DARS (Degree Audit Reporting System) is used to audit the progress of most undergraduate degree programs, undergraduate majors, undergraduate certificates, and capstone certificates. Graduate programs do not use DARS. DARS is a tool used to help advise enrollment and degree requirements. A DARS report shows all the requirements for completing a degree and, against courses that are planned or completed, indicates which requirements have been met and which are still needed.
Students can also request DARS for programs, majors, or certificates that they have not declared. These reports are called ‘What if’ reports. A what-if report is an excellent way to determine how a student’s course work would complete requirements of another program.
DARS reports can be requested for a single major or certificate. Students cannot combine multiple majors and/or certificates into one DARS report.
For help reading and interpreting a DARS report as it pertains to a specific undergraduate degree, undergraduate major, undergraduate certificate or capstone certificate, please contact your academic advisor. Graduate programs do not use DARS. For more information regarding all graduate programs, view the Graduate Guide. Some graduate programs have GSTS (Graduate Student Tracking System) reports. Students can get additional information about GSTS.
Resources
DARS for Students
Accessing DARS
Students can request and review their Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) report in the Course Search & Enroll app or Student Center via My UW.
For help reading and interpreting a DARS report as it pertains to a specific degree, major or certificate and coursework, please contact your academic advisor.
DARS for Faculty and Staff
UW-Madison provides all advisors with the most essential advising tool for academic advising – a degree audit. Degree audits are processed by the Degree Audit Reporting System or DARS – a dynamic, flexible, and powerful web-based software program. DARS also allows any advisor or other academic official to audit the academic progress of an individual student or a cohort of students (DARS batch).
Note: Anyone without a student role trying to use the DARS page within Course Search & Enroll will encounter an error. The API only serves student data and isn’t intended to be operational for Advisors, Faculty, or Staff.
Getting Started
DARS Logon:
Log on to DARS Web to request and review reports.
DARS Authorization Form:
To start using DARS, complete the authorization form and follow the instructions for submission.
FAQs (Faculty and Staff)
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I've submitted my request, why aren't the audits populated?
What processing option did you choose?: Overnight processing will populate the audits the next morning. If you chose the Upon Release of Administrator processing option, you will need to contact your DARS administrator. You can monitor the status of your request on the Recent Requests Summary page, and it does take a few moments to run the batch.