Hello, I am currently attending UW-Stout for my third year of college as a graphic design major. I am interested in transferring to UW-Madison, but I’m not exactly sure what my chances are, or how long and how hard I will have to work to be accepted. My first year as a freshman I ended up withdrawing from school due to medical reasons, and had a very poor GPA (<2.0). My second year, I attended a community college and still did poorly the first semester there (Fall 2014) because of personal reasons, involving my dad being diagnosed with cancer and losing a friend, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and could not focus on my schoolwork. But Spring of 2015, I finally dedicated myself to my major and my school work, and managed to get a 4.0 for the semester and made the dean’s list. Ive calculated what I need this Fall 2015 semester and Spring 2016 semester in order for my last 50 credits to be a 3.4, and I need to get at most 4 Bs or higher. I really believe I have the capabilities, I’ve faced a lot of difficulties going into college, but I finally know what I really want to do and have dealt with my past issues. I also had gotten a 35 on my ACT but unfortunately I know they don’t really look at ACT scores for transfer students. I have a very strong portfolio for the BFA program, and have signed up for multiple extracurriculars involving my major, not to mention clubs and classes in high school involving my major also. I also have some outside work designing for small companies. Does anyone know how likely it is I’ll get in for Fall 2016? Or if not then, when I have the best chance of being accepted? I hope my freshman year has not completely destroyed any chance I had of getting in. I’ve heard it’s easier to get in as a transfer, but I sto want to know my best possible chances of being accepted. Even being wait listed for fall 2016 would still be good news to me.
I’m currently a freshman at UW River Falls and I hate it here so I plan to transfer by spring 2017 so I will have 32 credits before I apply. UW Madison is competitive and I don’t know how lenient they are with students from the UW system. I plan to start strong because its the only school that will accept majority of my credits.
To be more detailed: my freshman year I was hoping to major in mechanical engineering, and absolutely hated it. I disliked the school greatly, and the anxiety issues I had throughout high school only worsened. I have been through years counseling and tried many medications, yet nothing helped in the long run. I recently found out through enzyme testing that out of all the SSRIS on the market, only 1 will work properly on me, and it was only released two years ago. Since I’ve been taking it, I feel like my old self again. I was a top student in my school growing up, my education was my priority. Once my anxiety disorder took hold, everything became second to what I was anxious about. I final have faith in my abilities again. I’m working ahead in all my classes here at UW-Stout, and currently taking 18 credits. So far I’m doing extremely well and I am incredibly proud of myself. I recently was hired as a layout designer for our University’s newspaper, and hope to join the academic honor society. I really feel I can do this; I’m finally doing what I always wanted and I have the medication I needed all along. Things are going very well for me here. However, I know UW-Stout is not the school for me. I regret not going to UW-Eau Claire instead, because from what I’ve read online Eau Claire is much more challenging than stout, and I want to work as hard as I can to get to Madison. However, the Graphic Design program here seemed much more impressive that what I saw at Eau Claire, so I’m hoping that will help me. Any comments help, I know anxiety and mental health issues are a very common reason for poor grades, which makes me doubt my chances even more.
Hi Natalie,
I’m a bit late to the party here, but I just wanted to give you some advice. I understand that your reason for applying to UW Madison may be personal but after stumbling across your post I wanted to give you my input. If you plan on graduating UW Madison with a degree in graphic design I strongly advise against it. I am currently a junior at UW Madison going for my BFA in Art with an emphasis in graphic design. The program here is atrocious. The graphic design program is incredibly small and cannot even be considered as a program really. The art department here only values fine art and puts hardly any thought into the design program. Here we only have one incredibly grumpy and traditional professor who teaches all of the graphic design courses and is incredibly uninspiring. I recently visited UW Stout with intentions of transferring there. I was incredibly impressed by Stout’s graphic design program and how dedicated the faculty was to it. I obviously don’t know it as well as you do but it seeme far better than a school with only one graphic design professor with advisors that won’t help you find jobs. Like I said, if you intend on graduating Madison in graphic design I would say you would be making a mistake since our school doesn’t care about graphic design. I’m still debating if I want to transfer to Stout for its design knowing I’d have to be there for 2 years past my senior year. This is just my advice. I would love to answer any questions you have about Madison’s design program if you’re still considering the transfer.