University of Wisconsin Deferred Early Action 2024

Students at my daughter’s high school can choose from regular classes, honors classes, AP classes, IB classes and a few advanced DE classes. About 30-40 kids in each graduating class of approximately 900 students complete an IB diploma each year. This is a large, suburban, public high school.

Just curious how much is worth taking IB classes vs honor/AP classes. First time senior mom and have two others. So learning with my senior.

I don’t have much experience with IB or how admissions officers view it. Everything I have heard makes it sound like it’s as good as AP or better. Honors is such a vague label that I doubt AOs put much stock in it unless they know the high school in question.

There’s one private school in our area where, for some subjects, all the classes are honors or higher. This is a school that admits based ability to pay and not on test scores. Lake Wobegone effect in action.

There are two levels of IB courses, SL and HL. Most colleges/universities will only give credit for the HL level if you score at least a 4 or 5 on the IB exam, depending on their policy. If college credit is the end goal it’s worth researching the differences between AP and IB courses.

My son was deferred.
OOS. Small private high school. 4.1 gpa, 31 ACT. Lots of ECs, 2 internships, sports all 4 years. Several AP, almost all honors classes. Leadership in magnet at school. He submitted his first semester grades right after the deferral. Praying this will get him in. I am hopeful.

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Did he add any new comments or just grades?

Did you submit grades and any other comments?

Hi, S24 deferred.
Private school in DC.
3.8 UW GPA.
8 APs (I think, does Econ (which is two AP tests, one for Macro and one from Micro) count as 1 or 2 APs? If it counts as 2, then that’s 9 APs);
35 ACT
Varsity Athlete
Mid ECs/Service
Decent Essays
Honestly, no idea on recommendations

Does anyone know, for a school on trimesters, are we supposed to just submit 1st Trimester grades, or are we supposed to wait for second trimester (which wouldn’t be till early March)?

Also, does anyone know the history of RD decision day at Wisconsin? Is it likely it takes till 3/31?

We submitted new comments with the 1st semester grades. It gives you a 3,000 character limit.

Someone else mentioned that the deferral letter indicated a deadline for grades and “essay” by February 15th

I think you should reach out to admissions and confirm. Some have mentioned a 2/15 due date, but I didn’t see it on the letter, but maybe it says it in portal. They may ask you to just send in 1st trimester, but be accommodating to also review the 2nd if they’ll be finalized in a few weeks… Doesn’t hurt to ask…

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If he gets a mid tri report, you could self submit that. My daughter is on trimesters at her private school, the school sent first trimester and she just sent her mid tri report to several schools.

Who did you address it to?

Submit mid year grades and essay in the portal under self-reported grades. They have option for semester vs trimester, but you can only enter it once. So if it’s due next week I would say submit whatever is completed and would show on transcript if necessary.

Did anyone have any unique ID or identifier?

Submitting the grades and comments are all via your student’s portal. There is a “field” to enter in your 3,000 characters, as you do not submit an actual letter or attachment. My son typed out his in Word and pasted/edited it to fit into the field.

Also heads up to everyone re portal, D had to type her essay and grades in three times as it kept crashing. V frustrating. You will know if it goes through, when you log back into the portal you should see it there.

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My son pointed out to me last night that, on early action decision day, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team beat Michigan State and then rose to #6 in the AP men’s college basketball rankings. It was later that night, after many attempts, that my son was finally able to get into the portal to learn that he had been deferred at Wisconsin.

The Badgers have not won a game since. They lost last night to Michigan, who previously had lost 10 of their last 11 games and had not won as many games in 2024 as their football team (two).

Hell hath no fury like deserving, deferred students scorned?

(Sorry for the digression from more meaningful discussions, but my son had a laugh over it and I figure that we can all use more of those.)

Continued good luck to everyone. I continue to be overwhelmed with your children’s qualifications and accomplishments.

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I think your son is onto something! I say we contact admissions and if that doesn’t work, we’ll contact athletics. We’ll be happy to produce a list of names whose deferral caused this catastrophic turn of fortune. #Karma :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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lol we have been watching the skid, too. Your explanation makes sense to me!

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