University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Public · Moderately Selective · WI

Photo: Yuri Keegstra from Milwaukee, USA (CC BY-SA 2.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationWI · Midwest

SettingUrban

Undergrads16,758

Student:faculty17:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate30.7%

6-yr grad rate49.3%

Drop-out rate27%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$10k

Out-of-state tuition$22k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity43%

Gender diversity55.6%

International2.1%

Identity—

Overview

UW-Milwaukee is Wisconsin's major urban public research university, carrying a research-intensive classification while also serving a broad access mission for the Milwaukee region. Set on the city's lakeside east side, blocks from Lake Michigan and the Downer Avenue business strip, it combines a research-university identity with deep connections to the employers, hospitals, and cultural institutions of a real working city, serving a mix of traditional-age students, transfers, and working adults.

Academics

The School of Architecture and Urban Planning and the Peck School of the Arts — spanning art, design, music, theatre, and film — are recognized strengths, and the School of Freshwater Sciences is a genuine national rarity: one of the only graduate schools in the country devoted specifically to freshwater and Great Lakes research, run out of a lakefront research institute. Nursing and engineering round out the university's applied strengths, and coursework across many majors leans toward career-connected, project-based learning alongside traditional research pathways.

Campus & student life

The east-side lakeside setting gives students walkable access to Lake Michigan, Milwaukee's arts and music scene, and a dense neighborhood of coffee shops and older housing stock rather than a self-contained quad. Housing mixes on-campus dorms with the surrounding rental market typical of an urban campus, and Panthers athletics in the Horizon League give the school a modest but genuine game-day presence without dominating the social calendar.

Getting in

Admission is generally accessible and credentials-focused, reflecting UWM's role as a broad-access research university rather than a highly selective one — the application leans on coursework and test scores rather than an elaborate essay-and-interview process. Wisconsin residents make up a large share of the incoming class, though the university draws out-of-state and international students as well, and competitive programs like nursing and architecture layer on their own secondary review once students are already enrolled.

After graduation

Strong ties to Milwaukee-area hospitals, engineering firms, and cultural institutions give graduates in nursing, engineering, architecture, and the arts a clear regional pipeline, and UWM's research classification supports a real, if less publicized, path into graduate study for students who seek it out.

Worth knowing

The freshwater sciences program is a genuine national niche — few universities anywhere study the Great Lakes with this kind of dedicated, lakefront research infrastructure, making UWM worth particular attention for students interested in limnology, water policy, or environmental science specifically.

uwm.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate90.7%

Enrolled mid-50%ACT 18–25

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying