Son was deferred. Letter says that he should recieve a decision on or before March 31. I think this was discussed but not sure that I saw an answer. Do decisions typically come in waves or all at once? Just trying to figure timing relative other schools.
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I donât think they have to, but some people like to do that. They just asked students to self-report grades and report an additional honors/recognition. We did send a letter but frankly, Iâm not sure if anyone will ever see it! We ended up just emailing it to admissions.
Selectivity is catching up to its massive academic reputation.
26% yield (which is what UW reported last year) is too high? That might support your assertion that as a matter of written policy they donât protect, I suppose, but I donât know how a school being turned down by 3 in 4 students they accept would make it think itâs at risk of yielding too many.
Itâs gotten more competitive, certainly, and test optional has changed things. However, my Dâs schoolâs (OOS) Naviance page still shows that not a single kid who looks (from weighted GPA and test scores) to be in the top 35% or so of their class in the last decade has ultimately been rejected by Madison. That obviously includes the last 3 years, when things have seemingly gotten really topsy-turvy. The profile of the poster above to whom I was referring reads like that of at minimum a top 5% of their class GPA, with a 1590 SAT score. If UW doesnât care about yield, and hasnât yet hit the level of competitive admissions where out of state applicants have a success rate of below 40% or so, then what would you theorize was the reason this kid was deferred and not given an acceptance letter in EA?
FWIW, the profile of the upthread poster who dropped those stats on us indicates that they havenât been back on the site since, and thatâs the only post theyâve ever made, on their first time on here. Which leads me to think weâre not looking at a real profile, anyway.
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I think you have to evaluate deferrment and yield % on a per major level (not easy to find for most schools). My point is that top 5% in thier class and 1590 SAT is not going to be consdered exclusively. Many 3.7UW/TO kids have already been accepted for other majors. Many of the really high stats kids are competing for the same spots in the same majorâŠFor example: OOS, Male/ engineering /4.0UW/1500+/tons of ECC are likley all competing for a very limited # of spots. These kids are not being evaluated againts and International/3.5UW/1300/ âŠits a totally diferent bucket in my opinion.
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Hi!
Someone can help us answering those questions âŠ
We did not assign for Housing yet.
Is housing guaranteed for freshman students? In the application deadline for housing is the same as confirmation of acceptance on May 1?
Which dorm is good one for an engineering student and athlete? I was looking that LLCs you pay an extra $200, is that true? We are in a budget and any dollar countsâŠ
Thanks!
Not sure if it guaranteed or not, but it is first come first serve.
Iâm a freshman Engineer, and I live in Witte.
If you want social life, choose witte, sellery, ogg.
Closer to the engineering halls would be Smith, Kronshage, Dejope, etc. Depending on your sport most athletes live in the Lakeshore dorms, but some of the football guys live in Witte too.
I like Witte, because its social, its new, clean, and close to all of the things on State Street; but I am still able to go to the lounges and study without being bothered.
I suggest you fill out the housing contract sooner rather than later, that is if they are serious about going to UW.
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You can fill out the housing application today or closer to the deadline. But itâs important to know that itâs a lottery and not based on when UW receives the housing application. Most important is to know and be OK with the fact that you while you can put your top choices in the form, you may get assigned to a dorm that is not even on your list.
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Thank you so much for the reply 
helps a lot!!
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The reason that yield is high is due to the housing crisis in Madison. There is not enough student housing, resulting in students being paid to live off campus last year and converting dorms into dorms housing more students than intended. Yes, 26% would not be high at most T20 schools. But for Madison, they would not try to raise that number currently.
Thanks for bring up this issueâŠdo you think there is a risk of dorm application denial because there is not enough space for everybody? Do you know how many dorms we can put in our wishing list? I have a list of the southeast dorms/rooms preference already (4 dorms)⊠I probably will do the application this week.
Thanks
Just because the yield is 26% and isnât that of an ivy, doesnât mean it is not UP for them. The last 3 freshman classes fall enrollment was 2020 - 7,306, 2021 - 8,465, 2022 - 8,628. I know 2019, was a record breaking year as well, my kid was in that freshman class but I canât locate the exact number at the moment. In 2015, there were 6,270 freshman enrolled. They are having to recalibrate their rate of acceptance to their new yield/interest/higher apps so I think there are some growing pains as they figure it out and intentionally downsize their freshman class. They hope to go down 500 and I suspect theyâd prefer to under enroll and use a waiting list this year.
I am in the midwest in an area with a lot of UW applicants. I do a little college counseling. I have been watching trends for a number a years at this point. I think people make the mistake that admissions should be just picking the class with the best stats. Admissions offices are fulfilling institutional needs to build a class. If you are clearly a CS intersted/STEM student from a midwestern metro area with lots of apps, itâs a harder admit (and possibly a much harder admit) than if youâre a dulcimer player, arts interested student from Appalacia. Admission rates for public flagships are can be fairly meaningless for OOS students. Naviance can help if available but those numbers are shifting many places. Big schools like this also have a lot of historical data about what yield is like out of your school/area.
The other thing I think it is a very intentional choice that UW has a tedious long essay âwhy UWâ requirement. Both my kids were accepted EA from OOS. One was a high stat, apply anywhere student. One is actually fairly academically similar, slightly less rigorous and more pointy but applied test optional. Both visited campus and were super specific in those essays about what they hoped to do and bring to campus. Their acceptance letters speak directly to the âWisconsin Ideaâ and extending education to the community. My 2nd kid has been on campus many times at this point. I went and reread what she sent after she was accepted because it certainly did not feel like a slam dunk and I have to say, it was VERY OTT with Madison/UW/I see myself on this campus love. I mean she is sincere, she may well attend. But I do think admissions has a knack for differentiating between âthis person gets this campus and could be happy and be a contributer here and thereâs a reasonable chance they will comeâ and âthis is a toss off app for this studentâ.
I also think plenty of defered students will get some love in the spring with admission. A certain percentage of students will not follow up and that alone is super helpful to admissions. Someone who takes the time to follow up and maybe express their strong interest in being a member of a community may get a 2nd glance.
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Ogg sucks!
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I guess as the parent of a potential freshman, I am not worrying about it. They do housing via lottery for everyone signed up by the deadline (which I think is on or about May 1 if I am remembering correctly). If they get this admissions thing right, should be fine. But if you have committed, there is no reason not to get it in.
My current Badger signed up on the last day and got his first choice LLC. From what Iâve seen, youâre less likely to get your top choice locations (unless they are really unpopular) if you hand pick your roommate. So if my kid attends UW, I am encouraging her to pick a location/llc and do random roommate. No guarentees, could still end up anywhere of course. Itâs all good.
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Were you intending to say ââŠreason that yield is too highâ for this particular school is because of a shortage of housing? I think that would seem logical, but as written youâve implied that the housing issue is a driver of high yield. Not sure I follow how that would work - would seem to have the opposite effect, assuming applicants are aware of the situation, and certainly in-state kids and Minnesotans, Illinoisans, etc. would be.
Anyway, to take a step back: a poster way up above posted some tippy top of their class type stats with absurd rigor, and a top approx. 0.2% SAT score, and said they got deferred. When discussing the possible reasons for this, there seem to be several: (1) this poster, whoâs not been back and had never posted or visited the site before, is a phantom and not a real applicant (my suspicion), (2) they applied for something like the engineering program or whatever discipline has more difficult admissions, (3) thereâs some sort of formal or informal decisionmaking at the admissions office based on the likelihood this profile ends up at a different school, so why waste an admit on them in early action when you can wait, (4) idiosyncratic reasons we donât know about in the applicantâs background, essays, etc., (5) lack of fit into some presumed holistic class-building bucket. Could be a combo of 2 and 3, I suppose. Weâll never know about 4, so Iâm leaving it out in terms of prognosticating.
I think youâre espousing another possibility, related to yield already being too high for the institution. That doesnât quite make sense to me when applied to this particular (hypothetical) application, though - if youâre afraid of too many kids saying âyesâ then wouldnât you defer the borderline candidates instead of the very top ones?
Anyway, my point was only that while Wisconsin admissions has become more selective, even if this is a computer science kid, theyâd still be sporting stats that would be in the very upper echelons of the applicants to Wisconsin whoâve indicated a preference for that department. So Occamâs Razor points to a belief the kid wonât matriculate. Could be the answers of holistic admissions, building a class, etc., but letâs get real: if UW could fill their out of state bucket with kids with a dozen AP courses and an SAT score in the top 3,000 of all test takers, theyâd jump at it. Rationally, even if the AO is thinking this personâs not a strong enough candidate for CS, youâd still throw an acceptance at them and hope they come major in math. So Iâm putting a higher likelihood on shadow yield control than other factors. [Although, again, Iâm assigning the highest likelihood to âthis application doesnât actually exist and weâre getting t.rolledâ] 
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@OITB1 Yeah, I agree that thereâs a combo of #2 & #3 at play. I do think a given (OOS) studentâs EFC may play a role as well, especially at this type of state school. Iâd be curious to hear honest thoughts about yield factor from rogue admissions officers at some point. I mean itâs not the Warren Commission - somebody has to know something.
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When do RD decisions come out? Thxs
I havenât looked much into the housing app, but I am from Madison so know a lot of people who are freshmen at UW this year. Everyone I know secured housing on campus if they wanted it. I think the off-campus incentives and dorm condensing protocol made it work out for most freshmen. Iâm not sure about this year, but I think as a first-year you should be able to get housing on campus.
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I agree with you 100 percent on the essay. My daughter agonized on that specific essay and used very specific details from her visit and I think it paid off.
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A little confused about OOS Merit chances. DS deferred but very top choiceâŠ. I thought they were a âbuyerâ school⊠now hearing different things.
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