Myth: It’s a secretive process.

Refreshingly, no. UW-Madison has no star chamber admissions committee or murky decision-making authority. For applicants to the freshman class, initial admissions decisions are made by one of twenty individual counselors who are responsible for reviewing applications from specific geographic regions. The UW’s admissions Web site highlights which counselors will read which applications and how to contact them. It’s not at all unusual for students to carry on a dialogue with their admissions counselors for months before they file applications.

Nor are those counselors holed up in some dungeon. Okay, technically, the Office of Admissions is housed in a former armory, UW-Madison’s historic Red Gym. But there counselors greet a stream of prospective students, and they also hit the road to visit some three hundred high schools — including two hundred in Wisconsin — and two hundred college fairs each year. With more than 24,000 students expected to apply for approximately 5,600 spots in the freshman class, they’re not just drumming up applications. They’re out there to talk frankly about what it takes to be admitted to UW-Madison. Their go-to handout, a sheet titled “Freshman Admissions Expectations,” features a chart that places odds of admissions on students who fall into particular ranges of class rank, grade point averages, and test scores. For a student in the ninetieth percentile of his or her class and a 29 on the ACT college entrance exam, for example, the chart suggests an 80 percent likelihood of admission. A student in the seventieth percentile with a 26 ACT score, on the other hand, ranks a 20 percent chance.

Of course, those aren’t the only factors counselors consider. And the estimates can shift if more students apply than expected, as has been the case in recent years. But there’s no secret about what qualities admissions counselors are looking for. Just ask them.

“When I have a question, I know I can call them directly, and we don’t get that kind of attention from everybody,” says Jim Conroy, chair of post-high-school counseling at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. “Some big state schools, I have no idea who to call. It’s like a black hole. That’s never been the case with Madison.”

Next myth » A formula determines whether students are admitted or denied.

• Introduction
• Myth: It’s a secretive process.
• Myth: A formula determines whether students are admitted or denied.
• Myth: UW-Madison has raised its admissions criteria in recent years.
• Myth: The UW turns away students with perfect GPAs.
• Myth: Some students get special treatment in the admissions process.
• Myth: It’s impossible for regular students to get in anymore.
• Myth: No one reads personal statements.
• Myth: It pays to apply early.
• Myth: Minority students get in with lower grades than some white students who are rejected.
• Myth: UW-Madison caps the number of students who can be admitted from one high school.
• Myth: Back in the day, UW-Madison let everybody in.
• Myth: Applicants from outside Wisconsin are taking up spots that could go to state residents.
• Myth: Connections with important people can get you in.
• Myth: Alumni can get their kids in if they pull the right strings.
• Myth: Being postponed is the same as being on a wait list.
• Myth: An A is always better than a B.
• Myth: One grumpy admissions counselor can doom an application.
• Myth: Admissions counselors like rejecting people.
• Myth: My son or daughter isn’t emotionally ready to be turned down by the university.
• Myth: It’s a perfect system.