<p>Blog post from a transfer admissions counselor:</p>
<p>Wisconsin</a> Blogs - Office of Admissions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison</p>
<p>Nice comprehensive information on courses needed for transfer et al- must read for prospective transfer students.</p>
<p>I am currently a freshman at UW-Oshkosh and hope to transfer to Madison in the Fall. In the blog post, she states that a wide breadth of classes is important to a successful transfer. Currently I am taking calculus 3, calculus based physics, and general chemistry. I will be taking general economics during our Winter interim. Even though my intended major is nuclear engineering, will this hurt my application as I have not had a wide range of classes prior to submitting?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Tyson,</p>
<p>Dont worry about it. Just take a full load of classes, get above a 3.0 and your in. The transfer process to UW is a pretty easy gig, and a great alternative for those who were denied as freshman, its not challenging to get in as a transfer, but be ready to work once you get here.</p>
<p>@tysonwill</p>
<p>I transferred to Madison from UW-Oshkosh and I have a friend who did as well. It’s pretty easy as long as you do the following:</p>
<p>1) Get a high GPA (3.0 + at a minimum; around 3.5 or up and you’re basically a lock)
-I had a 3.4 GPA and my friend had a 3.8 GPA</p>
<p>2) Take classes that actually transfer to Madison (check the UW Transfer Wizard online to see what transfers. If a class isn’t listed, the general rule of thumb is any 300/400 level class will transfer as something)
-All of my classes except one transferred to Madison. My friend had only a couple classes that didn’t transfer.</p>
<p>3) Get a couple of letters of recommendations from professors
-I had two as did my friend.</p>
<p>4) Write a half-way decent application statement.
-I labored over mine quite a bit because I felt my GPA wasn’t as good as it could be. My friend didn’t worry too much because of his GPA.</p>
<p>5) Forget about your ACT score and high school grades.
-They don’t matter. I didn’t even send my ACT score in (which was a blah 26). </p>
<p>6) Make sure you have met the high school class requirements.
-HS grades might not matter, but meeting the requirement of 2 years of a foreign language is. There are few other requirements that are pretty easy (3 years of science I think) but if you don’t meet them you can take classes at UWO that makeup for not having taken them in high school. I didn’t have to do this, so I can’t give you more details, but it is something to look out for.</p>
<p>Hope that helps and best of luck!</p>
<p>@ badger2012:</p>
<p>extremely helpful. Thank you. I sent an email to the generic transfer admissions email address asking about with questions about foreign language and HS GPA. Your post cleared up one part of my question (GPA related), but you contradicted yourself about the foreign language requirements. (“meeting the requirement of 2 years foreign language is a must…” “…but if you don’t meet them [requirements] you can take classes at UWO to make up for not having taken them in HS”).</p>
<p>I have not taken a foreign language (Am a freshman at the University of North Dakota.), and want to go to UW-Madison or Purdue for nuclear engineering starting in the fall of 2012. </p>
<p>Should I make sure I take 2 semesters of something before applying?</p>
<p>No contradiction from advice given- have the 2 semesters of foreign language before transfer to UW in Madison. They won’t care if they are other college credits instead of HS. As always, check with UW for the most accurate info.</p>
<p>Oh I see what he was saying now, that was directed to some one currently attending UWO planning a transfer down the road. </p>
<p>Understood.</p>
<p>Thanks wis75 and badger.</p>
<p>Hi </p>
<p>I am a student at UW- Fond du Lac (2 year school in the UW system). I am a freshman and I want to transfer to UW-Madison next year. I am taking a Math 091 course and a English 098 course. UW-Madison says high grades and weak curriculum aren’t good. Are those classes weak? I am also taking a 170, 243, and 104 level classes. I am also the President/Managing Editor of the Newspaper there. I am getting two letters of recommendation. My GPA is at 3.2 now. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>The course numbers below 100 may be remedial, ie no college credit given- very weak. The other courses are likely elementary level. EC’s not as important as taking rigorous college level courses and getting good grades in them. You may not be showing UW-Madison you can do the work at its much more rigorous campus.</p>
<p>I am taking Math 105 and English 101 next semester along with BUS 201 and Sociology. Could they tentatively admit me then see how I do in Math 105 or English 101?</p>
<p>@LEROT4615</p>
<p>Try to take some higher level courses, perhaps in a humanities subject (e.g. history, philosophy, etc.) that doesn’t require a large background in math or previous courses to do well in. Also see what classes transfer to Madison using the [UW</a> Transfer Wizard](<a href=“http://tis.uwsa.edu/wizards/]UW”>http://tis.uwsa.edu/wizards/). This is important, as it is my understanding that Madison does not take into account the grades you receive in classes that won’t transfer to Madison as credit. I only had one class that did not transfer, a 100 level Computer Science course, so it didn’t really affect me, but if you have a bunch like that then it could be a problem.</p>
<p>Also, try to raise your GPA. You need at least a 3.0 to really be considered at all, so a 3.2 with mostly lower level classes might not impress whatever admissions counselor ends up looking at your application.</p>
<p>Hope that helps, and best of luck!</p>