Admission to SOE

Admission to School of Education: Undergraduate Teacher Education (Initial License) Programs

Wisconsin educator licensing code (PI 34.018(2)) requires that candidates for an educator license must apply for admission to the educator preparation program. At UWL, admission to the School of Education in the appropriate teacher education program is required in order to enroll in professional education courses. Each program has specific criteria to be eligible to apply for admission (see below). Meeting the eligibility criteria does not guarantee admission into the School of Education or a specific teacher education program. Limited availability of resources may impact the number of students admitted to a given program. 

Admission Guidelines and Electronic Application Links

The Fall 2023 Admissions Window is CLOSED.

In the case of an extenuating circumstance, students may request an extension to the deadline by completing this linked form. The form will ask you to provide the following information:

• Indicate the request
• Provide an explanation of the extenuating circumstance
• Provide an explanation of why the application was not able to be submitted within the submission window
• Identify a UWL faculty member who can speak to the extenuating circumstance

Received forms will be reviewed by a committee.  A member of that committee will follow up with you regarding next steps.

Teacher Education Program Requirements

Teacher candidates (education majors) must meet SOE Core requirements and  other benchmarks required by the WI Department of Public Instruction and the School of Education in order to be endorsed for a teaching license. Complete information on program requirements is available in the UWL undergraduate catalog. Some links to education program requirements are provided below.

Benchmark Assessments (testing) requirements

Program completion requirements

Re-Entry and Re-Admission to the School of Education

SOE faculty and staff recognize that some students pause their studies at UWL for a variety of reasons and later seek to re-enter SOE under their previous or a new program. In addition, students may wish to change to a different education major after being admitted to SOE. In order to best support students and meet programmatic outcomes in these situations, the following policy was developed. Re-entry/re-admission is reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the SOE Dean’s office and may include program faculty in decision making. Factors that may affect re-entry/re-admission decisions include: program capacity, changes in curriculum since last enrollment, and changes in admissions processes since last admission to SOE.

This policy applies to:

• Education majors who have been unenrolled in classes for at least one semester and seek to re-enter an SOE program
• Education majors who have been admitted to SOE and wish to change to a different education major (continuous enrollment or pause in enrollment)

Step 1: Students identified above complete the SOE re-entry/admissions_application

This application collects basic information on the student’s situation such as:

• Name, email address, last academic advisor
• Current/most recent education major
• Desired education major 
• SOE admission status (ie: if previously admitted to SOE)
• Last semester attended (if not continuously enrolled)
• A brief description of the reason for pausing (if not continuously enrolled)

Step 2: The Dean's Office notifies the aligned program director of the student’s application, and completes the first review of the application to determine the circumstances of the request and what factors need to be considered.

Step 3: The Dean's Office consults with program faculty/staff, the Office of Field Experience, and/or the Teacher Certification Officer/Academic Services Director to review the situation and make recommendations to the Dean concerning the re-entry/re-admission request.