Top Classes

The number one class overall is Music in Performance, with nearly 46,000 students cumulatively in the last 15 years. Jeff Miller

If you want to be a Badger, then come along to enrollment and sign up for these classes. Over the last 15 years, they’re the ones that the most UW–Madison students have taken — or, in the case of Organic Chemistry, the one that UW–Madison students have taken the most times. (Keep trying — you’ll improve that F to a D eventually.) We looked at academic planning data from 2011 to 2025, and what we found was a lot of consistency. Most of these courses have been in or near the UW’s top 10 every year. The number one class overall is Music in Performance, with nearly 46,000 students cumulatively in those 15 years. Its most popular individual year was 2019–20, when some 4,252 students enrolled.

2021

1. Music in Performance 4,210
2. General Chemistry 1 3,055
3. Introduction to Psychology 2,921
4. Principles of Microeconomics 2,725
5. Calc. and Analytic Geometry 1 2,494
6. Intro to College Composition 2,315

2025

1. Music in Performance 3,862
2. General Chemistry 1 3,046
3. Principles of Microeconomics 2,654
4. Introduction to Psychology 2,625
5. Introduction to College Comp. 2,436
6. Calc. and Analytic Geometry 2 2,362

2011

1. Principles of Microeconomics 2,831
2. Introduction to Psychology 2,655
3. General Chemistry 1 2,463
4. General Chemistry 2 2,017
5. Nutrition Today 1,845
6. Animal Biology 1,823

2015

1. General Chemistry 1 2,901
2. Introduction to Psychology 2,510
3. Principles of Microeconomics 2,485
4. General Chemistry 2 2,472
5. Calc. — Functions of Several Variables 1,984
6. Organic Chemistry 1 1,962

2018

1. Music in Performance 4,061
2. Introduction to Psychology 2,866
3. General Chemsitry 1 2,851
4. Principles of Microeconomics 2,642
5. General Chemistry 2 2,365
6. Calc. and Analytic Geometry 1 2,110

Published in the Summer 2026 issue