Wisconsin joins list of Midwest states with guaranteed-admission policy for qualifying students

Starting with the class of 2026, Wisconsin graduates in the top 5 percent of their high school class will be guaranteed admission to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, while those in the top 10 percent are assured a spot at other schools in the UW system.

“Guaranteed admission” or “general acceptance” is fairly common in the Midwest, though these policies often are established by boards of regents. In contrast, Wisconsin’s new guarantee comes from this year’s passage of SB 367, a measure that also requires high schools to provide rankings of their high school classes (rankings as of the end of 11th grade for each class). Guaranteed admission applies as well to National Merit Scholarship finalists and home-schooled students with ACT scores at or above the 90th percentile (a score in the 98th percentile is required for automatic admission to UW-Madison).

In Illinois, automatic admission to most in-state public colleges and universities is granted to first-time freshmen who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class and who achieve the required SAT or ACT scores. This four-year pilot program began in 2020-2021 (HB 26 of 2019). Legislators in Illinois more recently guaranteed admission to the state’s universities for qualifying students in the community college system (HB 3760 of 2023). The policy applies to students who have earned 36 transferable semester hours in community college with a grade-point average of at least 3.0.

The goals of guaranteed admission include helping students continue their education, keeping them in the state, and boosting enrollment at public universities. A 2022 study by the Education Commission of the States identified several other states in the Midwest — Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota — as having guaranteed-admission policies. The criteria for students to qualify varies from state to state. Iowa, for instance, has a Regent Admission Index that scores applicants based on composite ACT scores, cumulative grade-point average, and the number of completed high school core courses.

Mirroring national trends, undergraduate enrollment increased in most Midwestern states between spring 2023 and spring 2024, with Indiana being the lone exception in this region, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. However, enrollment remains down compared to five years ago in every Midwestern state except North Dakota (see map).