With nine undergraduate schools and a selection of 150 fields of study to major in, the University of Wisconsin is a college with many choices. Numerous schools of study, however, counter this high number of academic routes with a selective admissions process. As students begin to choose classes and select majors, various schools are beginning to feel the crunch from increased popularity, resulting in competitive admissions standards.
Some undergraduate majors such as education, journalism and business, among others, are limited enrollment majors and do not hand out admissions easily.
“Because there’s more qualified applicants than resources available, elementary education is one major that has been capped for 15 years,” Pat Denman, student status examiner for the School of Education, said.
Denman said the elementary education major, the university’s most popular major, accepts 150 applicants per year. The most recent application period saw approximately 220 applicants for the elementary education major. Not all, but many, of the majors within the school of education limit enrollment.
The next most popular majors within the school are secondary education specialty areas such as social studies, political science, geography and history. Each of these areas only has 15 spots available to fill.
In the social studies field, for example, 50 applicants typically apply per semester for these 15 spots, with students experiencing a 30 percent chance of getting in.
Erica Salkin, advisor for the journalism school, said admission to the School of Journalism and Mass Communications is also very selective.
“We like to cap the enrollment because the majors are very skill-based,” she said. “Smaller courses mean more access to the professors. The only way to keep that commitment is to limit enrollment.”
Salkin noted that the admissions process is a comprehensive one, and students should show strong academic and writing abilities, provide a resume, a personal statement and emphasize their involvement in extracurricular activities.
She also pointed out that grade point average, while important, is not the most important factor in admission. Salkin said applicants with grade point averages as high as 3.8 have been rejected, and students with GPAs as low as 2.1 have been accepted. Applications are scrutinized to see if certain classes have lowered applicants’ GPAs, such as math or science courses. Salkin pointed out that many applicants may have been formerly interested in applying to the business school, and challenging courses may have lowered applicants’ GPAs.
“People with the higher GPAs usually show stronger writing abilities and get more involved in course work,” said Salkin. “But we also look at how strong a candidate is outside of their GPAs.”
The UW School of Business also has elevated application standards. In the fall semester of 2003, 540 students applied, with only 384 admitted. A student’s chances of acceptance to business school, however, are better than his or her chances of acceptance to the education or journalism school, with a 70 percentage rate, according to fall 2003 statistics.
The average pre-business GPA for admitted students in the fall 2003 semester was 3.47. The average business and economics GPA was 3.43 for these same students.
However, the website states these GPAs are average and not the minimum required GPA to get in.
In addition to supplemental material such as writing samples, each school also requires personal statement essays that explain an applicant’s desire to study within the major.
“These statements tell us if they [are] declaring a major just to declare a major, or do they really want to be in journalism,” Salkin said.
Jo Meier, assistant dean in the undergraduate business programs office, along with Denman and Salkin, pointed out that the high applicant number turns away a large number of students, even though many may be qualified.
“All the qualified applicants don’t get in. We only have so many resources,” Denman said, adding that accepting all applicants would result in delayed graduation times and difficulty getting into required classes. “If the demand is more than what we have, we have to go to limited enrollment.”
Salkin agreed, but noted that a rejection does not necessarily indicate poor skills or abilities.
“I think the message people get when they don’t get in is that they won’t be a good journalist. We’d like to let in more people if we could, but we’re driven by resources,” she said.
