Apply as a transfer student from Madison College
STEP2UW: The Select Transfer Engineering Pathway to UW-Madison
Our “STEP2UW” agreement with Madison College gives you a simple, transparent process for transferring to UW-Madison. If you’re a STEP2UW student who’s selected for direct admission to a participating engineering major, and you meet the program requirements, you’ll benefit by automatically meeting progression requirements (more on those here) and guarantee advancement in your intended engineering major after you transfer.
Please review the STEP2UW Agreement Checklist for complete details. Note that admission to the College of Engineering is competitive and not guaranteed, even if you meet the transfer preparation guidelines below.
To be eligible for this program, you must:
- Be a Wisconsin resident (for tuition purposes).
- Have attended Madison College after graduating from high school.
- Have not attended any other institution after graduating from high school.
- Consult with a Madison College engineering faculty advisor to submit your “Declaration of Intent to Participate in the STEP2UW Agreement” within your first 30 credits as a post-secondary student at Madison College.
- Meet minimum transfer admission requirements (check those out here), including two units of world language.
- Establish equivalent credit for MATH 221, 222, and 234; CHEM 103 (and 104, if required for the engineering major you choose) or CHEM 109; and PHYSICS 201 or EMA 201; and complete Communications Part A … or a graded 3-credit liberal studies course with humanities, social science, or literature breadth if your Comm A is satisfied by test credit. (Check transfer equivalencies here.)
- Complete a minimum of six Madison College core courses from the checklist. Note that you must pass any course you take from that list with a grade of B or better. You’re only allowed to repeat one course and have the grade replaced to meet the B or better grade requirement.
- Achieve a minimum 3.0 GPA in all transferable college courses.
- And, complete at least two semesters of full-time study in transferable courses that include at least two core courses per semester.
If you’re a STEP2UW student, you’ll follow standard UW-Madison procedures to apply for transfer admission consideration, and you’ll follow the same deadlines. As an off-campus transfer applicant, you should list an engineering program as your first-choice major on your application so that the UW-Madison admission team can consider you for direct admission to the College of Engineering. If you are selected for direct admission to an engineering major, your spot in an engineering major will be secure and you won’t need to submit an application for progression consideration.
If you don’t meet STEP2UW eligibility requirements or you’d like to be considered for admission to the engineering physics major, you can apply for general transfer admission consideration. If you’re admitted, you must meet progression requirements at the point you transfer or within your first two semesters at UW-Madison to be allowed to continue in an engineering program.
Transfer agreement programs note:
If you’re a student in a different transfer agreement program with UW-Madison, consult with the UW-Madison Office of Admissions and Recruitment team to talk about your options. These programs establish guidelines for transfer admission to UW-Madison; however, these programs do not guarantee admission to the College of Engineering (because the college’s majors are in high demand, admission is competitive and selective, and there are a number of additional transfer admission considerations for engineering).
Transfer planning resources
UW-Madison’s Transfer Visit Day program provides an overview of UW-Madison and the transfer admissions process. If you’re a prospective transfer student, you’ll attend an admissions information session and a campus walking tour. You’ll also have the option to sign up for drop-in advising with the College of Engineering’s transfer manager. The College of Engineering Prospective Student Information Session includes details about opportunities within the College of Engineering and a tour of the engineering campus.
Explore and register for prospective transfer visit options.
The UW-Madison Office of Admissions and Recruitment will notify you of its admission decision, and then the UW-Madison Office of the Registrar’s credit evaluation services team prepares your transfer credit evaluation. You’ll receive an email when you can access that report through your MyUW Student Center.
Keep in mind that, in general, the Office of the Registrar won’t pre-evaluate courses for prospective students. Instead, you can identify possible transfer credit equivalencies even before you’re admitted:
After you find out you’re an admitted transfer student, we’ll work with you to ensure your transfer credits are applied to your engineering degree requirements in the most appropriate way. We might ask you to submit syllabi for the math, science and engineering courses you’ve taken that do not appear in Transferology.
Note: Transfer courses must have a final grade of C (2.0 on a 4.0 scale) or better to fulfill College of Engineering degree requirements.
The UW-Madison “Guide” contains detailed information about curriculum requirements, course descriptions, and a sample four-year plan for each engineering program.
If you’re a transfer student admitted to UW-Madison and the College of Engineering in the fall or spring semester, you will be considered for several transfer student scholarships. The Transfer Student Scholarship is renewable for up to four semesters, with an award amount of $2,000 annually.
To be considered for the Transfer Student Scholarship, you must complete a UW-Madison admissions application and be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Selection is based on your UW-Madison admissions application materials (in other words, we don’t require you to complete an additional scholarship application), and the evaluation criteria include your academic merit, extracurricular activities, and essay responses. If you have been selected for a Transfer Student Scholarship, you’ll receive a notification about the Transfer Student Scholarship no later than May 15 for fall applicants or January 15 for spring applicants. Additionally, if you’re a transfer student admitted for the fall semester, you’ll be considered for STAR and LEED Scholarships. You’ll receive notification about these awards on the same timeline as the Transfer Student Scholarship. Learn more about these scholarships here.
We also strongly encourage (but don’t require) you to submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to UW-Madison!