Guide: Editing your Guide Page (Governed Content Tabs)

The display deadline fields should follow the month and date format. Programs may also format as:

• Month and date for international students; month and date for domestic students

If a program does not admit in a certain term, insert:

• This program does not admit in the (fall/spring/summer).

International applicants must follow certain deadlines for admission recommendation; see the Deadlines for Processing International and Domestic Applications.

Indicate your program's GRE requirement and add one of the following options:

• Required
• Not required
• Not required but may be considered if available
• May be required in certain cases; consult program.

If your program follows the Graduate School's policy, format as:

• Refer to the Graduate School: Minimum Requirements for Admission policy: https://policy.wisc.edu/library/UW-1241.

If your program follows more stringent minimum test scores, write out the required minimum test scores.

Provide the appropriate information as follows:

• n/a
• none
• not applicable
• The MCAT may be accepted as an alternate to the GRE.

Indicate the required number of letters of recommendation.

Below is an example of text explaining required materials for online application.

A complete application includes the following items:

1. Statement of purpose: Include a few sentences about what the program looks for in a statement of purpose. Link to your program's website if you have expectations listed there. Specifically, state the minimum (or maximum) length of statement. You may link directly to the Graduate School's Preparing for Graduate Study for guidance. 
   1. Example: "Your essay should be a concise description of your reasons for choosing to study this field at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (not to exceed two pages). Please include your research interests and career goals as well as a description of your preparation for graduate study including relevant coursework, related employment, research experience, publications, presentations, awards, and honors."
2. Supplementary application: Because Guide can only be updated annually, we recommended NOT including supplementary application questions that could be subject to change. We recommend instead linking to your program's website and listing your questions there.
3. Unofficial transcripts: Programs should clearly state unofficial transcripts are required for the application. 
   1. Example: "Unofficial transcripts from all previous postsecondary studies are required. International academic records must be submitted in the original language and accompanied by an English translation. If an applicant is recommended for admission, the Graduate School will ask applicants to request official transcripts sent to the Graduate School from the undergraduate institution."
4. Letters of recommendation: Describe who letters of recommendation should come from and what skills or qualities the program is looking for in these letters. 
   1. Example: "Letters should be from faculty who are familiar with your academic abilities and goals. Letters from supervisors that provide a character reference are also acceptable. The letters of recommendation should be submitted with the online application."

Include this section if your program has recommended or required previous education paths.

1. Example: "Successful applicants have a bachelor’s degree in engineering (biomedical, chemical, electrical, industrial, mechanical, etc.) or science (biology, biochemistry, chemistry, genetics, immunology, physics, etc.)."
2. Example: "A background in education coursework is a prerequisite for the PhD program in Curriculum and Instruction. Applicants are required to have taken at least 12 credits in education courses that are equivalent to courses taught within a school of education, as judged by the Graduate Education Advisory Committee. Applicants lacking this background will be required to take a specified number of credits of education coursework in addition to the coursework ordinarily required in the graduate program. The courses taken should be chosen in consultation with the graduate advisor, and each of these courses must be taken for a letter grade (not pass/fail). These courses may be carried concurrently with regular graduate courses; but, being additional requirements, they do not satisfy the requirements of the graduate program."

Include this section if your program recommends or expects applicants to have experience with specific courses or subject areas.

1. Example: "Students are expected to enter the program having taken the following coursework. Deficient courses may be taken while in the program in consultation with the student's advisor."
   1. Physical Sciences - one course in each of the following:
      1. Physics, including electricity, heat and light
      2. Calculus
      3. Organic Chemistry lecture
      4. Organic Chemistry lab or Biochemistry lab
   2. Biological Sciences - one course in each of the following:
      1. Crop Production
      2. Plant Breeding or Genetics Plant Structure, Plant Taxonomy or Plant Physiology
      3. Plant Pathology or Entomology
      4. One Statistics course
      5. One Soil Science course

Include this section to explain how applicants and faculty advisors are matched.

1. Example: "It is recommended that applicants contact departmental faculty directly to determine openings in the lab and an interest in their area of research. Students are admitted to the program if a faculty member agrees to accept the candidate into their research group and to provide laboratory/desk space and research support, and upon the approval of the Graduate School. The faculty member also decides whether to offer an assistantship to the candidate. If a faculty member is interested in a completed application, the applicant will be contacted by them personally. If a faculty member is interested in accepting an applicant, a recommendation for admission will be sent to the Graduate School. The Graduate School will make the final determination for admission."
2. Example: "Admissions decisions are made by a committee of faculty with research expertise spanning the four research areas of the department. Individual faculty do not recommend admissions decisions and advisors are not determined at the time of application. Instead, students will match with advisors after meeting with all faculty during the fall semester. Additional information about the application process, detailed information on required application materials, advice for preparing a competitive application, information on application fee waivers, and frequently asked questions are available here."

Include this section if your program accepts and reviews applications on a rolling basis. Explain if any additional considerations are given at any point in the year.

1. Example: "Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Applications submitted by the deadlines listed above will be considered for limited Department funding."

Indicate your program's minimum credit requirement. The Graduate School: Minimum Graduate Degree Credit Requirement policy is the minimum threshold. Programs may have a more stringent credit requirement.

Indicate your program's minimum residence credit requirement. The Graduate School: Minimum Graduate Residence Credit Requirement policy is the minimum threshold. Programs may have a more stringent credit requirement.

Indicate your program's minimum graduate coursework requirement. If your program refers to the Graduate School's minimum requirement, format as follows:

• 15 credits / 26 credits must be graduate-level coursework. Refer to the Graduate School: Minimum Graduate Coursework (50%) Requirement policy: https://policy.wisc.edu/library/UW-1244. 

Indicate your program's overall graduate GPA requirement. If your program refers to the Graduate School's minimum requirement, format as follows:

• 3.00 GPA required. Refer to the Graduate School: Grade Point Average (GPA) Requirement policy: https://policy.wisc.edu/library/UW-1203. 

If applicable, indicate your program's other grade requirements like "All courses must have a grade of B or better." If not applicable, format as: "n/a" or "none". 

If applicable, indicate your program's required assessments and examinations. Examples include:

• Students take one preliminary examination and one written preliminary examination after completing their second academic year.
• Doctoral candidates must submit a written dissertation proposal and make an oral presentation to the faculty.

If applicable, indicate your program's language requirements. If none, format as: "n/a", "none", or "no language requirements". 

If your program refers to the Graduate School's minimum requirement, format as follows:

• All doctoral students are required to complete a doctoral minor or graduate/professional certificate. Refer to the Graduate School: Breadth Requirement in Doctoral Training: https://policy.wisc.edu/library/UW-1200. 

Programs with internal pathways, need to include the following text as a footnote:

• These pathways are internal to the program and represent different curricular paths a student can follow to earn this degree. Pathway names do not appear in the Graduate School admissions application, and they will not appear on the transcript.

Start with a Prior Coursework header and include sub-headers with the types of coursework (header 4). Include all of the following categories. Do not add or remove headers.

If your program follows the Graduate School's policy, link to the policy instead of restating it to minimize missing future policy updates. Otherwise, detail your program-specific policy.

• Refer to the Graduate School: Transfer Credits for Prior Coursework policy.

This section may look like the following:

Indicate your program's probation policy. If your program refers to the Graduate School's policy, format as follows:

• Refer to the Graduate School: Probation policy.

This section may look like the following:

Indicate your program's advisor/committee policy. If your program refers to the Graduate School's policy, format as follows:

• Refer to the Graduate School: Advisor and Graduate School: Committees (Doctoral/Master's/MFA) policies.

This section may look like the following:

Indicate your program's credits per term allowed policy. If your program refers to the Graduate School's policy, format as follows:

• 15 credit maximum. Refer to the Graduate School: Maximum Credit Loads and Overload Requests policy.

This section may look like the following:

Indicate your program's time limits policy. If your program refers to the Graduate School's policy, format as follows:

• Refer to the Graduate School: Time Limits policy.

This section may look like the following:

This section is shared content by the Graduate School. Do not edit or remove. Program-specific policy should be included after the shared content. This section should look like the following:

Do not delete the 'Other' header if there is no information to include. If no additional information, format as follows:

• n/a 
• none
• information related to funding

This section may look like the following: