What is Direct Admit?
Direct Admit Wisconsin is an initiative by the Universities of Wisconsin to proactively offer admission to qualifying Wisconsin high school students prior to the start of their senior year. Direct admission uses data submitted by high schools to the Universities of Wisconsin to admit students to the participating UW universities. Students who are directly admitted to UW universities do not need to complete a traditional application.
How to Participate in Direct Admit
Becoming a Direct Admit High School
The basic steps for becoming a Direct Admit High School are as follows:
- Identify the people who will take the lead on Direct Admit activities. A typical team might include a principal or vice principal, a school counselor, and a technology coordinator familiar with your student information system (SIS). Because the primary submission window for Direct Admit occurs over the summer, it’s a good idea to make sure that at least one person on the team will be able to work on Direct Admit during the summer months.
- Identify the team member who will serve as the primary contact for Direct Admit.
- Attend an information session or watch a recording.
- Complete the participation survey to opt-in and share information about your school and Direct Admit team members
- Submit a Data Sharing Agreement by the requested deadline. The Data Sharing Agreement will be routed to your school via DocuSign in early fall after you have completed the participation survey. Schools who have previously participated in Direct Admit do not need to renew their commitment to participate as you will be automatically included as a participant every year unless you notify the Universities of Wisconsin Administration in writing of your intent to withdraw. We do request that any updates to school or district information and contacts are shared as early in the school year as possible.
Student Participation
High schools recruit students to participate in Direct Admit Wisconsin and will need to get parent permission to participate using either an “opt-in” process or “opt-out” process.
High schools submit a .csv data file and transcript bundle to the Universities of Wisconsin, with information about their rising seniors who have chosen to participate. There are two windows for submission, one in the summer after the end of the students’ junior years and one in early fall of their senior year. Based on unweighted GPAs, the students are placed into one of six tiers which determine which UW universities they are admitted to.
Student Steps After Admission
The Universities of Wisconsin will send direct admission offer letters to eligible students.
Students then complete Direct Admit Forms for the UW universities that they are interested in. These forms do not lock students into attending those universities; they simply indicate that they are interested in getting more information. Counselors can work with students throughout their senior year to help them weigh their options and decide which university is the best fit for them.
Direct Admit Student Admissions Criteria
In order to receive an offer of direct admission, student must meet the following criteria, based on academic records at the end of their junior year:
- Be enrolled at a participating high school and opt to participate in the program
- Have their unweighted GPA, contact information, and transcript submitted during one of two data submission windows
- Be on track to graduate
- Be on track to complete the credits required for admission
- 4 units of English
- 3 units of college-ready math
- 3 units of social science
- 3 units of natural science
- 4 additional academic units
Technical Information
Direct Admit data submission processes vary depending on what Student Information System (SIS) a school uses. InfiniteCampus, Skyward, and PowerSchool have submission modules for Direct Admit Wisconsin integrated into their software. For other SISes, including JMC, or for schools that maintain their own records without third-party software, there is a manual submission process.
Details, including step-by-step instructions can be found in our Technical Documentation library.