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Guide: Admissions Table Formatting
Applicable Pages
- All admitting master's and doctoral degrees, including named options
Non-Applicable Pages
- "Parent plan" pages that have named options. Instead, the Admissions tab directs students to select one of the named options. Tables are on the named option tabs.
- Degrees with Suspended Admissions
- When/if a program unsuspends admissions or if a non-admitting degree is made admitting, this table will be part of that process in the Lumen Program Proposals system.
Content Guidelines
Guidelines for information to include in your program's Admissions table are outlined below. Programs are not allowed to add additional rows to this table. The use of footnotes or narrative text under the Admissions table is allowable.
Deadlines (Fall, Spring, Summer)
- Program's applicable deadline written as month and day (e.g., June 1)
- MONTH DAY for international students; MONTH DAY for domestic students
- This program does not admit in the (applicable term)
International Students
Students need to be recommended for admission at least 3 weeks before the ISS deadline to ensure applicant have sufficient time to submit official documents and accommodate processing of admissions. Programs should set deadlines for international students no later than the following dates:
- Fall: May 24 to 31
- Spring: October 11 to 18
- Summer: March 7 to 14
English Proficiency Test
- Standard language: Every applicant whose native language is not English, or whose undergraduate instruction was not exclusively in English, must provide an English proficiency test score earned within two years of the anticipated term of enrollment. Refer to the Graduate School: Minimum Requirements for Admission policy: https://policy.wisc.edu/library/UW-1241.
- Edit language as applicable to your program
- Information about the English Proficiency Test requirements that duplicates the Graduate School's minimum requirements should not be included.
GRE (Graduate Record Examination)
- Required.
- Not required.
- Not required but may be considered if available.
- May be required in certain cases, consult program.
Other Test(s) (e.g., GMAT, MCAT)
- n/a
- None
- Not applicable
- The MCAT may be accepted as an alternate to the GRE.
- Information about the GRE Subject Test specific to your program.
Letters of Recommendation Required
- 3
- 2
- 1
- 0
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I update my application deadlines and other admissions requirements?
The Lumen Program proposals form is the only way to make changes to governed content. An admissions change is considered a "less than 50% change to curriculum." Therefore, while it needs to go through the governance workflow steps in Lumen Programs, this change does not require a vote at a meeting of GFEC or UAPC. You should check with your individual School/College (e.g., Letters and Science, Engineering, Agricultural and Life Sciences) to confirm an admissions change does not require a School/College Academic Planning Council or Curriculum Committee vote.
A new Guide is published associated with the fall, spring, and summer terms. Admissions deadline changes can be made in the fall and spring Guides, which currently publish in June and October, respectively. Keeping in mind that the application opens a year ahead of the enrollment term for students, programs need to be deliberative and thoughtful when changing deadlines, realizing that they will need plenty of lead time. We do not require that the admissions deadline change be made "effective" for the future term. In other words, we suggest you treat the June and October publication dates as the two times a year you can update any of your admissions deadlines, regardless of which semester (fall, spring, summer) they are for.
What information is included in the table?
The table includes seven rows: (1) Fall Deadline, (2) Spring Deadline, (3) Summer Deadline, (4) GRE (Graduate Record Examination), (5) English Proficiency Test, (6) Other Test(s) (e.g., GMAT, MCAT); (7) Letters of Recommendation Required.
In order to export data from these tables, you are not allowed to create additional rows to the table and we have decided on specific terms that can be used in each row. Any additional information that must be included in the table can be added as a footnote, but keep in mind you can also still write as much additional information as you want below the table or on your program website.
An example of when you might use a footnote is if the GRE is required, but students can request a waiver. This would show as "Required" in the table, with a footnote saying "Applicants may request a waiver."
How are deadlines outside of the "Display Deadline" updated?
There are sometimes "hidden" deadlines used in the application system. Because Guide is a public document that is largely student-facing, we can only include the Display Deadline in this column. The Office of Admissions in the Graduate School will continue to contact you to gather information prior to each term about your "App Deadline," "App Deadline Firm," "Rec Deadline," and "Rec Display Deadline," which are behind-the-scenes deadlines not advertised publicly to students.
Remember, you will not be able to update your display deadline in any other way than a Lumen Programs proposal.
How do I close or open admissions for a specific semester?
This is updated through the Lumen Programs proposal form. If you would like to open admissions to the summer term for your program and in Guide it currently says "This program does not admit in the summer," making a Lumen Programs proposal change that edits that language to "February 1" as the deadline, e.g., will then prompt us to open summer admissions for your program with that associated display deadline.
Where do I put information not encompassed in the table?
The table is the minimum the Graduate School requires to exist on Admissions tabs for admitting degrees, but most programs will continue to include more detailed information below it. Any content added beneath the admissions table should be unique in that it does not duplicate information in the table.
Why don't I see an admissions table on my page?
A few reasons you may not see an admissions table include:
- Your degree program is non-admitting or suspended, or
- You are actually looking at the parent plan page of a degree that contains named options.
- Program is located in the Wisconsin School of Business.
What if I still have questions?
Contact the Guide/Lumen contact for the Graduate School.