First-year students include anyone who is currently a student in high school or who has not taken college coursework since graduating high school. First-year students can apply online via the Common Application or Universities of Wisconsin Application.

A transfer student is anyone who has attended another college or university after graduating from high school and wishes to enroll in an undergraduate degree program at UW–Madison. In order to be eligible for transfer admission, you must have completed at least 24 transferable semester hours of college-level work. AP, A-Level, IB, and CLEP cannot be used toward the 24 transferable credit requirement. We do not admit freshman-level transfer students. Transfer students can apply online via the Universities of Wisconsin Application at apply.wisconsin.edu.