<p>I have some questions for people who have gone to the SOAR at Madison in the past. I think I'll sign up for my classes for freshman year during SOAR. Is it better to go to the SOAR in June than in August? I mean would there be more classes available in June than in August? Can it happen that I can't sign up for the classes I want due to "they are full"? Then what happen if I can't sign up for the classes I want to take? How is signing up for classes work? Like is it base on "first come first serve" basis or what? Please answer all my questions. My parents and I need to make a decision on whether to go on June or August. June is very busy for us. We're wondering if it is worth it to go to SOAR on June instead of August. Thanks!</p>
<p>All students enroll for the fall classes at SOAR, and must have completed their placement testing before their SOAR date. I believe you must have scheduled (not actually taken) your placement tests in order to even sign up for a SOAR date. Placement tests can be taken remotely, at approved sites, you do NOT need to be in Madison. My out of state son took them in May at our local community college which was an approved test-taking site. All the details for placement testing is on the website. If you have trouble finding it, it is possible that info is available only through sign-ons for students with UW Net ids – those who have committed to attend and paid their enrollment deposit. </p>
<p>All things being equal, as a freshman, you may have the option of some better class times if you do an earlier SOAR date. UW holds places in classes and sections across the board for incoming freshman for the entire summer. In fact, as my son is preparing now to register for the fall, he sees classes which note that additional sections will open up for freshman – so there are additional sections available beyond what is now showing up. If your schedule allows you to go sooner rather than later for SOAR, that will probably afford a wider range of class times. </p>
<p>As a parent, I recommend a parent attend with you because – while you are in your registration and advising meetings – your parent will be in all kinds of useful parent meetings, with info about health services, health insurance, dorms, safety etc. </p>
<p>You will get Wisc Card at SOAR (student id), and you can open a bank account. My son opened a UW Credit Union account there which has been simple for ATMs etc. You will find out how to add $ onto your Wisc card for dining halls etc. </p>
<p>Have fun. </p>
<p>@Midwestmomofboys, thanks for your thorough answer! However, I have a little more to ask. Besides the advantage of a wider range of class times, do I for sure get to sign up for the classes I want even if I show up for SOAR in August? And you meant I can open a bank account during SOAR? Thanks!</p>
<p>@life:<br>
For the typical freshman intro level courses, including prerequisites for engineering and science path, UW holds spots in reserve all the way through SOAR. Plus, international students do SOAR in late August, right before school begins, so there have to be spots in classes for them too. WIth a later SOAR date, you could find yourself in a Fri 8am discussion section, but there should generally be room. However, if you have your heart set on a small freshman seminar, that could fill up earlier in the summer. My thought would be, what is the downside of a June SOAR date? You don’t need to study for placement tests, the whole point is that it reflects your current ability so you get placed in the right level of class. So, if a June SOAR date works with your summer plans, might as well do it. </p>
<p>Yes, at the info tables at SOAR, you can open up a UW Credit Union account so you are ready to go once you hit campus. Also, your Wisc Card is your student id, and you will find out how to “load” it like a debit card to pay for food in the dining hall, books in the bookstore, ice cream at Babcock’s etc. </p>
<p>Other misc info: Freshman move onto campus a few days before returning students, so you will have a couple of days of freshman fun stuff. Classes begin the day after Labor Day and there will be a massive Student Organization Fair early in September, so you can sign up for all kinds of groups. Dorms will have intramural sports teams, and your House Fellow (what is called an RA at many schools) will organize outings for students on the same hall. </p>
<p>Student season tickets for home football games will go on sale in June - it will be announced and you should get an email late in May about it. You need to create an account first on the athletic dept ticket sale site in order to buy tickets. It is a bit like getting tickets for Lolla – kids sit on multiple screens waiting for one of them to open up into the ticket queue. Students who don’t score season tickets will certainly be able to find individual ones when the season begins. I am not a big football fan myself, but my son says game day in Madison is not to be missed. </p>
<p>Congrats again, UW is an incredible school. </p>
<p>Not sure about not studying for placement tests- some may blow them so be sure you at least look at what is being tested. It would be a shame to be required to take some remedial course you could have avoided. </p>
<p>Definitely have parents attend their SOAR session while you attend yours. Even if they are from the Madison area and went to UW. It is useful for those of us who that. Good for parents to ask their questions, get a bit familiar with the campus and learn things they won’t have to bug you about. You can revise your schedule online once you have registered through SOAR. Therefore if an opening occurs you can try to change things. Be careful though so you don’t mess up good suggestions made during your advising.</p>
<p>New thing about freshmen moving into dorms sooner than others- never saw it in the past- the Res Halls website just states two move in dates for all. More than half the dorm residents will be freshmen, the staggered dates are to only have half the residents move in each day to lessen congestion. Apartment dwellers will also arrive in the week or two before classes start. A lot of activities to get to know the campus. This does NOT replace SOAR. Also- plan on your parents just dropping you off and leaving before supper on move in day- houses (dorm floor units) usually will have a house meeting in the early evening on move in day.</p>
<p>Wisc75 – I could be wrong about freshman move in earlier than others – my kid was in Sellery so the only students there were freshman, and I associated it with freshman move-in. Yes, there are staggered move in dates so that the entire population of each dorm does not come in on the same day. At Sellery (1000 students), it was even floor numbers one day and odd the next, so took 2 days for dorm to be full. Maybe if my son had been in Ogg or Smith where there were sophomores etc, I would have realized it was not freshman only. </p>
<p>On the placement tests, I was thinking that, as long as you are still in the course as a senior, the test results predict placement in terms of your current skills, for instance, whether your writing and grammar skills are good enough to test out of Comm A requirement in english or whether your Spanish skills are comparable to 2nd/3rd or 4th semester. For me, I wouldn’t want my kid to cram for Spanish, then place into higher level than their skills are really ready for and struggle in the course, but that is a judgment call for each student. </p>
<p>Most students won’t take the foreign language placement tests since 4 years worth of a HS one satisfies UW graduation requirements for both a BA (4) and BS (3). Students typically won’t try for retroactive credits by taking the HS language at UW- use the time for other courses instead.</p>
<p>Some who haven’t had math in a while may want to brush up on the basics. </p>
<p>You didn’t notice any returning residents at your son’s freshman dorm because the overwhelming majority were likely freshmen and those who knew the system were under the radar. Food service workers and the Badger Buddies help would have moved in before the staggered move. No matter which dorm it is always a traffic jam. Some of the Lakeshore dorm houses are two floors (Liz), or a whole building in the case of Kronshage. </p>
<p>btw- it interesting for people like me who graduated from UW eons ago to see how some things change but overall how much remains the same over the decades. Those class times become embedded in your brain forever (50 minute classes plus 15 minutes in between means oddball start times). Almost all course numbers still exist for the same courses (with updated content of course). Summer orientation with class registration and ID photos before the era of most computing was there back then. Res halls has kept up with buildings and adding new dorms, changing food service locations. Now no need to buy at least a set amount of food dollars but the pay per item system has been in place since my day.</p>
<p>Most students I know took the foreign language placement test and took at least one semester at UW to get retro credits. </p>
<p>I’m going to take some issue with what Wis75 said about the Foreign Language Placement Test – TAKE IT!</p>
<p>Wis75 is correct in stating that HS language does count towards the BA or BS degree track, but you don’t receive any credit for these. A lot of majors additionally require X amount of Humanities, Social Science, etc credits and foreign language credits will count for these. Especially if you’ve taken 3 or 4 years of a language, the foreign language classes at UW Madison will be easy as pie.</p>
<p>So, for example, I took the Spanish placement exam and placed into Spanish 204 – 4th Semester Spanish. Upon successful completion, I received 4 credits for the class PLUS an additional 12 “retro” credits for the three previous spanish classes which I didn’t have to take, a semester’s worth of extra credits.</p>
<p>Fast forward to the end of my freshman year, I have 59 credits which puts me at Junior status. I got to register for my classes way before most of my peers, and in addition, I only need to take 10 credits a semester to graduate on time. This cushion is nice because now I don’t have to feel bad for taking only 12 credits if I’m taking a particularly hard class, and it is going to allow me to study abroad for an ENTIRE year without falling even remotely behind.</p>
<p>Retro credits are INCREDIBLY worth it. I basically received a 5500 dollar gift (one semester’s worth the tuition) by taking one four credit class focused on material that I had already learned. </p>
<p>I disagree. MOST students I know of don’t bother with continuing in the same language they took 4 college semester/HS years’ worth in HS. Students often should forgo a 5th year of a HS foreign language as well unless they are really into that culture and use their final HS year for another elective. Once you get beyond that level it is more literature than learning the basics of the language. Better to explore a second language if you want to. Especially freshman year it seems better to use the time/credits exploring something new instead. Consider a Linguistics class- not available in HS, or a second language instead. </p>
<p>It is nice to have a buffer with AP credits. Nice to still take as many credits as you comfortably can to get the most out of your college experience (and tuition). Nice to broaden your experiences to other humanities rather than just a HS language. There are so many interesting courses not available at the HS level. College is about more than meeting minimums.</p>
<p>btw- getting extra credits in one field won’t necessarily shorten your college career by a semester since you may still need the time for advanced courses in a major. This is especially true for STEM majors. Also- being able to graduate with the minimum credits in 3 years may not give you time to take as many upper level courses to best prepare you for grad school if that is your goal. </p>
<p>Remember to get the best academic education you can handle. This is the one time in your life you have the luxury of studying so many subjects you won’t have time for later in life when a job and other commitments require your time. Don’t be in a rush to face the real world. </p>
<p>The 10 credits a semester is on an Honors in the Major track with an eye towards early acceptance to a grad program. Everything has been talked over with my advisor and a lot of this was at her suggestion.</p>
<p>Bottom line: Let the academic professionals at the UW give you advice. The best we can provide is anecdotal suggestions based on our own experiences. In my case, retro credits were totally worth it and have worked to only further enrich my college experience. Perhaps that isn’t the case for you, but to not take one class (that can get you up to 16 credits) your first semester at the behest of one person is a poor decision. Find an advisor in the department/college you want to be apart of, and see what they have to say. </p>
<p>Huh? to the above post. 10 credits is not a full load- you need at least 12 credits to be a full time student. Honors program students may thrive on more, not fewer, credits. 17-18 credits can be only 4 classes and not a big deal. Not sure why getting into a grad program earlier is a good thing. Instead it can be better to take more courses for better preparation for grad school and/or to take more electives to max out on your undergrad experience. There is no other time in your life you will have the time and opportunity to take so many courses with material/experiences not easily available elsewhere. Find time for music, art, lit, language classes- especially survey/appreciation type courses. Years later you will happy for the knowledge outside your field.</p>
<p>Taking that one advanced level foreign language class can mean not being able to take another, more enjoyable class. ONLY take it if you really want that knowledge. </p>
<p>@wis75 — yes!! 7:45 and 8:50 will be forever seared into my brain!! Question from a WI alum with a now OOS son getting ready to be a Badger-- can a parent be on the credit union account to be able to load an account remotely? Or should we use a national bank chain (ie US Bank) to have a joint account–as long as there are US Bank-friendly (ie not too many ATM fees) machines on campus? Thanks!</p>
<p>@jaylynn on the banking question. What we do is this: my son opened his own UWCU account and we set up automatic monthly transfers from our own national bank account to his UWCU account for his rent and other expenses. He has his own account at our national bank, holding his summer job savings etc., and since that is linked to our own online banking, I can transfer money from that account to his UWCU account if necessary. And, in a pinch, he has shared his UWCU sign on info so we can get onto it to move money around if necessary. </p>
<p>We can also make deposits directly to his Wisc card account from your credit card for dining hall expenses, bookstore etc. You can mail deposits to wisc card as well, but I typically deposit from my credit card and reimburse myself from his college trust account. </p>
<p>Now that he is off campus, he also has a Red Card account (not affiliated with the university) which can be used like a debit card for meals at his favorite State St etc places (regular grumbles about why don’t food trucks at the library mall take Red Card . . . ). </p>
<p>The UWCU account does seem easy, and minimizes risk of fees for non-affiliated withdrawals. Not that they use cash for much anymore, is all swiping his debit or wisc card. </p>
<p>Congrats to your son, my OOS son is blissfully happy (or will be again, once he finishes exams). </p>
<p>The ability to put money in the Wiscard directly was helpful. Anyone can add money to that account- without knowing the charges, balance or other info. We were also able to get son’s permission to access his statements- which we rarely did. He volunteered we would see delivery charges on the food balance- small charges for those late night pizzas. We discovered he had lost and had to replace his room key when an extra charge was on his quarterly Res Halls bill. Son had his checking account from a bank with Madison branches and hometown ones we could easily make deposits to. Of course, now we would most likely do more electronically. It took son many years to unlink us from his bank account- he was underage originally and for years we could see his bank balance with his deposited post college earnings. </p>
<p>Class timings- even 8:50 was an early start for college. Those were the days. Current students- enjoy the UW life- fantastic in so many ways, in and out of class.</p>
<p>Thanks to the both of you!! Very helpful. </p>
<p>I was in Madison for Crazy Legs to see many of my college buddies and was a little overwhelmed at all the changes on campus. I hope S will be okay… [worried Mom face]</p>
<p>@jaylynn – your S will be fine! I worried my way through the first Halloween, Mifflin, Revelry etc (and the second, to be honest). He works very hard and plays just as hard, but wouldn’t trade it for the world. World class academics and, now with winter finally over, the Terrace!</p>
<p>He will be. Thank goodness it’s a dynamic campus and not stuck with just old buildings. August 1970 was way too exciting- the Sterling Hall bombing. I had a medical school classmate whose parents wouldn’t let her apply to UW that fall. I saw candlelight marches and cops in riot gear for a spring protest that didn’t materialize in front of Social Science the next year as the Vietnam War was winding down. Students a few years ahead of me had their classes disrupted. Son took part in the recent Capitol Building protests while he was there. </p>
<p>Absolutely nothing to worry about now- so tame in comparison.</p>
<p>Thanks, my Badger friends!</p>