Admission requirements to all programs of the University of Wisconsin (UW) Madison are given in the Undergraduate Catalog or on the UW Madison web site. High School graduation or its equivalent (an equivalency certificate or diploma issued on the basis of the GED or the Wisconsin High School Equivalency Examination) is required. Applicants presenting a GED or HSED must have completed two years of a single foreign language plus one year each of high school algebra and plane geometry, plus a third year of math. For engineering, the 17 units of high school study required for admission should include four years each of mathematics and English, and one year each of chemistry and physics. Above average performance in these units is expected.

Transfer students must meet all the requirements following for acceptance into the engineering undergraduate program. They must have completed one year each of high school algebra and plane geometry, plus a third year of math. Geometry must be regular college-track; modified, basic, informal, fundamental and other lower-track geometry courses will not meet this requirement. Either advanced algebra, trigonometry, analytical geometry, or calculus is needed to fulfill the third-year math requirement. College-level mathematics courses may also be used to fulfill this requirement. Applicants are required to have completed two years of a single foreign language in high school or two semesters of a single foreign language in college.

Every applicant whose native language is not English must provide scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The minimum required test score is 600 for the paper-based exam and 250 for the computer-based test (CBT). International applicants must show evidence of adequate financial resources for the anticipated duration of their program.