Like many students, CAE Scholars will choose a high-impact practice for their first year. A high-impact practice (HIP) is a “learning community,” typically consisting of one or more courses, named as such for the significant educational benefits for students who participate in them. In a high-impact practice course or set of courses, students will connect more closely with their course instructors and peers over engaging course content in smaller-sized classes. This list is specifically selected by CAE as a great fit for most CAE Scholars. Students will participate in at least one.
Here’s what students have shared about their experiences with high-impact practices:
“Through the Undergraduate Research Scholars program, I have connected with people who have profoundly impacted my life in a short period of time.”
“Being a member of the Women in Science & Engineering learning community helped me build confidence in my future plans, despite the obstacles I know I will face along the way.”
”I participated in a First-Year Interest Group and it helped me genuinely connect with my peers as well as a wide variety of professors on campus.”
Learn about each option by following the links provided: each program has more information on its own website. CAE academic advisors will help students choose a learning community. Before SOAR summer orientation program, CAE Scholars will meet with an advisor to talk about learning communities, Fall classes, and more.
Choose during the admissions process before or close to May 1 — Residential Learning Communities (in campus housing), the L&S Honors Program, and the Summer Collegiate Experience are generally have earlier application deadlines. Read the entries below, and on the programs’ websites, for exact dates for this year.
Choose during SOAR summer orientation — First-Year Interest Groups, Undergraduate Research Scholars, Wisconsin Emerging Scholars classes, and other individual classes can be selected through the summer.
Discovering your UW paths: CAE Edition
⭐️ HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR CAE SCHOLARS
Explore potential majors and your UW degree with fellow peers.
INTER-LS 139 Belong, Explore, Become: Discovering your UW paths — This Cross-College Advising Service (CCAS) fall-semester course has three special sections specifically for first-year CAE Scholars. The small-class experience focuses on strategic exploration and allows you space to consider yourself, your CAE and UW communities, and your degree. You’ll discover and evaluate potential majors and future paths by exploring what a liberal arts degree is, as well as UW-Madison departments, opportunities, and resources. Together and independently, you’ll engage with concepts of belongingness and transitions, and consider questions of identity and community. Build connections with one another as you explore your own UW Madison academic paths.
Belong to our community. Connect with other students. Learn about yourself and your sense of belonging.
Explore your college path. Dive into your interests. Consider new possibilities. See what UW-Madison has to offer you.
Become empowered. Create your own toolkit to draw from as you become who you want to be now, and in the future.
- Class capacity: 20 students per section
- Attributes: L&S credit
Talk with your academic advisor during SOAR about this opportunity when you enroll in your Fall classes.
First-Year Interest Groups (FIGs)
⭐️ HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR CAE SCHOLARS
Build community in the classroom.
figs.wisc.edu — FIGs are clusters of (usually) three Fall-semester UW–Madison classes, linked together to explore a common theme, and open to incoming freshmen who attend these classes together. There are about 60 different FIGs each fall.
At the heart of each FIG is a top-notch instructor who develops and leads a class exclusively for the students in your FIG. The FIG instructor selects two complementary UW classes, combining and expanding what you learn in these classes with the main FIG seminar.
- All classes in the FIG are taken together. If you decide to drop one class, you need to drop all the FIG’s classes.
- Some FIG courses have requisites (conditions that must be met before enrolling) such as placement test scores or direct admissions into a specific UW–Madison college. Read the notes for each FIG to see these listed. Such FIGs are open only to students who meet those conditions.
Enroll during SOAR, after consulting with your academic advisor during SOAR.
Undergraduate Research Scholars (URS)
⭐️ HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR CAE SCHOLARS
Use research and creative practices as ways to explore possible majors and build community.
urs.ls.wisc.edu — This two-semester program is for students interested in exploring the nature of research, creative practice, and discovery, and approaching this in an interdisciplinary way: from natural science, to social science, to the arts and humanities.
Students meet weekly in a 20-person seminar class to develop critical thinking and writing skills. Each student is matched with a member of UW-Madison’s faculty, research staff, or an advanced graduate student as a project Mentor, working together a few hours each week (schedule varies) for hands-on experience and skill development.
- This is a two-semester commitment. You must be willing to engage in research and the seminar course for the entire year.
- There is a weekly seminar (usually Wednesdays 5:30-6:30pm, both fall and spring semesters).
- Most URS Scholars participate during their first year. A few spots are available to second-year students.
Apply to URS as soon as you know you are interested: before or soon after SOAR. Typically, applications are open until mid-August. The URS Program reviews applications as they come in and offer spots on a rolling basis.
Residential Learning Communities
Live and learn in a themed community.
University Housing offers 11 residential learning communities that bring together faculty, staff, and students around a shared focus like international cultures & languages; biology; gender & sexuality; or sustainability. The Bradley and Chadbourne learning communities are good options for students with a mix of interests.
Each residential learning community includes a seminar class for all students in that learning community, special events, faculty guests, field trips, and many ways for students to create their community on campus.
- If you are in an Residential Learning Community, and you want this to be your only first-semester high-impact practice as a CAE Scholar, you must enroll in one of the affiliated classes.
When you sign up for Housing (go.wisc.edu/my-housing), select your preferred residential learning community and choose “learning communities” as your priority for hall preferences.
Honors in the Liberal Arts
Create meaningful academic and personal connections throughout your degree.
honors.ls.wisc.edu — Honors in the Liberal Arts is not about classes being harder, but about genuinely engaging with your professors, peers, and course content. Honors offers access to small, discussion-driven classes exclusively for Honors students; enriching projects; and the opportunity to participate in special events including social gatherings, dinners with professors, volunteer opportunities, and more. No previous secondary-school Honors experience is required.
- Taking an “Honors Only” class in the first semester on campus meets the CAE expectations of a learning community.
- Students accepted into the Honors Program meet with an Honors advisor for their SOAR session.
All incoming L&S students can apply, with relevant deadlines in spring before you would begin at UW. Application information is on the Honors Program website under “Admission.” The Honors in the Liberal Arts application is online through the Wisconsin Scholarship Hub (WiSH) and involves a few short essays. The L&S Honors Program determines which applications are successful, and how many students will be admitted into the Honors in the Liberal Arts Program.
Wisconsin Emerging Scholars (WES) calculus classes
Deeper dive into content for motivated students with a strong background and interest in math.
math.wisc.edu/undergraduate/wes — Discussion sections for certain calculus courses that provide you with an opportunity to study mathematics in an interactive, friendly and supportive environment. Students work in small groups on challenging problems designed to foster high levels of understanding of underlying concepts. Students will earn 1 additional credit through two additional weekly meetings.
- Your math placement test scores, AP/IB credits, or transfer credits must meet the requirements for WES–Calculus classes.
- For Fall 2025, enroll in Math 228: WES Calculus Supplement plus Math 221 (“Calculus and Analytic Geometry 1”) or Math 222 (“Calculus and Analytic Geometry 2”).
At SOAR, after consulting with your academic advisor, you request permission to enroll through the instructions on the Math Department WES–Calculus webpage. Once approved to enroll, you enroll in both WES classes at the same time.
Peer Collaboration in Computer Sciences
Develop confidence, excitement, and belonging with students from underrepresented groups in Computer Sciences.
cs.wisc.edu/undergraduate/wes — Peer Collaboration in CS (CS 304) is a fun, interactive study group for students who are new to programming or the computer sciences.
- For students taking CS 200 (Programming I), CS 300 (Programming II), and CS 400 (Programming III). Through weekly meetings led by peers, you’ll earn one additional credit and gain greater mastery of CS material. These small sections focus on learning via group activities and games, ensuring that everyone understands basic concepts, connecting Computer Science to social good and activism, and coding fun projects.
Please ask your CAE advisor for a link to enroll. Students who are authorized for the study group should add the appropriate course (CS 304) to their class schedule and then attend during the scheduled meeting time. When enrolling, select 1-credit option if you want the course to count for credit.
Questions: advising@cs.wisc.edu.
History 100 – SEM 002 – Latinxs in Wisconsin
History is not only found in books; it is also found in people.
In this hands-on class, History Professor Marla Ramirez guides students in the methods of oral history–which gathers, preserves, and interprets the voices of participants in past events–in order to record the important contributions that Latinx Wisconsinites have made to the state’s history. In addition to carrying out your own interview with a Latinx Wisconsinite, you can be part of the long oral history tradition at UW-Madison by submitting your work to the Wisconsin Latinx History Collective for consideration in a new archival collection at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Summer Collegiate Experience (SCE)
⭐️ HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR CAE SCHOLARS
Build community and get a gradual start to your first year on campus.
cae.ls.wisc.edu/summer-collegiate-experience — The Summer Collegiate Experience is a quality-learning, first-year experience for students entering the university. You take two classes for degree credit and learn about UW–Madison resources and campus culture during a six-week, on-campus program. Tuition, housing, meals, and book are covered by UW–Madison.
- About a dozen classes are typically offered each summer, ranging from core foundation classes to more advanced study.
SCE is only for CAE Scholars and students in selected other cohort programs. Admitted students invited to become CAE Scholars can opt in to SCE before May 15 each year.
Students who participate in SCE will typically join another high-impact practice in the fall.
School of Music Applied Study
⭐️ REQUIRED FOR ENTERING MUSIC MAJORS
Begin your studies on your principal instrument!
Applied Study is your beginning into instrument lessons as a music major. At the heart of your music major experience, this is where you will have the opportunity to pursue your performance goals, learn about new kinds of music, work directly with your professor, and learn from other undergraduate and graduate students studying your instrument in a supportive and collegial environment.
There are two weekly parts to Applied Study.
- Weekly studio class: you and all the other students in your studio will meet with your instrument professor on a weekly basis. Your weekly studio class appears on your schedule in Course Search & Enroll.
- Weekly 1:1 Lessons: you will also have a weekly private lesson with your professor. The two of you will find a mutually agreeable time to meet.
Music majors will talk with the Music Advisor about enrolling in Performance Study at SOAR.
Not a Music Major? The School of Music offers many classes and ensembles that are open to all UW-Madison students. Check Course Search & Enroll and the School of Music website for details.