Universities of Wisconsin schools will soon be offering admission to tens of thousands of Wisconsin high school seniors without receiving applications.

It’s the first class of students to benefit from the Direct Admit Wisconsin program, an effort launched in December to boost enrollment at UW campuses.

Participating school districts shared students’ grade point average and course credits directly with UW System administration after their junior year of high school. The new program, which launched in December, identifies whether a student qualifies for direct admission to any of the 10 participating campuses.

System President Jay Rothman said Wednesday that acceptance emails will be sent to students starting next week and will continue into September.

“These students have already demonstrated through their junior year of high school that they have the ability to succeed at one of our universities, and to put themselves on a path to a better life and to a better career,” Rothman said.

He said around 50,000 students across 330 high schools were eligible for direct admissions program, adding that “tens of thousands” will receive an offer in coming weeks. Rothman noted that each university has its own admissions requirements, but a number of students can expect to be directly admitted to multiple schools.

UW system enrollment has steadily declined over the past decade. Historically, 32 percent of the state’s high school grads have enrolled at UW schools immediately after graduation. That fell to about 27 percent in 2020.

Looking to the future, Rothman said direct admissions could change the way UW schools approach recruiting students. He said university leaders view direct admissions as “a new pathway, but not the only pathway” for admittance.

“There will be the traditional application process,” he said. “But our hope is that this will allow us to connect with more students and have the opportunity to discuss with them why college may be a good fit for them, how they can be helped through a financial aid package, and really try to reach those students who would not have otherwise reached out to us.”

More than half of the state’s public high schools participated in the first year of the direct admissions program, according to Rothman. He said many of the districts that declined did not use one of the three student information systems accepted by the program. He said the UW administration is already working to add another system to the program to allow more districts to participate.

UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse and UW-Madison will not be accepting students through the Direct Admit program. Rothman said participation is up to each campus, but the schools will have the opportunity to sign on to the program in the future.

“Each of our universities is unique,” Rothman said. “They have different approaches to enrollment and so forth, and we wanted them to have the flexibility that they need to best serve the students that they enroll.”

Students that receive direct admission to one or more UW schools will be asked to provide basic demographic information, which campuses they’re interested in attending and their high school transcript.

Rothman said university staff will then help students identify which university and degree program may be the best fit and what financial aid may be available to them.

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The recently wrapped Republican National Convention in Milwaukee rolled out the red carpet (literally!) for local Wisconsin media outlets — the first arrangement of its kind at a national political convention.

And by most accounts, “Wisconsin Media Row” was a success.

Over the four-day nominating event, delegates and elected officials — most of them from Wisconsin — made their way to the western concourse of the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena where they found a bustling collection of the state’s newspaper, radio, TV and online journalists. 

Each of the 24 participating outlets paid $125, and the RNC provided wifi, electricity, tables, chairs and signage. The RNC designed a “Wisconsin Media Row” logo featured prominently on the arena marquee and directed delegates and surrogates to the space. Navy blue pipe-and-curtain dividers emblazoned with the RNC 2024 logo, a central suite of comfy couches, and the splash of red carpeting really tied the space together.

U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, who represents conservative parts of central and eastern Wisconsin, said it was “a cool sort of thing” that he could do an interview with Milwaukee’s 101.7 The Truth, a station with which he had never interacted before.

“It’s a smart idea,” Grothman said of a local media area at the convention. “For cost reasons, in part, the little radio station, the little newspaper gets left behind, and there’s no reason that should be so.”

He encouraged both the Republican and Democratic national parties to make similar accommodations at future events.

“It’s important for us to promote the little media, right?” Grothman said. “We don’t want everybody just listening to Fox or MSNBC and that sort of thing. It’s important to support your small media outlets, and that’s one way to do it.”

National political conventions are challenging for small local outlets to cover. They draw some 50,000 people, including thousands of reporters from all over the world. Larger organizations like CNN, NPR, CBS News and The New York Times can shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up broadcast booths and mini-newsrooms within the security perimeter.

That’s why Wisconsin Watch worked with local media organizations and the RNC to create a first-of-its-kind space at a national political convention.

Members of the Wisconsin media consortium praised the local reporter accommodations.

“Wisconsin Media Row gave local reporters a sense of place amidst a wild week when many factors felt up in the air,” said Erin McGroarty, politics and government reporter for the Madison-based Cap Times. “The presence of a dedicated space for local press organizations allowed Wisconsin news groups to work together, bounce ideas off of each other and feel a sense of camaraderie as we worked to give our state critical coverage of a historical event.”

John Laughrin, news director for WFRV-TV in Green Bay, appreciated the practical aspects of having a place to store extra gear and equipment, plenty of power strips to support everyone working on laptops and reliable internet.

Wisconsin State Journal state government reporter Mitchell Schmidt said his team used Wisconsin Media Row primarily as a space to file stories, discuss the day’s plans, catch delegates and lawmakers as they came through for sit-down interviews or quick press gaggles, and simply recuperate.

After doing a round of interviews with several of the participating outlets, including the State Journal, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Urban Milwaukee, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson credited the generosity of the donors to the RNC Host Committee, which raised $85 million for the entire convention.

“Those things cost money, so somebody’s got to pay,” Johnson said of Wisconsin Media Row.

Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, attending his 12th RNC, endorsed creating a local media area at future conventions, calling it “a no-brainer.”

“You guys convey the message,” Thompson said. “And if you don’t convey the message, you don’t get your message out, you don’t win. It’s just utterly stupid if you don’t do it. I think it’s fantastic.”

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.