Process to Submit Ad-Hoc Students to Direct Admit Wisconsin

Introduction  

The Universities of Wisconsin are committed to ensuring that all eligible high school students have the opportunity to be considered for direct admission. Occasionally, students may be inadvertently overlooked during the initial Direct Admit submission cycle, or were subject to a technical error that prevented them from receiving an offer they should have received. To address this, this process has been developed for high school Direct Admit administrators to submit individual missed students or students whose information needs to be updated. This process is not for schools who were unable to submit files for their students during the first submission window; those schools will have an opportunity to submit during the second submission window. 

Students who are added using our Ad-Hoc process will generally receive their offer letters on the Monday following their submission. 

Accessing the Direct Admit Wisconsin High School Dashboard 

To submit a student who was missed during the initial calculation, the high school administrator must first obtain a Universities of Wisconsin admission account if they do not have one already. High schools that use Skyward may not have an account since the regular submission process does not require one. The steps are as follows:  

  • To request a Direct Admit Administrator account, please submit a request form here
  • Upon verification, the administrator will receive login credentials and instructions for accessing the Direct Admit Wisconsin High School Dashboard

Student Submission Protocol 

Identifying Eligible Students 

Students eligible for submission are those who were inadvertently missed during the Direct Admit calculation, or who were placed incorrectly due to a technical error. Administrators must confirm that each student: 

  • Meets the general eligibility requirements for direct admission as set by the Universities of Wisconsin: 
  • Has taken or will take 3 or more units of college-ready math 
  • Is on track to graduate high school following your high school’s graduation requirements.  
  • Has not already been admitted through previous direct admit rounds, OR 
  • Was placed in the wrong tier or did not receive one that they should have due to a technical error. 

How to Add an Ad-Hoc Student 

Each missed student must be submitted individually via the high school administration dashboard. The steps include: 

  • Navigate to the “Add a Single Student” section. Click ‘Add a Student’.
  • Enter the student’s data into the provided fields. 
    • For more details on what data is collected, see appendix. 
  • Upload the student’s transcript as a .pdf attachment. 
  • Review all information for accuracy before final submission. 

High School administrators must verify the accuracy of all identifiers and ensure that the transcript is up-to-date and legible. 

Universities of Wisconsin will provide you with confirmation when the updated student information has been added to the program. Once you receive the confirmation, you may review your SIS instructions next on posting the admission offer letter to your student’s portal to let them know they have been directly admitted. 

If you have a large number of ad-hoc students and would appreciate being able to submit multiple students at one time, please email us at DirectAdmitTechHelp@wisconsin.edu and we would be happy to help. 

 

Appendix 

Data Collected 

  • First Name: As appears on official academic records. 
  • Middle Name: As appears on official academic records 
  • Last Name: As appears on official academic records 
  • WISE ID: The student’s identifier in the Wisconsin Information System for Education. If you do not know or use a WiseID, do not enter anything. 
  • Date of Birth (DOB): To uniquely identify the student. 
  • Local Student Number: Your school’s student ID number. 
  • Local ID (Student ID): The student’s internal school identification number. 
  • Graduation Year: Should be the current cohort being accepted. 

Address Information 

Used to mail Direct Admit offer letters. 

  • Street 
  • City 
  • State 
  • Zip 

Direct Admit Calculation 

  • Tier: Which Direct Admit Tier the student should belong to, based on their GPA 
  • Tier 1 – 0.00 – 2.00 
  • Tier 2 – 2.00 – 2.25 
  • Tier 3 – 2.26 – 2.50 
  • Tier 4 – 2.51 – 2.75 
  • Tier 5 – 2.76 – 3.25 
  • Tier 6 – 3.26 – 4.00 
  • GPA: Must be on unweighted 4.0 scale. 

Demographic Reporting 

  • Sex: Legal sex for reporting 
  • Race: Used for reporting. 

Transcript 

  • Transcript: An official or unofficial transcript of the student’s academic record as a .pdf document. 

Comments 

Not used in official record, but used by Universities of Wisconsin to understand why student was omitted. Could be technical reasons, transfer student, or unsure. Will be used in future years to improve the program. 

Updated: 09/24/2025