University of Wisconsin-Madison Top Questions

Party hard. Truth is, we work hard and play hard (possibly just a bit harder). We work 20 times harder during the week so we can party 50 times harder on the weekend. We don't get nearly enough credit for our academics and how hard each student works here. To get an "A" here requires an insane amount of time, effort, and energy. To even stay in school is no easy task. But we make up for our academic stresses by letting loose on the weekend and we get branded as mindless party freaks because of it.

A common stereotype is that UW-Madison is a big party school. Although people do party a lot, they take studying very seriously. Madison truly has something for everyone; people come from all backgrounds with different interests--everyone fits in!

One of the most common stereotypes at UW-Madison is the not so nice reputations of "Coasties". This label is given to most people that did not grow up in the midwest and are from either the east or west coast. They are stereotyped as rich and privileged and not as communicably intelligent. Most coasties have an image; north face, ugg boots, coach bag,etc. and have a specific dialect commonly including "like" way too often. Although they may be pretty smart, they do not sound like it. Other stereotypes include the average freshman, sorority girls (many are coasties), and the people that party way more than they should but that includes many madisonites.

The stereotype is that we are crazy party animals who are extremely smart, and this is very true.

There is a large stereotype around drinking. Not everyone drinks but a large amount of people do. But not large enough where as you would feel pressured to drink or unable to find friends that don't drink.

At UW Madison, there is a vast amount of stereotypes of students that can fit almost any student profile. UW Madison takes pride in its overwhelming amount of diversity among students and staff on campus, and while many stereotypes exist, it is easy for almost any prospective student to find their niche. As a leading university in research, Madison has so many brainy overachieving students in almost every field you can think of. Also being a Division 1, Big Ten school, athletics are very important, and you can easily spot the many athletes on campus. Madison has a very large Greek community with several fraternities and sororities, and many of the students can apply to the "coastie" stereotype of a privileged student from either the west or east coast. This is by no means a negative description of certain students, just a recitation of what a common profile for Greek students can be; there are also many branches of the Greek community that attract a wide and diverse range of students as well. Since Madison is known as a liberal city/ college town, many students are passionate about politics and environmental initiatives, and some can even apply to a sort of "hipster" stereotype. While many of these stereotypes are targeted at specific groups of students, there are still so many other types of students that portray others stereotypes at such a large and diverse university.

The stereotype of Madison students is that they are super hard partiers. This is somewhat true, but it's hard to generalize when your campus has 40,000+ students. If I had to characterize the average Madison student, I would say that they study hard during the week and party hard on the weekends.

UW-Madison students have a work-hard, play-hard reputation. Some may only be aware of the play-hard (aka Party School) aspect, but there is much, much more to this school! As a public institution with 40,000+ students, the opportunities are endless for those who apply themselves. That being said, we all know how to take a break and have some good fun, and that makes the hard work all the more enjoyable.

Frat kids who LOVE to party! This stereotype stems from UW-Madison's long-time reputation as a "party school". I have not found this to be very accurate, especially during my sophomore year. In fact, the Princeton Review's "Top Twenty Party Schools" list for the 2011-2012 year does not even list Madison on the top schools as it has in the past. I'm not going to lie, there are a lot of kids who like to party, as can be expected at any Big 10 school, especially one with a great football team. But as someone who is not into the extreme party scene, I have found the university to contain many intellectual and interesting avenues for a good time. Most of the students here take their education and life experience very seriously.