University of Wisconsin-Madison Top Questions

The school is large, some of the classes are large but you get some attention in discussion sections, which are typically less than 20 students. There is no doubt that this university is tough. One thing to take into account that advising is basically on your own and if you do get advice it is often etiher from a student or skewed to get you to stay in school longer.

As in any large research university, there are those professors who are clearly more invested in their own research and academic pursuits than actually teaching effectively. I found that it was generally better to base class choices off of a professor's reputation rather than the subject of the course. I studied history and sociology and had a much better experience in both of these majors once I was able to take smaller classes and seminars. However, some of my best classes were somewhat large lectures, and again, this was because of stellar professors. Though Wisconsin has the party school rep, you can find students studying at all times of day and night, and some of my best memories are of late nights spent studying (and not studying) with my friends. Three professors I would recommend are Florencia Mallon, Bill Cronon, and Erik Olin Wright.

amazing academics. I am in the business school and it is a top notch program

hate them.

Professors all know my name, faviorete class is intro to Islam, least fav. Econ 101

---until upper level classes you dont really work with professors, just the TA's. ---i though that when i came to college there would be nothing but intelligent conversation...but people talk about meaningless stuff more than politics and world issues. i think it depends on who you hang out with but in general i would say that its not much different than high school. ---class participation is about 50/50 and it depends on the people ---some people study constantly but most people can balance fun, studying and activities

Professors, by no fault of their own, tend not to know they're students' names. This is because of the large size of most of the classes. On the flipside of that, every TA that I have had has gotten to know my name, and a little about me, due to the small size of the discussion sections. Students vary greatly in their studying. Some study a lot and do well, some study a lot and do poorly. Some student little and do well, and yes, some study a little and do very badly! Intellectual conversations don't tend to dominate the outside the classroom talk, and students are not as competitive with each other as say, University of Michigan. I think that the education at Wisconsin is very much skewed towards learning for its own sake, which makes it advisable to join a career oriented club.

If you want professors to know your name they will. Favorite class is Italian. Least was econ 101 and chem 103 because the professors were so bad. Class participation is greater is smaller sized classrooms. In most lectures people are to shy to speak out a lot but in discussions everyone does. We have intellectual conversations outside of class... my friend always relates chem to the real world. Wisconsin's education is geared towards both, getting a job and learning for its own sake.

Of course, not every professor is amazing. They will take the time to know your name, and student/professor relationships can be very close, depending on the class size.

No, the professors don't know my name, but my TA's do. I study during midterm weeks but otherwise school is pretty laid back. It is a great school though.