How are enrollment appointments assigned?
Recently the University Council tasked campus partners to evaluate their concern that students with less opportunity for external test credits in their high schools are systematically disadvantaged in the assignment of enrollment appointments and have less opportunity for enrollment in their preferred courses and at their preferred days/times. So, a group was formed and got together to provide an analysis of the effect of external test credits on undergraduate enrollment appointment prioritization.
External test credit is credit for UW–Madison equivalent courses or electives that results from demonstrated mastery of college-level material based scores on externally administered challenge exams. This type of credit primarily comes from College Board’s Advanced Placement program and the International Baccalaureate program.
Current State
Currently, enrollment appointments – the earliest date and time that undergraduates can begin enrollment for the next semester – are assigned based on a student’s projected academic level and then based on completed credits within that academic level. Students in the same academic level with the same number of credits are randomly assigned a priority by the student information system (SIS). External test credits factor into the calculation of projected academic level and into the calculation of priority within each academic level group (Senior, 86 or more credits; Junior, 54 – 85 credits; Sophomore, 24 – 53 credits; and Freshman: fewer than 24 credits).
The most common external test credits that students bring to UW–Madison satisfy many general education requirements and are prerequisite courses for long course sequences in mathematics, biology, statistics, and economics. Additionally, the closer students are to completion of their degree requirements/course sequence, typically the more specific their remaining requirements are, and the less choice there is in them. Students closer to graduation are given earlier opportunities to enroll so they can enroll in required courses, many of which may only have one or two day/time options.
The Analysis
The requested analysis compared the exclusion of external test credits on common student demographic groups and by school/college across spring semester enrollment appointments for nearly 90,000 undergraduates over the last three completed fall semesters (fall 2019, fall 2020, fall 2021).
It was found that more than 9 in 10 (91.5%) undergraduates who enroll at UW–Madison had some opportunities for college level courses that result in external test credits. Additionally, 76.3% of undergraduates enroll at UW–Madison with some external test credits, with an average of 18.3 credits from external tests, and almost half (47.2%) of undergraduates have some transfer credit, with an average number of 21.8 credits.
Excluding external test credits as a factor considered in the assignment of undergraduate enrollment appointments results in a reduction in academic level, the primary determinant of enrollment priority, for 41% of undergraduates, mainly affecting the sophomore level (58%) and then the junior level (50%). It would also disproportionately benefit the groups of students that are traditionally underrepresented at UW–Madison and often have fewer external test credits. The group that would benefit the most, in terms of average advancement of their enrollment priority, are students who entered UW–Madison by transferring from another college or university and international students who entered UW–Madison as new freshmen. However, this disproportionate benefit in terms of earlier appointment times for students from underrepresented groups is not universal.
Because most undergraduates from the underrepresented groups also have external test credits, excluding these credits as a factor in the assignment of enrollment appointments would have a negative effect on about one in three students from these groups. This exclusion would also have a disproportionate negative effect on the students in the School of Business and the College of Engineering, and other students in academic programs that require long course sequences. Removing external test credits as a factor used in the assignment of undergraduate enrollment appointments would also result in random priority assignment being used much more frequently than it is now.
This analysis and deep look into the effects of external test credit on enrollment appointment priority not only accomplished the task set by the University Council, but also helped many understand how enrollment appointments are set and the variables used in the determination. Enrollment appointments for Summer 2023 and Fall 2023 have been set and will occur in early and mid-April. Learn more about enrollment appointments and when they will occur on the Office of the Registrar website.