The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has long been known for it’s scenic Mississippi River locale, its national-champion football teams and a physical-therapy program consistently among the world’s greatest. Now, UW-La Crosse is brandishing itself a reputation as a school with surging academic qualifications.

In 1992, the average composite ACT score of incoming freshman at UW-La Crosse was 21.7 compared to 24.4 this year. Only UW-Madison has a higher composite score at 26.9.

During the same period, freshman applications soared while acceptance rates have fallen by nearly one third. In 1992, 86 percent of the 3,745 applicants were accepted. Ten years later, there were 5,589 applications with an acceptance rate of 59 percent.

Some attribute the increase in applications to a spillover from UW-Madison, where applications have increased 50 percent since 1992.

“I would probably say the spillover isn’t as large as what it looks like,” said Tim Lewis, Director of Admissions at UW-La Crosse. “We certainly see students whose number one choice is Madison, but most who choose to go there want to go here, and it’s their No. 1 choice.”

The rising academic qualifications have left a number of high-school seniors searching for another school.

Coletta Bina, Advising Chair for Madison East High School, said UW-La Crosse has been one of the harder schools to get into lately but added that each UW school is increasing its qualifications.

“What has happened is that UW-L has gotten more applications, and with more applications you tend to take higher-ranking students,” Bina said. “UW-L also pushes to get applications in early. Those students who aren’t on the ball with their applications might not get in. Overall, I would say a number of the UW schools are getting harder to get into. There are also some special programs in the UW system that are pretty hard to get into.”

Bina said the graphic-design program was “nationally recognized” and only top students are admitted. She also said the elementary-education program at UW-River Falls was one of the more difficult programs to be admitted to.

At UW-La Crosse, admission to the physical-therapy program is among the toughest anywhere. Lewis said UW-La Crosse’s health and business programs are one reason more students are applying.

“We have an array of health and science programs that are pretty well known throughout the country. We certainly have a niche in that field. We are also starting to see a lot of students interested in business coming here,” Lewis said. “Our accounting program has one of the highest pass rates on the [Certified Public Accountant] test in the country. We’ve been in the top 10 in that category seven out of the last 10 years.”

In 1996, UW-La Crosse ranked No. 1 in the country out of 262 schools, with a CPA pass rate of 56.5 percent. In 2001, UW-La Crosse was fourth in the country, with a pass rate of 34.8 percent.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, UW-La Crosse is not the only school to benefit from a possible spillover. In Maryland, the University of Maryland at College Park is becoming more selective, which has turned more students on to UM-Baltimore County and Towson University, which have gained from UM-College Park’s selectivity. Competition for admission to the University of Virginia has played well into the hands of James Madison University and George Mason University.
Lewis offered a simplified explanation to UW-La Crosse’s increased applications.
“UW-L’s atmosphere is just really conducive to learning.”