courses for a total of 18 credits. In my second essay I talk about my experience living in CA and how it prompted me to want to transfer. Then I go on to talk about how I would be a valuable addition to UW-Madison. Does that make more sense?
Yes, I misread your sentence, sounds good 
Thanks for your input one more question; do I have to send official reports for my ACT and AP scores?
Not sure about AP, I would assume so, but yes for the ACT you have to if you want it considered.
I’m actually in the same boat, but just not as far away. Last year I decided to go to the University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Science and Engineering because of scholarship opportunities that UW Madison didn’t give me. Now looking back on that decision the money doesn’t really matter, but what school I like more is what truly matter. The money will resolve itself in the end. I got into Madison last year but this year I’m a little worried that I won’t get in.
In high school I was Salutatorian with a weighted GPA of like 4.3 unweighted like 3.9 or something don’t really exactly remember. In Minnesota I came in with 48 credits from AP so I would presume it is around the same for Madison. And I was very involved in bowling both state recognized and nationally recognized. I was very involved in other extracurriculars and so and so forth. All around I was a good student. Got an ACT of 32 and writing of 10.
This year though I’m not doing quite as well. I’m majoring in Electrical Engineering, but my back up if I don’t get into the engineering college is a Chemistry major. Either way I’m going to do pre med prereqs and try my hand at becoming a doctor.
Currently I’m taking Physics 1 for engineers (Calc based hardest one offered at the U thats not honors), Engineering Linear Algebra and Differential Equations (Calc 3 here), Electrical Engineering 1301 Intro to Computing Systems, Biogeography (doubt this course transfers, but whatever win some lose some) and 1st year college of science and engineering intro class. For a grand total of 17 credits. But my problem comes in that I think I’m going to get around a 3.3-3.5 and don’t know if that will be good enough for admittance.
Salutatorian and a Wisconsin resident? So you also gave up the Wisconsin Academic Excellence Scholarship and Wisconsin Covenant grant?
Was there anything either of your parents could have said or done to help you make the right decision the first time?
Yeah the scholarship to Minnesota was way more than those scholarships. And for whatever reason my mother hated Madison and pushed me to Minnesota which she feels awful about. It’s whatever now, but are my stats good enough for admittance even if my first semester isn’t spectacular?
Sounds like both of you should be able to transfer. OP- be sure to improve your grades the next two quarters. You will then have a better gpa.
I understand completely wanting to go elsewhere. Thankfully for me there was no reciprocity eons ago- I wanted to leave town. The UW campus was a world apart from my suburban home. A college friend unfortunately lived within walking distance and walked to campus. Many Madison residents should leave their cocoon.
Would anyone be willing to read my essay?
Were the essays already submitted?
No I have not submitted my application yet.
You may want to ask for more opinions in the Parent Forum, but I don’t believe it’s a good idea to write about mental health issues in your main transfer application essay. If you want to mention that it affected your GPA and you are getting help, it could go in the section where you can list any other information you would like the admission committee to consider.
I don’t know if it makes a difference, but my essay is about overcoming my mental illness, not just me making excuses for my poor GPA.
I think I’m gonna end up rewriting it so I have the best chance at admission as possible. Now I just have to think of a new topic…thanks for your help.
I agree with the above by Mad… You want it as a reason for less desirable grades but you do not want admissions to view that as the person you presently are. Focusing on your past issues in the main essay will make them up front and center, defining who you are now.
Update: I ended up getting a 3.8 this quarter, so I think that will help my application!