Texas, Idaho, Minnesota, Hawaii. These are among the states in our union that offer in-state residents who graduate at or near the top of their high school classes automatic admission to the state’s public universities. But the list grows each year. This year, Wisconsin is considering joining the group in order to curb enrollment declines at the state’s 13 public universities, including its flagship campus: the University of Wisconsin – Madison. So is automatic admission really in the cards for in-state residents to Wisconsin’s public universities? Will Wisconsin follow the lead of Texas and the others?

As Rich Kremer reports for Wisconsin Public Radio in a piece entitled “UW System considering automatic admissions for in-state high school graduates,” “The percentage of high school students enrolling at the state’s 13 universities has been falling since 2013, according to UW System data. Historically, 32 percent of high school grads have enrolled at UW schools immediately after graduation. That fell to about 27 percent in 2020. During a Thursday meeting of the UW Board of Regents in Green Bay, members heard a presentation about how a policy known as ‘direct admissions’ could temper the trend.”

We’ll be sure to keep our readers posted on any potential votes in the future on an automatic admission policy to Wisconsin’s public universities. But if we had a crystal ball — and we indeed do have a crystal ball at Ivy Coach — we project that Wisconsin will in the near future offer high-achieving in-state residents automatic admission to its public schools. If nothing else, it will help stop the enrollment bleed at these universities.