Starting August 1, 2024, with the Class of 2025, the Universities of Wisconsin will offer three paths to first-year student/freshman undergraduate admission for Wisconsin high school students:

1. Traditional first-year student/freshman admission application process
2. Direct Admit Wisconsin
3. The Wisconsin Guarantee

All three paths to admission require students to meet the minimum admission criteria. Neither Direct Admit Wisconsin nor The Wisconsin Guarantee provide guaranteed admission into a specific major, program, school, or college. Rather, they provide admission to Universities of Wisconsin universities.

Direct Admit Wisconsin

Ten of 13 Universities of Wisconsin are currently participating in Direct Admit Wisconsin. Direct Admit Wisconsin offers early and proactive admission to participating UW universities to high school juniors at participating Wisconsin high schools. The UWs collaborate with participating high schools to review student academic records (high school courses and GPA) at the end of their junior year and make offers of admission to participating UW universities without the need for students to submit a traditional admission application.

The Wisconsin Guarantee

The Wisconsin Guarantee offers guaranteed admission to all Universities of Wisconsin except UW-Madison to first-year applicants from Wisconsin high schools who are in the top 10% of their class at the end of 11th grade, or Wisconsin residents who are homeschooled and receive an ACT score in the national 90th percentile ranking or higher or are a National Merit Scholarship finalist. First-year applicants from Wisconsin high schools who are in the top 5% of their class at the end of 11th grade, or Wisconsin residents who are homeschooled and receive an ACT score in the national 98th percentile ranking or higher or are a National Merit Scholarship finalist will be guaranteed admission to the UW-Madison through The Wisconsin Guarantee.

Students must still complete an application to access The Wisconsin Guarantee. Applicants pursuing guaranteed admission to UW-Madison must submit their application (Universities of Wisconsin Application or the Common App) by the Early Action admission deadline. Applications to all other UWs must be submitted by individual UW university regular application deadlines.

Traditional Admission

The traditional admission process requires students to complete an application (Universities of Wisconsin Application or for some UWs, the Common App). Applications are available on August 1 prior to the year of intended enrollment. Students must submit the application and all requested materials according to the UW university application deadline. Applicant materials will be reviewed holistically on the basis of multiple factors.