University of Wisconsin–Madison

1. 1 Your gen-eds are not your RA's gen-eds

   If you first enrolled in college in Summer 2026 or later, you are on a set of general education requirements that did not exist a year ago. The Core GenEd applies to "students who first enrolled at UW–Madison or any other institution of higher education in Summer 2026 or later", and it is a fixed shape: "a total of 30 credits from 10 courses across 6 categories" — Civics & Perspectives (3 credits), Communication & Literacy (6), Humanities & Arts (6), Mathematics & Quantitative Reasoning (6), Natural Science & Wellness including one lab course (6), and Social & Behavioral Science (3). "A course can only have one Core GenEd attribute." Everyone who got here before you is on the old list: "Communication-A: 3", "Communication-B: 3+", "Ethnic Studies: 3", "Quantitative Reasoning A: 3", "Quantitative Reasoning B: 3+", plus breadth in natural science, humanities and social studies. That is the list your RA, your orientation leader and every Reddit thread will tell you to knock out early — and none of those categories exist for you. Two details that matter in week one. A qualifying English placement score lets you swap "3 of the 6 required credits in the Communication & Literacy category with 3 credits of any Core GenEd coursework", and a qualifying math score does the same in Math & Quantitative Reasoning — but placement scores "do not award degree credit", so they change what you take, not how many credits you need. Run your DARS audit, not a friend's.

   General Education — Summer 2026 and later: Core GenEd General Education — before Summer 2026 (the old requirements)
2. 2 Pass/fail: a D is a fail

   The policy, UW-1012: "S (Satisfactory) will be recorded when a letter grade of A through C is earned and a failing grade of U (Unsatisfactory) will be recorded when a letter grade of D or F is earned." The registrar's version is blunter: "The D grade is unsatisfactory for Pass/Fail Courses." A D that would have earned credit on a letter grade earns nothing on pass/fail. The limits: "one non-required course on a pass/fail basis each fall and spring semester and/or each summer term for a maximum of 16 credits total during their undergraduate careers", and you "must be in good academic standing" to elect it. Letters & Science lists what can never be pass/fail: "Required courses for a major(s), including requisite courses", General Education, "L&S Breadth," "L&S Language," "L&S Mathematics", and directed study or a senior thesis. S and U grades "are not used in computing the student's grade-point average." And it is a one-way door. Fall 2026's deadline to request pass/fail is September 25, and "After the deadline has passed, requests for the Pass/Fail Grading Option cannot be approved, removed, canceled, or reverted to an A–F grade." So use it on a true elective you might scrape a C in, never on a class you might D.

   UW Policy Library — UW-1012, pass/fail grading option Registrar — pass/fail option L&S — pass/fail rules and exclusions Registrar — dates and deadlines
3. 3 Unused meals vanish every Sunday

   University Housing: "All residents living in University Residence Halls in the academic year are required to select a dining plan." Every plan is a weekly count — "Unused meals expire at the end of the week and do not carry over to the next week." The week runs Sunday through Saturday and the balance renews "every Sunday at 12:00 am." Ten meals on a Go10 means ten by Saturday night, not ten whenever. Then the default: "If students don't select a plan by their deadline, they will automatically be given the Go10 option." For 2026-27 that is "$2,100" a semester ($4,200 a year) for 10 meals a week and "$100 per semester" in Flex Dining Dollars, no guest meals. Go14 is $2,350 a semester with $150 flex and three guest meals; GoUnlimited is $2,950 with $300 flex. Housing bills "each semester for the dining plan they chose" — or the one they were handed. What does carry over: "Flex Dining Dollars for the 2026-27 academic year carry over throughout your time at UW-Madison." Meal swipes work "only" in the Housing dining markets (Carson's, Four Lakes, Gordon Avenue, Liz's, Rheta's); at Babcock Dairy and the Unions a swipe becomes a "$5 credit". Count your real week before you pick a tier.

   University Housing — resident dining plans University Housing — 2026-27 billing and rates Wiscard — dining plans
4. 4 Week two drops go on your transcript

   The Fall 2026 dates from the registrar: instruction began September 2. September 9 was the "Deadline for students to drop (a) course(s) or withdraw from the university and not have the course(s) appear on their transcript." September 11 is the "Deadline for students to add, swap, or change sections in a fall term course without needing department permission." Read those together: the add window closes two days after the clean-drop window, so the natural move — try a class for a week and a half, then swap out — leaves a mark. The mark is a DR. Letters & Science says it goes on the record "for drops approved after the 'DR/W Notation Deadline'" and that it is "a neutral grade and is not factored into a student's GPA. It does not communicate failure or irresponsibility — it reflects that a student made a choice to discontinue a course." It is also permanent: "L&S does not backdate drops to remove this notation for cosmetic purposes." Pre-med, pre-law and grad-school applicants are told to "review current guidance" with their advising center. The rest of the calendar: November 23 is the last day to drop "without needing academic dean approval"; the last day of classes is December 9. After the deadline a late drop needs documentation of "unforeseen nonacademic circumstances" and is accepted "up to one year following the term of enrollment." So the real decision date on every fall class is September 9 — day seven.

   Registrar — Fall 2026 dates and deadlines L&S — dropping a course and the DR notation
5. 5 Upload your textbook. Then ask it questions.

   Attach a PDF — a textbook chapter, a lecture deck, a reading, a problem set — and ask Gus about it in plain language. It reads the file, indexes it against the rest of that course's materials, and answers from the page rather than from the internet. It is not only a lookup tool. Ask it to tutor you through something that has not clicked, to quiz you on the key concepts, or to read your draft and tell you what is weak. Because it is scoped to one course, "what is actually on our reading list" is a question it can answer. And it is still the same app that pulls every deadline out of your syllabi and records your lectures. The chat just knows about all of it.

   Try Gus free

One more thing