Myth: UW-Madison caps the number of students who can be admitted from one high school.

There is no shred of truth to this rumor, which stubbornly persists in some of the UW’s largest feeder schools. It’s so widely believed that Reason was asked by the UW Board of Regents to defend the policy at a meeting last year. “It’s just absolutely false,” he says. “Why would we do something like that?”

For one thing, UW-Madison’s rolling-decision setup would make quotas logistically difficult. If the university could admit only fifty students from, say, Madison’s West High School (often the top high school in terms of the number of students who apply to UW-Madison), what might happen if it hit that mark in November? Anyone applying after that date — even the school’s top scholars — would have to be turned down.

As it is, 110 of the 184 students who applied from Madison West in 2007 were admitted, a 60 percent acceptance rate that exceeded the overall average by four percentage points.

Next myth » Back in the day, UW-Madison let everybody in.

• 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.