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University of Wisconsin - Madison Data & Information Overview

434 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
60% Acceptance Rate
Find out more about how University of Wisconsin - Madison ranks, how diverse it is, what majors it offers, and other essential facts below.
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How Well Is University of Wisconsin - Madison Ranked?

#30 Best Colleges in Nation
#1 Best Colleges in WI
Communication & Media Studies Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2024 Rankings

College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.

University of Wisconsin - Madison was awarded 434 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is communication & media studies.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

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Overall Quality

UW - Madison landed the #30 spot in College Factual's 2024 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 2,217 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation. This is an improvement over the previous year, when UW - Madison held the #33 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

UW - Madison is also ranked #1 out of 46 schools in Wisconsin.

See all of the rankings for University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Is It Hard to Get Into UW - Madison?

60% Acceptance Rate
55% Of Accepted Are Women
15% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

University of Wisconsin - Madison has an acceptance rate of 60%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for UW - Madison.

Average Test Scores

About 15% of students accepted to UW - Madison submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 640 and 720. Math scores were between 680 and 780.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for University of Wisconsin - Madison  ( 640 to 720 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for University of Wisconsin - Madison  ( 680 to 780 )
200
800
UW - Madison received ACT scores from 55% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 26 and 32.

ACT Composite Scores for University of Wisconsin - Madison  ( 26 to 32 )
1
36

Learn more about University of Wisconsin - Madison admissions.

University of Wisconsin - Madison Faculty

17 to 1 Student to Faculty
85% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio at University of Wisconsin - Madison is about average at 17 to 1. This ratio is often used to gauge how many students might be in an average class and how much time professors will have to spend with their students on an individual level. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at University of Wisconsin - Madison is 85%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  85 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at University of Wisconsin - Madison

95% Freshmen Retention
62% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

University of Wisconsin - Madison has a freshmen retention rate of 95%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  95 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at UW - Madison for first-time, full-time students is 62%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  62 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at University of Wisconsin - Madison.

University of Wisconsin - Madison Undergraduate Student Diversity

30,063 Full-Time Undergraduates
20.0% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
52.3% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 32,688 undergraduates at UW - Madison with 30,063 being full-time and 2,625 being part-time.

How Much Does University of Wisconsin - Madison Cost?

$17,234 Net Price
27% Take Out Loans
$35,200 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of UW - Madison is $17,234. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for UW - Madison

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$3,981 $4,788 $10,364 $22,377 $25,436

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of UW - Madison, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At UW - Madison, approximately 27% of students took out student loans averaging $8,800 a year. That adds up to $35,200 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at UW - Madison is 0.9%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for University of Wisconsin - Madison.

How Much Money Do UW - Madison Graduates Make?

$65,213 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree from UW - Madison make about $65,213 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is good news for future UW - Madison graduates since it is 53% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at University of Wisconsin - Madison make the most money.

Location of University of Wisconsin - Madison

Wisconsin State
30,063 Full-Time Undergraduates
Large City Campus Setting
University of Wisconsin - Madison is a public institution located in Madison, Wisconsin. The city atmosphere of Madison makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

Get more details about the location of University of Wisconsin - Madison.

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Contact details for UW - Madison are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 500 Lincoln Dr, Madison, WI 53706-1380
Phone: 608-263-2400
Website: www.wisc.edu/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/UWMadison
Twitter: http://twitter.com/UWMadison

University of Wisconsin - Madison Majors

122 Majors With Completions
9,925 Undergraduate Degrees
3,921 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 122 majors graduated from University of Wisconsin - Madison. Of these students, 9,925 received undergraduate degrees and 3,921 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Computer Information Systems 668 $72,878
Economics 624 $48,053
General Psychology 447 $31,572
Finance & Financial Management 440 $61,474
Political Science & Government 399 $35,789
General Biology 380 $30,913
Communication & Media Studies 316 $36,006
Mathematics 274 $51,817
Neurobiology & Neurosciences 249 $29,137
Nursing 229 $65,921

Learn more about the majors offered at University of Wisconsin - Madison along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at UW - Madison

27% Take At Least One Class Online
3% Take All Classes Online

Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.

In 2020-2021, 12,834 students took at least one online class at University of Wisconsin - Madison. This is a decrease from the 41,428 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 12,834 1,459
2019-2020 41,428 21,672
2018-2019 8,064 894
2017-2018 7,274 850
2016-2017 6,149 768

Learn more about online learning at University of Wisconsin - Madison.

If you’re considering University of Wisconsin - Madison, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against UW - Madison? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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