What is the Academic Review?
The Academic Review is a crucial step in the Direct Admit Wisconsin program. It ensures that student information is accurate and complete in the .csv and .pdf files that are submitted to the Universities of Wisconsin. If student information is inaccurate and requires correction after our submission windows are closed, this can result in rescission of admissions, changes to merit aid awards and other consequences.
Who Should Do the Academic Review?
A counselor or academic professional who is familiar with the students and their academic performance should review the report at this time to ensure it accurately reflects the students’ eligibility, grades, and tier assignments.
Please Note: Before starting the review, you, or your IT professional (assigned SIS admin), should have completed the initial SIS setup and technical review of Direct Admit in your SIS before doing the academic review.
If you have not completed the initial generation of files, please reference the appropriate SIS documentation in our Technical Documentation Library and the Technical Review steps.
Review the Files
Before reviewing the .csv spreadsheet and .pdf transcript bundle, both files should have undergone a Technical Review to ensure that they meet the required technical specifications and contain all the necessary data elements.
The data contained in the .csv spreadsheet is what is used to admit students through Direct Admit Wisconsin and should be given careful scrutiny to ensure accuracy and completeness.
Key Questions to Ask
- Is this the correct cohort that should be submitted to the Universities of Wisconsin?
- Are all students who have opted to participate represented in the files? Be sure to check for transfer students, students taking dual-enrollment coursework, and students taking virtual classes (if applicable).
- Are student GPAs accurately represented? Are the GPAs on an cumulative, unweighted 4.0 scale? It may be necessary to hand-calculate a couple to spot-check.
- Review the students who received a tier. Are all of these students eligible for admission? Review the students who did not receive a tier. Is it accurate that these students do not meet the Direct Admit Wisconsin eligibility requirements or should they receive a manual override? See below for additional guidance.
Direct Admit Wisconsin Eligibility Requirements
In order to be eligible for Direct Admit Wisconsin, students must be on track to graduate from your high school. This includes meeting the baseline graduation requirements set by DPI, as well as any district or school-specific requirements. They must also be on t rack to complete the following course requirements (where 1 unit = 1 year of study)
- 4 units of English
- 3 units of college-preparatory math
- 3 units of social science
- 3 units of natural science
- 4 additional academic units
All tiered students should meet these eligibility requirements. If they do not, they should not have a tier assigned in the tier column (i.e. the cell should be blank)
Tier Assignment
Tiers are assigned based on each student’s GPA. Tiers for the current admission cycle can be found here.
Review of Un-tiered Students
If a student does not receive a tier then a review of that student’s academic record should be undertaken. Follow the steps below based on the outcome of the review.
Review confirms the student does not meet requirements
If a student does not receive a tier when your high school runs the tier calculation process, you should confirm that they do not meet the Direct Admit WI Requirements. If the student does not meet the requirements no further action is needed. The Universities of Wisconsin will not send communications to students who do not receive direct admit offers (students with no assigned tier). The expectation is that the high school will communicate with these students individually that upon review of their academic record they did not meet one or more of the eligibility requirements.
Review reveals the student does meet the requirements
If a student does not receive a tier but you confirm they do meet the Direct Admit WI requirements, the on-track status and tier can be manually adjusted by overriding the specific student to be included for Direct Admit. Each SIS will have instructions on how to do so.
Situations that may result in a “not on track” determination for a student who is actually on track may include, but are not limited to:
- Transfer coursework or virtual school coursework that was not considered when generating the list of eligible students.
- A student who meets the math requirement with an Algebra I course taken in 8th grade that was not awarded high school credit.
- Dual enrollment coursework that is not in the SIS.
- Charter school students whose academic records are not stored in the SIS.
If you can verify that a student will meet the graduation and Direct Admit Wisconsin eligibility requirements you should adjust the student’s on-track status and assign the appropriate tier based on the student’s reported GPA.
Note: If a student is not on track but could become on track by adjusting their senior year schedule (e.g., adding a math course), you may work with the student to adjust their scheduled courses to get them on track.
Note: Charter schools may have unique grading practices and may store academic information separately from the district SIS. These schools should contact us to discuss the academic review process.