Studying at another school before transferring to UW Madison?

Hi all, sort of a quick question here. If I start at a community college or take some AP classes, has anyone ever transferred those credits over to University of Wisconsin-Madison? Just wondering how the process works and if it's generally a smooth transfer of credits.

Absolutely, transfer students—including those from community colleges—are quite common at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW Madison). The process for transfer is not always the same, as it depends on the courses you've undertaken and the particular policies of UW Madison.

When you transfer between institutions, you should begin by looking at your target college's transfer guidelines. Specifically in UW Madison, you'd want to check out 'Transferology', a web-based software program that the college uses. This will help you make decisions about which courses to take in your current college (including AP or any other community college courses) to ensure a smooth transfer of these credits.

To use the tool, you need to input your completed and planned courses, and it will inform you how these would potentially transfer to UW Madison. This is a wonderful resource to help in pre-planning and it can provide clarity about what to expect when you transfer.

Of course, the final approval of transfer credits will be at the discretion of the admitting college in which you enroll at UW Madison. They will officialize the credit transfer after you've been admitted and have sent in all official transcripts.

It's also good to confirm with an academic counselor or advisor, as they would be able to walk you through the process and provide specific advice relevant to your situation. It'd also be a smart move to keep copies of syllabi and coursework, which could be useful to reference during the transfer process.

Just remember this: planning ahead, using available resources, and working with advisors is key to ensuring a rather seamless transfer process.