Welcome new grad students!
Congratulations on your admission to the University of Wisconsin–Madison! The Graduate School offers support and resources to help you transition to life as a graduate student.
Welcome messages
Starting in May, newly admitted graduate students receive a series of emails from the Graduate School.
Find a place to live
The University Apartments community serves UW–Madison graduate students, students with families, postdoctoral researchers, academic staff, and faculty. More information on housing in Madison is available in Graduate Student Life’s housing section.
Explore your new community
Find the vibrant student life in Madison!
Find funding
The Office of Fellowships and Funding Resources is the place to start when looking for graduate assistantships or fellowship funding for your graduate education. The Office of Student Financial Aid can also help.
Utilize professional development
It’s never too early to start planning your path to success! Check out the Office of Professional Development’s online resources and mark your calendars for workshops.
Watch for GradConnections Weekly
This weekly e-newsletter is a valuable source for information related to fellowships/funding, professional development workshops and events, academic deadlines and other timely information of interest to graduate students. New students for fall begin receiving GradConnections Weekly in September. New students for spring begin receiving the newsletter in January.
Graduate Student Life
Graduate Student Life is a valuable resource throughout your time at UW–Madison. Find information on housing, transportation, what to do on a night out, and tips for staying healthy.
New Graduate Student Checklist
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For all new graduate students
- Activate your NetID and set up multi-factor authentication.
- Connect with your program, meet your graduate coordinator and faculty advisor, and plan to participate in program orientation activities.
- Submit your final official transcript showing your posted degree and conferral date to transcripts@grad.wisc.edu. Transcripts need to be submitted directly by the institution. If your institution does not offer electronic transcripts please send them to the address listed below.
Graduate Admissions
University of Wisconsin – Madison
232 Bascom Hall
500 Lincoln Drive
Madison, WI 53706 USA - Enroll in classes. Enrollment begins June 27 for graduate students starting in fall 2022. You will receive an email beforehand with your enrollment date and time.
- Use (or forward) your WiscMail account, the university’s official method of correspondence.
- Pay your tuition and segregated fees (even if you have tuition remission, you usually still have to pay segregated fees). Find tuition and fee rates here.
- Students with graduate assistantships (TAs, PAs, RAs, and LSAs) have until the first Friday in December for the fall term and the first Friday in April for the spring term to pay segregated fees. See the Bursar’s Office policy for more information.
- If you have a need related to a disability, contact the McBurney Disability Resource Center.
- Fill out the Immunization and Health History Form in your MyUHS account.
- If you received a COVID-19 vaccination off-campus, upload your vaccine record to MyUHS.
- For vaccination outside the U.S., UHS will recognize vaccines maintained on the World Health Organization’s emergency use listing.
- Register for and plan to attend New Graduate Student Welcome on Wednesday, Aug. 31. New students received an email on July 26 inviting them to register for the event.
- Request your Wiscard (campus ID card). You must register for classes before you can get your Wiscard.
- Update your mailing address and phone number in MyUW if you moved.
- Starting the week before classes begin, request your free Madison Metro bus pass for the semester.
- Complete the online sexual violence prevention program. Newly admitted graduate students will receive an email from University Health Services with instructions on accessing the online program, Graduate and Professional Students Preventing and Responding to Sexual and Relationship Violence, closer to the start of the semester. This program is required for all new graduate students.
For international graduate students
- Check in with International Student Services (ISS) within 1-2 days of your arrival.
- If you are employed and on a J-1 or F-1 visa, apply for a social security number.
- If you are required to take the English as a Second Language Assessment Test (ESLAT) as a condition of your admission, do so immediately upon arrival.
- If you have questions related to your immigration record as impacted by the pandemic, please review these ISS FAQs for international students.
For graduate students with funding
- If you received federal or state financial aid, update your mailing address in My UW and contact the Office of Student Financial Aid with questions.
- If you are a TA, PA, RA, Fellow, or Trainee learn about benefit plans you are eligible for from the Office of Human Resources.
- If you are a TA, PA, RA, or LSA, familiarize yourself with the Graduate Assistant Payment of Segregated Fees Policy, which gives graduate assistants a deferred due date to pay segregated fees and other fees not covered by tuition remission.
New Graduate Student Welcome
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
The Graduate School invites all newly admitted graduate students to participate in the New Graduate Student Welcome event each year.
New Graduate Student Welcome is an opportunity to hear from the Graduate School and campus leaders, get advice from a panel of current students about grad student life, learn about the many campus and community resources available to you, and meet other new graduate students from across campus.
2022 Welcome Sessions
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11 am - 1 pm: Resource Fair
Learn about the campus and community services that are available to help graduate students succeed at UW–Madison.
11:45 am - 12:20 pm / 12:30 - 1:05 pm: Resource Flash Talks
Note: Both 35-minute sessions have the same content, so plan to attend either at 11:45 or at 12:30.
Hear directly from staff about the ways their offices can help you find and apply for funding, use databases and other tools to gather information related to your research, write better and smarter, and develop your professional and career-related plans and skills. Presenters include:
- Office of Professional Development, Graduate School
- Writing Center
- Libraries and Grants Information Collection
- Software Training for Students (STS)
- Dean of Students Office
- McBurney Disability Resource Center
- Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Funding, Graduate School
1:15 - 2:15 pm: Graduate Student Panels: Question & Answer Session
A panel of seasoned graduate students will answer the large and small questions you have about everything from what can make your graduate student life easier and less stressful to establishing and maintaining relationships with faculty and staff in your program.
2:30 - 4:30 pm: Welcome Remarks & "Meet and Greet" Reception
Campus leadership will welcome graduate students to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
- Dean of the Graduate School William J. Karpus
- Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs John Karl Scholz
- Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Reesor
- Deputy Vice Chancellor and Chief Diversity Officer LaVar Charleston
The Welcome Remarks will be followed by a “Meet and Greet” Reception. Refreshments will be served.
Graduate Student Welcome Week
August 29 – September 2, 2022
Each fall the Graduate School offers a lineup of events during the week before classes begin to welcome and help acclimate new graduate students to campus and to welcome back current graduate students.
2022 Welcome Week Schedule
Registration is required for all events.
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Monday, Aug. 29 - Flourishing in Graduate School: How to Manage Stress and Maintain Your Mental Health
Monday, August 29
11 am – 1 pm
1310 Sterling Hall
This in-person event will also be livestreamed.
Want to make graduate school a time to thrive and not just survive? This workshop will focus on promotion of psychological well-being in graduate school. Topics covered will arm graduate students with strategies to thrive through the challenges of graduate school, including managing the transition/adjustment process, coping with stress, promoting work/life balance, and establishing habits to maintain or improve mental health. This event is presented by the Graduate School Office of Professional Development in collaboration with University Health Services.
Monday, Aug. 29 - Time Management for Graduate Students
Monday, August 29
4 – 5:15 pm
1310 Sterling Hall
This in-person event will also be livestreamed.
In this interactive workshop, you will learn tips and techniques for staying on track and managing your time. We’ll cover goal-setting, minimizing distractions and staying focused, and overcoming some of the most common challenges to staying on task. Participants will leave with strategies that they can apply immediately. The strategies we’ll cover are appropriate for students in any discipline.
Tuesday, Aug. 30 - Jessica Calarco: Uncovering Grad School's Hidden Curriculum
Tuesday, August 30
12:30 – 3:15 pm
1310 Sterling Hall
This in-person event will also be livestreamed.
Some of the most important things you need to know in order to succeed in graduate school—like how to choose a good advisor, how to get funding for your work, and whether to celebrate or cry when a journal tells you to revise and resubmit an article—won’t be covered in any class. In this talk, we’ll discuss what’s included in the hidden curriculum, why it’s hidden, the consequences of that hiddenness, and how that hidden knowledge can be made more accessible to all.
12:30-1:45 Presentation
1:45-2:15 Q&A
2:15 Reception
Tuesday, Aug. 30 - Enhancing Your Graduate Degree with a Certificate (Online)
Tuesday, August 30
3 – 4:30 pm
Online, Zoom
What are graduate certificates, and how can they add value to your graduate degree? In this virtual session, faculty and staff representing several graduate certificate programs (and their equivalent doctoral minors) discuss the multiple benefits that these programs provide to graduate students across campus—including fulfilling breadth requirements, expanding interdisciplinary knowledge, mastering new skills, creating community and networking opportunities, and building cultural competence. Attendees will also have the opportunity to speak with each certificate representative in smaller groups.
Register for Enhancing Your Graduate Degree with a Certificate
Thursday, Sept. 1 - The Role of Implicit Bias in Microaggressions: An Interactive Workshop
Thursday, September 1
11 am – 1 pm
Memorial Union, Festival Room (Lower Level)
As we strive to foster a welcoming and inclusive campus, it is critically important for graduate students and professionals across all disciplines to understand how implicit or unconscious bias can influence our interactions with a diverse array of people. More importantly, it is essential that we develop and consciously practice evidence-based strategies for reducing the application of these biases as we cultivate relationships with people from different backgrounds, experiences, and cultures. This interactive talk introduces graduate students to the underlying concepts and language used in the psychological and social psychological literature to describe implicit or unconscious biases, describes how these processes function as habits of mind, and focuses on how they influences our interactions and can lead to microaggressions. Students will learn effective strategies for minimizing the application of implicit bias and for addressing microaggressions when they commit, witness, or experience them. Lunch, including a vegetarian option, will be provided at 12:15 pm.
Thursday, Sept. 1 - Cool Tools: Apps and More to Increase Productivity
Thursday, September 1
3 – 4:30 pm
1310 Sterling Hall
This in-person event will also be livestreamed.
Prepare to maximize your time and energy this semester by taking advantage of software available to UW–Madison graduate students that can help streamline your workflow. This virtual workshop, presented by Pete Valeo from Software Training for Students (STS), will introduce you to both basic and advanced software tools, including cloud storage services, notetaking apps, mobile scanners, research tools, tasks managers, password managers, lifestyle apps, and more.
Friday, Sept. 2 - Degree Dash
Friday, September 2
8 am / 8:30 am race starts
Library Mall
Join fellow graduate students, faculty, staff, and family members for the Degree Dash, hosted by the UW–Madison Graduate School. Set your goal for 5.39 miles for the Doctoral Derby (8 am start) or for 1.94 miles for the Master’s Mile (8:30 am start). Race distances are based on approximate average time to degree – but whether you come in first or last place, you’ll get a diploma at the finish line! After the race, mingle and enjoy free food and giveaways.
Anytime - Successful Online Learning
Explore strategies to prepare to learn remotely, engage in your courses, and maximize your time. This module, from the Graduate School, is for grad students taking their first online course or those looking for some new resources on online learning. Enroll in the Successful Online Learning Canvas course at any time.