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UW-MADISON, MATC ANNOUNCE STUDENT 'TRANSFER CONTRACT'
MADISON
- The University of Wisconsin-Madison and its longstanding local
partner, Madison Area Technical College, are strengthening
their productive relationship.
As part of a pilot agreement signed
today (April 19) by UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley and MATC
President Bettsey Barhorst, a qualified
student can begin his or her postsecondary education as a freshman
at MATC and two years later, be guaranteed admission as a transfer
student at UW-Madison.
The "Transfer Contract" program
is designed for students beginning as freshmen in the Liberal Arts
Transfer Program at MATC
who meet specified levels of academic achievement at MATC and meet
requirements for transfer admission to UW-Madison.
Currently, 3,990
of UW-Madison's 26,619 undergraduate students, or 15 percent,
first enrolled as transfer students. During the
past decade, about 10 percent of all transfer students came from
MATC, making it the single largest sending institution.
The goal
of the Transfer Contract is to expand access to UW-Madison for
students at Madison Area Technical College, and ultimately,
increase the state's number of four-year degree holders. An unlimited
number of qualifying MATC students will be able to take part
in the program every year.
"MATC does an exceptional job of preparing students to transfer
to UW-Madison," says Wiley. "The Transfer Contract provides
detailed guidance for students so they know early in their enrollment
what they need to do to establish the academic momentum that will
assure their admission to UW-Madison. It takes the guesswork out
of their planning."
"I've often called MATC an 'on-ramp' to UW-Madison
for our students," says
Barhorst. "Now I can say it is a 'guaranteed on-ramp.' Students
now will know exactly what process to follow, what classes to take,
how many credits to earn and what grade point average they need
to maintain to be accepted."
Specifically, qualified Liberal
Arts Transfer Program students will be guaranteed admission to
UW-Madison when they apply as transfer
students after completing 54 credits in specified areas and earn
a 3.0 GPA. Transfer applications from students who are otherwise
qualified but have earned a 2.6-2.99 GPA will receive special
consideration.
Transfer
Contract students completing the transfer into UW-Madison will
be on equal footing with other transfer students for admission
into more than 100 academic programs.
Following her graduation from
MATC's Liberal Arts Transfer Program in 2000, Marjorie Cook enrolled
at UW-Madison as a transfer student
in sociology and history.
"For me, coming to MATC was the second chance that allowed
me to continue my education," she says. "I earned an
associate degree and even served as president of the Student Senate.
After
transferring to UW-Madison, I continued my academic success and
earned both bachelor's and master's degrees. Now I'm completing
a doctoral program at the UW-Madison and conducting research on
transfer students myself."
Cook believes that programs that
make transferring between colleges easier for students to understand
will ensure that more students
reach their potential for academic success.
"A clear path, support through advising, college services
and encouraging faculty make all the difference in the world," she
adds.
The
new UW-Madison-MATC collaboration is similar to the guaranteed
transfer contract that exists between the UW Colleges and the
four-year UW System institutions.
In addition, Transfer Contract agreements
between UW-Madison and Nicolet Area Technical College in Rhinelander
and Milwaukee Area
Technical College are nearly completed and will be finalized
soon, Wiley adds. The new Transfer Contract program differs from the
existing Connections agreement between UW-Madison and MATC in
that students do not need
to apply for admission to UW-Madison before beginning at MATC.
For
more information about transferring to UW-Madison, visit http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/transfer.php.
Information about the MATC Liberal Arts Transfer Program.
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Last
Modified:
July 2, 2008
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