Admissions to UW-Madison for the 2002-'03 school year were more competitive than in previous years, according to UW-Madison Provost Peter Spear.
Spear said this is because recent years have seen an increase in the number of applications to UW-Madison, while the size of the classes admitted must remain the same.
\Because we admit a relatively stable number of applicants from a growing number of increasingly well-prepared students, the qualifications of students in our freshman classes have increased,"" he said.
There will be approximately 5,740 students in this year's freshman class, according to Keith White, associate director of undergraduate admissions for UW-Madison. Last year's class of 6,100 students was the largest in UW-Madison history.
""More people last year took us up on our offer [of admission] than we expected,"" White said. ""The overall quality of the application pool was better than we had expected it to be, and we should have been tougher to get into than we were. This year, we knew we would have to admit fewer students than we did last year.""
White said it was much harder, therefore, for students to be accepted this year than in previous years since the UW-Madison Office of Admissions received 21,230 applications, 4 percent more than last year. Of those, 12,449 students were accepted.
""[There has been an increase in applications] every year for the past 10 years,"" he said. ""We always have an increased number of applications, [but] we aren't able to increase the size of the freshman class proportionate to applications.""
White said the strong caliber of this year's students is seen in their high school rankings. Fifty percent of last year's freshmen were in the top 10 percent of their high school class. This year, he said, that number is more than 57 percent.
Despite these statistics, Spear emphasizes that many factors are considered in the admissions process in an effort to create a well-rounded student body.
""Admission to UW-Madison is based on many factors, not just class rank,"" he said. ""Included are ACT or SAT scores, the courses and curriculum the student took in high school, grades, the student's essay and other special characteristics and abilities.""
White said that the UW System admissions freeze in March had little impact on UW-Madison since most freshman admissions decisions had already been made. Some transfer- student decisions, however, were delayed by a few weeks, he said.
