UW-Madison > General Education Requirements

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Thinking of coming to UW-Madison?

Students who are considering applying to UW-Madison are encouraged to visit the Office of Admissions' website. If you have questions about the General Education Requirements, please feel free to review the materials on this site to learn more.  You may also want to contact the School or College to which you are applying.

Information for Students Considering Transfer to UW-Madison

Since transfer students also have to fulfill the General Education Requirements, you should review the requirements (both the basic requirements and any additional requirements imposed by the schools or colleges they are entering).  

• Undergraduate transfer students transferring should contact the Office of Admissions, located on campus in the Armory and Gymnasium building at 716 Langdon Street, Madison, WI 53706-1481.  Phone: 608/262-3961.  (Send email to transfer@admissions.wisc.edu, or apply online at http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/applyOnline.php).  
• The Office of Admissions' page provides a succinct overview of application deadlines, admission requirements and transfer of credit for students who begin their college careers at institutions other than UW-Madison.  Students transferring from the college parallel program at Madison Area Technical College, Milwaukee Area Technical College, or Nicolet Area Technical College are particularly encouraged to consult this overview, since it outlines the number of credits that may transfer from these programs.
• As recommended by the Office of Admissions (see http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/transfer/credit.php), students transferring from other University of Wisconsin System institutions should refer to the Transfer Information System to see how specific courses transfer to UW-Madison.  As part of the Transfer Information System, some advice on transfer to UW-Madison has been prepared.  That information is available at http://www.uwsa.edu/tis/resources/ga/guides.shtml. 
• Undergraduate Transfer Students who already have an idea about the department they would like to join should consult the Undergraduate Catalog to look for School or College recommendations about the process.   Undergraduate majors are listed in the Catalog; some information about transfers for specific Schools or Colleges is available through the links below.
  • College of Agricultural and Life Sciences:  http://www.wisc.edu/pubs/ug/04cals/calsgen.html#admission
  • School of Business: http://www.wisc.edu/pubs/ug/05business/front.html#admiss (look under "Admissions")
  • School of Human Ecology: http://www.wisc.edu/pubs/ug/09sohe/admiss.html
  • College of Letters and Science:   http://www.wisc.edu/pubs/ug/10lettsci/geninfo.html#transtud. 

Information for Students who have already transferred to UW-Madison

Current transfer students are probably already aware that each case is evaluated on an individual basis.  To inform yourself about your status, you should be aware of the following documentation:

• Evaluation of Transfer Credits.  Your matriculation date determines whether you are subject to the General Education requirements.  If you entered Summer, 1999 or later and your first college matriculation date was before the implementation of the General Education requirements, there is an exemption action for General Education indicated on your credit evaluation. If you entered between May 20, 1996 and Summer 1999, your first college matriculation date is posted on your credit evaluation.
• For those students for whom DARS reports are available, DARS will analyze any course deficiencies.
• Transfer students who have satisfied their Communication A requirement with other courses (or AP credit) should consider accessing the University Library System's on-line Computerized Library User Education tutorial, located at http://clue.library.wisc.edu/.  This interactive, multimedia tutorial helps orient students to the campus library system, MadCat (the campus library catalog) and other major resources available for library research at UW-Madison.  
• Transfer students who have satisfied their Communication B requirement may wish to consider whether the course taken provided instruction in written and oral communication. The strength of the UW-Madison Comm B requirement is that it students to learn how to communicate both in writing and orally in the context of a subject they're studying; students who take Comm B at UW-Madison generally perform better when they face communication tasks in subsequent courses. In cases where Comm B credit may be awarded for transfer courses that did not contain instruction in this essential area, students are strongly encouraged to take a UW-Madison Comm B course.