Thoughts on U. Wisc. Madison (for out of state student)

[Anonymous]

I grew up on the East Coast and went to a private college. I always thought that East Coast colleges were the best. My SO went to UW Madison and when I visited I was truly amazed at all the opportunities that a student has in Madison. The vibe just seemed very open and accepting and people seemed very happy. UW has a party school reputation because there are many big inclusive events like tailgating during football, block parties and the Halloween party but there seemed to be so many other things to do around campus and Madison that if you didn't drink no one would care and you would never be bored. My SO and friends that graduated from UW are doing well for themselves and live all over the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not equal to U-Michigan or UVA for prestige, but it is a great school, and the town of Madison, WI is truly beautiful. A lot like Ann Arbor, MI, actually, but prettier.

UVA may be considered more prestigious with college rankings but UW Madison has a more diverse social scene and less Greek influence. Madison is not lacking for anything for any type of college student. So much right on your doorstep in Madison and great academics. Any type of student can fit in and be happy.

UVA definitely has much more prestige in this region, but not in the Midwest where UVA is not at all well known. I think the schools have comparable reputations in NYC, but Wisconsin has a far larger Alum base.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up on the East Coast and went to a private college. I always thought that East Coast colleges were the best. My SO went to UW Madison and when I visited I was truly amazed at all the opportunities that a student has in Madison. The vibe just seemed very open and accepting and people seemed very happy. UW has a party school reputation because there are many big inclusive events like tailgating during football, block parties and the Halloween party but there seemed to be so many other things to do around campus and Madison that if you didn't drink no one would care and you would never be bored. My SO and friends that graduated from UW are doing well for themselves and live all over the US.

As you travel around the country, you'll find that people seem happier almost everywhere outside the East Coast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not equal to U-Michigan or UVA for prestige, but it is a great school, and the town of Madison, WI is truly beautiful. A lot like Ann Arbor, MI, actually, but prettier.

UVA may be considered more prestigious with college rankings but UW Madison has a more diverse social scene and less Greek influence. Madison is not lacking for anything for any type of college student. So much right on your doorstep in Madison and great academics. Any type of student can fit in and be happy.

UVA definitely has much more prestige in this region, but not in the Midwest where UVA is not at all well known. I think the schools have comparable reputations in NYC, but Wisconsin has a far larger Alum base.

BS...there are a hell of a lot more UVA grads in front office wall-street positions or strategy consulting positions than UW-Madison alums.

[Anonymous]

So how do the Midwesterners treat the kid from Bethesada or McLean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does it compare to Indiana University or university of Illinois?

Very favorably in all the academic measures quantified by national lists (US news being the most infamous of this type)

Not on the radar of the Whitman crowd though. Indiana sounds "Midwestern."' Madison evokes lakes and adorableness and not farming -- so it is acceptable to people from the east coast, and in particular, Jews and self-described intellectual parents. That's not an anti-Semitic swipe: try an experiment today. Ask a practicing Jewish parent which school they'd pick for their teen, Ohio State or UWisc? Uillinois or UWisc? UKansas or UWisc? Even U Minnesota vs U Wisconsin, and they're about two feet away from each other and "ranked" about the same.

This experiment would probably work with any parents in Bethesda and Ward 3, of any faith. For some reason, Wisconsin gets a pass on the "flyover country farm boy hicks evangelical" perception. Maybe it's the lakes and the fact that there is a sailing team. Hm.

UIUC (Illinois flagship main campus) is def on the radar more with tj or any of the crowd you mentioned if the kid is CS/tech oriented compared to UW-M.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how do the Midwesterners treat the kid from Bethesada or McLean?

Us Midwesterners are nice and accepting folk. They are accepted just fine.

Madison is gorgeous and a great college town. Typically the middle type of kids go there. Not super smart (they head to Ann Arbor or UofI engineering) but still bright kids. Iowa is great too. Iowa City is very similar to Madison. Though it was just ranked as the top party school so I bet things will be changing there.

Indiana, Ohio State, Iowa State, Minnesota-- less prestige than Madison and way, way below Michigan or UofI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how do the Midwesterners treat the kid from Bethesada or McLean?

It is a big school with many students from Wisconsin, Minneapolis area, Chicago area. But there are also many students from both the East and West Coasts and International. There is no one type of student. There are preppy people, jocks, hipsters, etc and people don't really stereotype as much. If you are a good student and open to meeting people you can fit in easily. Going to school in Madison is the middle ground between a rural college that is isolated and going to school in the middle of NYC. Anyone can fit in and find friends and academic opportunities. My school(private East Coast) was much more isolated, preppy, laxbro drinking culture (yes, I am stereotyping my own school- not everyone was like that and I liked my school ok). But it seems my SO had a much better experience because there was no one type of person at UW. Just hardworking fun college students with less hangups. I think the mindset in the Midwest is that if you are open to them, they are open to you.

[Anonymous]

"Typically the middle type of kids go there. Not super smart (they head to Ann Arbor or UofI engineering) but still bright kids."

In a school the size of Wisconsin, it's just not accurate to say that "super smart" kids don't go there. In fact (from UW website) re: the 2013 Academic Ranking of World Universities:

For the third year in a row, UW-Madison was ranked 19th among world universities in the annual Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) by Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University.

UW-Madison is one of only six American public universities to place in the top 20 and the highest in the Big Ten. The University of Michigan ranked 23rd.

Rankings are based upon alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, research performance, highly cited researchers and papers published in Nature and Science, articles indexed in Thomson Reuters’ Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index, and per capita performance based on the size of an institution.

[Anonymous]

PP here. Also if you meet one group of friends and that doesn't work out it doesn't matter because you will be constantly meeting new people. When my SO moved to DC, they were still meeting people who had been at UW Madison at the same time but didn't meet until DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not equal to U-Michigan or UVA for prestige, but it is a great school, and the town of Madison, WI is truly beautiful. A lot like Ann Arbor, MI, actually, but prettier.

UVA may be considered more prestigious with college rankings but UW Madison has a more diverse social scene and less Greek influence. Madison is not lacking for anything for any type of college student. So much right on your doorstep in Madison and great academics. Any type of student can fit in and be happy.

UVA definitely has much more prestige in this region, but not in the Midwest where UVA is not at all well known. I think the schools have comparable reputations in NYC, but Wisconsin has a far larger Alum base.

BS...there are a hell of a lot more UVA grads in front office wall-street positions or strategy consulting positions than UW-Madison alums.

Not true - you are talking out of your rear end

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does it compare to Indiana University or university of Illinois?

Very favorably in all the academic measures quantified by national lists (US news being the most infamous of this type)

Not on the radar of the Whitman crowd though. Indiana sounds "Midwestern."' Madison evokes lakes and adorableness and not farming -- so it is acceptable to people from the east coast, and in particular, Jews and self-described intellectual parents. That's not an anti-Semitic swipe: try an experiment today. Ask a practicing Jewish parent which school they'd pick for their teen, Ohio State or UWisc? Uillinois or UWisc? UKansas or UWisc? Even U Minnesota vs U Wisconsin, and they're about two feet away from each other and "ranked" about the same.

This experiment would probably work with any parents in Bethesda and Ward 3, of any faith. For some reason, Wisconsin gets a pass on the "flyover country farm boy hicks evangelical" perception. Maybe it's the lakes and the fact that there is a sailing team. Hm.

Indiana is more politically conservative and attracts more business majors, although they also have great programs in journalism, music and public administration. Wisconsin is known more for the social sciences. Both Madison and Bloomington (IN) are great college towns.

[Anonymous]

Can someone with knowledge, non-snarkily compare/contrast UW-M, U Illinois and U Indiana? (Because I can admit here that I couldn't tell them apart on a map or on game day but DS is starting to show some interest in these colleges). Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone with knowledge, non-snarkily compare/contrast UW-M, U Illinois and U Indiana? (Because I can admit here that I couldn't tell them apart on a map or on game day but DS is starting to show some interest in these colleges). Thanks.

A PP here. What do you want to know? All of them are giant state schools. UW-M and U Illinois would be top twenty in the state school ranking. Indiana would be top 50 or so. In comparison UVA and Michigan will be top 10 schools.

Campuses are very different. Madison is the nicest in my opinion. However depending in what your kid wants to study different programs are better at different schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone with knowledge, non-snarkily compare/contrast UW-M, U Illinois and U Indiana? (Because I can admit here that I couldn't tell them apart on a map or on game day but DS is starting to show some interest in these colleges). Thanks.

Illinois has a very strong engineering program, especially EE

Indiana is among the best in the nation in music

In every other respect UW-Madison is in a very different class. UW Madison is ranked higher both as an undergraduate institution (which should be your child's main interest at this point) and as a world class research institution (important for some grad programs). Madison, WI consistently ranks at or near the top for quality of life (the main negative being the winter cold). Wisconsin is far more progressive than any other Midwest state - Milwaukee was the center of the American Socialist movement and Madison was the birthplace of the Progressive Party (La Follette). The UW Madison campus was second only to Cal Berkley in anti-War protests. UW-Madison is among the top 10 in the nation in terms of population of Jewish students and I think you'd be hard pressed to find an evangelical on campus.

In total, I'd say Illinois is quite different and Indiana is a "poor man's" Wisconsin.