<p>I met with an official from UW and they admitted there were some issues with adapting the systems to freshman who come in with enough credits to be sophomores and the impact that can have. They have been working on it and will be rolling our some programs with that in mind. One is a program like FIGS except for new first year students with advanced standing and transfer students. This is being financed with Madison Initiative funds.</p>
<p>Thanks for the action and update. It is good to know they are aware there are issues and are working on them. I appreciate your work and efforts on behalf of UW and our students!</p>
<p>It seems there are issues regarding actual programs (sounds like they are looking at this) AND some that are simply computer/logistical “tweaks” or adjustments that could be made to recognize a student as a high credit first year freshman entry college student who applied out of high school- vs. a transfer or upperclassman (specifically, making sure computer registration access doesn’t block students during registration requiring pain in the neck legwork to obtain “special permission” to take things like Eng 100 - Comm A or other entry level freshman classes they may wish to explore such as Anthro 104 or similar). Do you happen to know if they are aware of and working on both programming opportunities as well as the computer “glitch” type stuff?</p>
<p>Not yet. I’ll be back in Madison in April and will have a meeting with one of the top deans at UW. I think I can get some more answers then if not sooner.</p>
<p>Thank you for following up on this Barrons. I am very pleased to hear the UW administration is trying to respond to the problem. Please continue to keep us posted.</p>
<p>Yeah, thanks a ton for doing this, barrons.
And great, another program like FIGs sounds amazing (I’m in a fig right now, worked out amazing with the overlap between classes and the people). Most likely, they’ll open up special classes for incoming freshmen with high AP credits and advanced standing (open only to them, like a FIG). Good stuff, and yeah keep up posted.</p>
<p>I hope they do some computer tweaking as well as FIGs so students can get both to keep the entire diversity of course offerings open to incoming students their second semester.</p>
<p>Will high credit first-year students be able to progress in their course sequences without yet being admitted to their chosen degree program? Or is UW planning on placing high credit first-years in a kind of ‘holding pattern’ in their degree seeking progress to take a sidelined semester of FIG exploratory classes 2nd semester of their first year?</p>
<p>It would be good if it’s the former… could help boost UW’s lagging 4-year graduation rate.</p>
<p>Students choose their courses- the FIGs are not taken by all/most and would only add to electives available. AP credits often mean most of the U’s breadth requirements are taken care of but students often want to take an elective open only to freshmen/sophomores because it is interesting- philosophy 101, for example. By limiting such courses to underclassmen they are not filled with the upperclassmen (and staffing precludes just adding more sections). This has nothing to do with taking other courses- only students who choose a FIG would take it, those not interested can still take the courses needed for their major. </p>
<p>Coming in with a lot of credits means there is room in the schedule for totally fun courses- ie those not useful in meeting requirements for a major. Forward progress with more advanced courses will still be a benefit although some sequences required for a degree may preclude early graduation. I definitely recommend that many students with AP math/science credits consider the entire math/science Honors sequences in math, physics and/or chemistry instead of the second regular courses as these will have much more depth/theory and give better knowledge of the fields. The idea is not to race through college but to get as good an education as possible. AP courses are not of the same caliber as UW courses so it will not be a repeat of all material. My son chose to finish in 4 years instead of 3 and is including grad level math courses in his final senior year- better prep for grad school than finishing with the required minimum for his major last year. The AP courses satisfied many breadth reqs but I think he still managed to get the same breadth credits in college also. Of course, unlike chemistry, math majors can take more courses simultaneously as they are not prerequisites for other math courses as often as in chemistry and therefore have a better chance of graduating early (plus the time factor- so many chemistry labs take a lot of hours per credit).</p>
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We’re hearing that’s true from some friends, not true from others. Even though the basic required AP curriculum is the same, high school AP class experiences vary quite a bit. They’re very good and go way above and beyond in some cases, while in others the classes barely get through the basic required curriculum - and some may not even finish. </p>
<p>You can’t really make a blanket statement like that. Individual experiences across the country vary quite a bit.</p>
<p>What does FiG stand for? What type of program is it?</p>
<p>Freshman Interest Group. </p>
<p>[FIGS</a> >> First Year Interest Groups >> UW-Madison](<a href=“http://www.lssaa.wisc.edu/figs/]FIGS”>http://www.lssaa.wisc.edu/figs/)</p>
<p>Thanks for the link. It seems like a great program. I love the idea of a ready made study group. If my son ends up at UW, I will have him check into it when he goes to SOAR.</p>
<p>The intent of my comment is to reassure people that having taken an AP course will not mean boredom in an entry level course at UW, even if a 5 was obtained on an AP exam. The Honors courses especially will go above and beyond that content is the point. Of course, there is always the possibility of some highly gifted Madison HS student being in those Honors courses even though the nearby schools are good… Generalities can be very helpful while picking apart statements doesn’t always yield any help.</p>