We are so excited that you are preparing for your first year of college at UW-Madison, and we are here to support you through the transition to the university setting and experience!
CeO houses two federal TRIO programs (Student Support Services and Student Support Services-STEM) and one state program (Academic Support and Achievement Program) for students who are first-generation, meet federal income guidelines, and/or have a documented disability. Our mission is to increase access, retention, and graduation rates for students through holistic and high-touch advising and creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for you! That environment is fostered through the following programming we have developed for new first-year students like yourself:
- Early Housing Move-In students will receive guidance from Housing regarding move-in time for individual scholars; scholars who submit applications after July 1, 2021 are not guaranteed an early move-in assignment
- Mid-Late August 2022
- CeO Strategies for Success Orientation A five-day college orientation to introduce scholars to CeO, create community, and learn everything you need to know to have a successful first year on campus!
- Mid-Late August 2022
- CeO First-Year Weekly Success Series with Peer Navigators
- Thursdays from 4 to 5:30pm throughout the first year on campus. Students should hold this time on their calendars weekly and not schedule classes during this time. It’s highly encouraged that scholars build in travel time to arrive on time at 4:00 pm.
- High Impact Practice (HIP)– Each incoming first-year scholar must choose one HIP course to enroll in for their first fall semester. The following are your options:
- FIGs (First-Year Interest Groups) FIGs are clusters of (usually) three UW- Madison courses, linked together to explore a common theme, and offered to incoming first-year scholars who attend these classes together as a cohort.
- Undergraduate Research Scholars URS is dedicated to helping first- and second-year undergraduates get hands-on experience in research or other creative endeavors by working with UW faculty and research staff. Discovery – whether in the sciences, engineering, the arts, or the social sciences – is the cornerstone of our greatness as a university. Plan on taking this course for two semesters in a row.
- Residential Learning Communities Seminar Residential Learning Communities bring together faculty, staff and students around an explicit focus within the University Residence Halls. Unique seminars and class sections and aligned co-curricular activities all help produce smaller, more intentional communities that set students up for success. First-Year Scholar will need to register with the associated courses/seminars to fulfill CeO’s High Impact Practice requirement.
- CeO Selected HIP Courses – First-Year Scholars can choose between the following options:
- Asian/Counseling Psychology/Education Psychology/Psychology 120: The Art and Science of Human Flourishing
- Counseling Psychology 125: Wisconsin Experience Seminar
- Inter-HE: Belonging, Purpose, and the Ecology of Human Happiness: EcoYou
- Integrated Science 100: Exploring Biology Freshmen Seminar
- Integrated Science 140: Exploring Service In STEM
- Integrated Science 150: Exploring Research In STEM
- Integrated Science 240: Service With Youth in STEM
- Educational Psychology 506: Ctr for Educ Opportunity Psych of Forgiveness; explore a Fall 2020 syllabus
- Psychology 202: Introduction to Psychology, Lecture 010, Discussion 310 (CeO-only discussion section, 4 credits instead of 3)
- Assessments: new incoming students to CeO are required to complete the following assessments so we can better understand students’ skills and strengths and better support students’ needs. Please complete both assessments prior to the deadline (coming August 2023).