Decisions: Alcohol & Other Drug Awareness

All incoming, degree-seeking undergraduate students (first year and transfer) are required to complete Decisions: Alcohol & Other Drug Awareness. Failure to complete this course will result in a hold on your academic record for registration the following semester.

UW-Madison is committed to giving students the tools to practice safer and healthier choices. Decisions: Alcohol and Other Drug Awareness provides participants with a common baseline of knowledge and awareness of alcohol issues, and strengthens a shared set of campus norms and expectations around alcohol use.

View the policy in the Undergraduate Catalogue.

If you are an incoming undergraduate (first-year or transfer) or if you are returning and will live in University Residence Halls, you are expected to complete the course. Decisions: Alcohol & Other Drug Awareness provides information about coping with others’ drinking behavior as well as responding effectively in situations where others are at risk of alcohol-related harm (e.g. alcohol poisoning, potential drinking and driving).

Exemptions may be made on a case-by-case basis for students age 25 and over.

Yes. While many students at UW-Madison do not drink, they will likely encounter other students who drink or talk about drinking. The course provides information about navigating a campus where some students drink as well as responding effectively in situations where others are at risk of alcohol-related harm (e.g. alcohol poisoning, potential drinking and driving). 

One of the purposes of the program is to provide the entire incoming class with a shared baseline of knowledge and awareness of alcohol issues, and to strengthen a shared set of campus norms and expectations around alcohol use. Even if you cannot drink, it’s very likely that during your college experience you will know others who do. Alcohol use could be a topic of discussion among classmates; the program includes material on managing peer pressure and what to do if one of your classmates drinks to the point of medical emergency.

Yes. Even though you may be of legal drinking age or have already considered your drinking behaviors, we expect you to complete the program because:

• You may learn from the program or rethink some of your attitudes and behaviors about alcohol;
• Your academics and social life may be affected by students whose drinking attitudes are less well-established than yours;
• As a new or returning student, you are responsible, as we all are, for helping maintain the health and safety of our campus.

If you completed this course at your previous college, you will need to send verification to aodprevention@uhs.wisc.edu to prove that you have completed the course. The course must be Decisions: Alcohol and Other Drug Awareness. Even if the course you took was similar, you may not use it as a substitute. If you send verification that you have previously taken this course and have taken it within one year, then you may be granted an exemption from the course.

All individual answers are kept confidential and we are unable to see how individual students answer each question. UW–Madison will be able to see the collective data of the student body, but not specific responses. Students will NOT be penalized for any answers on the survey portion of the course.

Trouble logging in to Canvas with your NetID?

• Try these steps or call the DoIt Help Desk at 608-264-HELP.

For all other technical difficulties with the course, try the following:

• Close all browser windows, and try logging into the course again.
• Use an alternate browser.
• Refresh the screen two to three times from within the course.

Email us at aodprevention@uhs.wisc.edu and start the program as soon as possible.