Overcrowded UW-Madison freshman and sophomore classes, lack of interest in two year UW System colleges and UW-Eau Claire surpassing UW-Madison in rejection rates of admissions applications are leading to system-wide problems, Chancellor John Wiley said recently.
Wiley said UW-Madison has room to accept more juniors and seniors, but is filled to capacity with freshmen and sophomores. He said underclassmen are concentrated in the same core classes, which strains the university's ability to serve these students.
However, Wiley said he had hope for a program called UW-Madison Connections, which began in 2001.
According to UW-Madison Connections Director Judith Strand, the program invites some Wisconsin high school students to attend a UW College or Madison Area Technical College for their first two college years and attend UW-Madison during their last two. Participating in the program guarantees them admission as juniors and allows them access to UW-Madison facilities for all four years.
Wiley said this helps shy students adjust to a campus that he called \complicated"" and ""often impersonal.""
However, the first two years of the program produced few participants. Only approximately 60 of more than 2,000 students invited agreed to participate during the pilot years. But Strand said recruitment is increasing and, according to Wiley, the program is becoming more popular.
""This year for the very first time a very significant number of students who were unconditionally admitted to come here right out of high school learned about the connections program and said 'Would it be possible for me ... to be a connections student?' Wiley said. ""And we have let them do that.""
Wiley said UW-Madison needs relief from programs like UW-Madison Connections but Strand emphasized such programs are only suitable for a select group of students.
Another problem Wiley addressed was the growing selectivity of other UW System schools such as UW-Eau Claire.
""I think the system as a whole is going to have to coordinate better in the future,"" Wiley said of recent changes in selectivity.
But Interim Associate Director of Admissions for UW-Eau Claire Joey Bohl said she disagrees. Bohl said she thinks competition forces schools to maximize responsiveness to constituents and operate at their best levels.
Despite providing competition, Bohl added she thinks no UW System school can threaten UW-Madison's position as the flagship of the system.
""To be honest, Madison is on a completely different level than we are since we are a four-year comprehensive [school] and they are a Big Ten [school],"" Bohl said. ""We're more of a[n] ... institution that's drawing regionally. They're drawing nationally.\
