UWM’s student population is the second largest in the UW System. Enrollment patterns suggest that UWM is the campus of choice for many Wisconsin residents; the number of new students applying only to UWM within the UW System recently increased 18 percent. Total UWM enrollment for the fall of 2004 is 27,208. Of these, 22,655 are undergraduates and 4,554 are graduate students.
UWM is the second largest graduate degree granting institution in the state, with 3,114 master’s students, and 898 doctoral candidates as of fall 2004. UWM students have earned prestigious awards from institutions such as the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the McNair Program, and the Big Ten Consortium for Institutional Cooperation. UWM also provides internal funding for graduate students as dissertation fellows and project, research and teaching assistants. Many of UWM’s former graduate students are employed by universities and colleges, government agencies, and research institutes, and play important roles in the business sector.
Students at UWM are somewhat older than those at the usual residential campus; many are first generation college students; most are employed, and significant numbers have family responsibilities. Of the students who receive the baccalaureate degree in a typical year, fewer than 15 percent follow the “traditional model,” beginning as UWM freshmen and continuing as full-time students until graduation. Nearly half the graduates transfer to UWM during their undergraduate years.
Within the UW System, UWM plays a central role in providing academic opportunities for students of color. In the 2003-04 academic year, while UWM enrolled 16 percent of all students in the UW system, UWM’s proportion of enrollment of students of color in the system is twice that at the undergraduate level (32% of all undergraduate students of color in the UW System) and more than twice at the graduate level (37% of all graduate students of color in the system). Additionally, to the graduating class of 2002-03, UWM awarded one third (33%) of all bachelor’s degrees and more than half (52%) of all master’s degrees awarded by the UW System to African American students.
More than half of UWM’s undergraduate students come from southeastern Wisconsin and commute to campus. Most of these students find jobs in the area following graduation and enjoy an excellent reputation with local employers. Many graduates play prominent roles in the city’s business and professional life as well as serving as elected and appointed officials.
