University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Public · Moderately Selective · WI

Photo: Boscophotos (CC BY-SA 3.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationWI · Midwest

SettingRural

Undergrads9,405

Student:faculty21:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate41.9%

6-yr grad rate58.9%

Drop-out rate22%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$9k

Out-of-state tuition$19k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity22%

Gender diversity48.9%

International0.4%

Identity—

Overview

UW-Whitewater is a regional comprehensive campus in the University of Wisconsin System, tracing back to one of the system's original teacher-training normal schools. It has built its identity around two things that look unrelated but both point to institutional depth: one of the largest undergraduate business programs in the UW System, and a wheelchair and adaptive athletics program that is arguably the most decorated of its kind in the country. The city itself is small and rural, tucked among lakes and farmland roughly midway between Milwaukee and Madison.

Academics

The College of Business and Economics is AACSB-accredited and draws a large share of the student body into accounting, finance, marketing, and management, with strong placement pipelines into Wisconsin and greater-Milwaukee employers. Teacher preparation is a founding-era strength going back to the campus's normal-school roots, and education majors typically spend real time in area classrooms well before formal student teaching. Programs generally run on a practical, career-oriented model — applied coursework and internships rather than a research-seminar culture — reflecting the campus's identity as a teaching-focused regional university.

Campus & student life

Whitewater is a small city in rural southeastern Wisconsin, and the compact, walkable campus dominates local life in a way it wouldn't in a bigger town. The wheelchair basketball and wheelchair football programs are a genuine source of campus pride, supported by one of the country's oldest and deepest collegiate disability-services infrastructures, and disabled and non-disabled athletes coexist on campus in a way still rare nationally. On the traditional side, Warhawk football has been a Division III powerhouse, racking up national championships and giving fall Saturdays real weight on an otherwise low-key campus.

Getting in

Admission is generally accessible rather than highly selective, in keeping with UW-Whitewater's role as a regional access-oriented campus within the UW System. Applicants headed for the College of Business and Economics or the education program should expect a standard academic-preparation review rather than an essay- or interview-heavy process; there's no elite-private-style holistic culture here. Wisconsin residents make up the bulk of the applicant pool, with the UW System's shared application streamlining the process for in-state students applying to multiple system campuses.

After graduation

Business graduates place well with Wisconsin and Chicago-area employers, aided by a large, engaged regional alumni base in banking, accounting, and management. Education graduates move directly into Wisconsin school districts, often the same ones where they completed their field placements. The adaptive-athletics program has become a pipeline of its own, with alumni going on to Paralympic competition and careers in adaptive sports administration and coaching.

Worth knowing

The depth of UW-Whitewater's disability-services and adaptive-athletics infrastructure is a genuine differentiator — few campuses anywhere, at any size, integrate wheelchair athletics this fully into mainstream campus life. Prospective students should also know this is a Division III athletic program: strong school spirit and competitive teams, but no athletic scholarships in the traditional sense. The small-town setting means an active social life largely happens on or immediately around campus rather than in a nearby big city.

uww.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate85.7%

Enrolled mid-50%ACT 17–24

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying