Meredith
An overwhelming percentage of students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are school athletes, involved in club or intramural sports or runners. I always seem to notice how healthy and in shape our campus is. Other than being physically active, students at UW-Madison are extremely involved in campus and other off-campus activities. Since we are fortunate enough to have the State Capitol blocks away from our campus, many students are interns or are involved with the Capitol. Personally, I am a communications intern for a senator. On campus, our student government, two student run newspapers and many major orientated clubs keep our students busy. Just a few of my roommates are involved in activities such as Psychology Club, a women's sexual health and abuse prevention organization called PAVE and The Badger Herald.
Jess
Madison is generally known as a party school, and as one that has tough classes. I'd say that these stereotypes are pretty accurate - there is a large party scene, and some classes are really, really hard. I'd say that another stereotype is that Madison is very liberal, and that is extremely true. It's pretty political here, considering that the Capitol is a couple blocks away from the campus.
Rayna
The biggest stereotype at UW-M is Coasties. This term mainly applies to kids from New York and California, but also sometimes to people from Chicago. Coastie style staples are Uggs and black leggings. There's even a popular Youtube video called The Coastie Song. The opposite of Coasties are Sconnies- people from Wisconsin who are more traditional midwest.
Rayna
The biggest stereotype at UW-M is Coasties. This term mainly applies to kids from New York and California, but also sometimes to people from Chicago. Coastie style staples are Uggs and black leggings. There's even a popular Youtube video called The Coastie Song.
Laura
University of Wisconsin-Madison students are known to be the brains. We go to class, we are at college library every night and we are always stressed out, but this is only lasts Monday through Thursday. Once Thursday night hits we are buying cheap long Island ice teas at The Plaza and forgetting our worries. And what's the best hangover cure after a hard weekend of partying? The library.
Brooke
Madison students have a very big work hard, play hard mindset. Whether or not we belong to a certain community (Greek life, student government, other clubs, etc.) most students work hard to do their work and get the best grades possible, but they also know how to have fun on the weekends. Badger sports games are the perfect example: students work hard all week to be able to party at the sporting events which are a big part of Badger culture.
There are always going to be students who do not like to party or who do not like to study. Of course Wisconsin has students like that too. Students at UW-Madison are just normal kids and there is a place for everyone whether you want to party every night, just party on weekends, or not party at all. I have not found the Madison community to be judgmental of anyone's person preferences.
One other stereotype that is less prevalent is the divide between in-state and out-of-state students (Sconnies and Coasties). Many students who live in private housing freshman year and participate in Greek life are out-of-state students. While this is not exclusive, it does tend to be true and sometimes it creates a divide between the students. I am an out-of-state student but I lived in the public dorms freshman year and it has been my experience that this divide only exists if you let it exist. I have friends from Wisconsin and all over the country and I think being exposed to people from all over the country and the world can enhance your college experience.
Brooke
Madison students have a very big work hard, play hard mindset. Whether or not we belong to a certain community (Greek life, student government, other clubs, etc.) most students work hard to do their work and get the best grades possible, but they also know how to have fun on the weekends. Badger sports games are the perfect example: students work hard all week to be able to party at the sporting events which are a big part of Badger culture.
Kathryn
Within the University of Wisconsin - Madison, there are two main types of stereotypes for students: cheeseheads and coasties. Cheeseheads are from almost anywhere in Wisconsin but consist of the following traits: they love their cheese, Badgers, football, Packers, and they love to drink. For those of us in Wisconsin, it's common knowledge that every town has more bars than churches with Wisconsin cities having the most bars per capita in the entire country. The stereotype of cheeseheads drinking then can be seen as representative of Wisconsin on the whole but is not necessarily true. While plenty of students on campus drink, just like any other school, there are only a small minority that drink to excess. The other common stereotype at UW Madison is that of a coastie. Coasties are regarded as upper class, sorority girls from the East Coast who wear leggings, Uggs, and who do not pay for their education. This stereotype is regarded as slightly more negative than the Cheesehead stereotype but is one that the general campus body still accepts. If you want to know more about a Coastie, just check out this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw9ODIZj40w
Kathryn
Within the University of Wisconsin - Madison, there are two main types of stereotypes for students: cheeseheads and coasties. Cheeseheads are from almost anywhere in Wisconsin but consist of the following traits: they love their cheese, Badgers, football, Packers, and they love to drink. For those of us in Wisconsin, it's common knowledge that every town has more bars than churches with Wisconsin cities having the most bars per capita in the entire country. The stereotype of cheeseheads drinking then can be seen as representative of Wisconsin on the whole but is not necessarily true. While plenty of students on campus drink, just like any other school, there are only a small minority that drink to excess. The other common stereotype at UW Madison is that of a coastie. Coasties are regarded as upper class, sorority girls from the East Coast who wear leggings, Uggs, and who do not pay for their education. This stereotype is regarded as slightly more negative than the Cheesehead stereotype but is one that the general campus body still accepts. If you want to know more about a Coastie, just check out this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw9ODIZj40w
Matt
In a school of 45,000 students it is more than impossible to apply a stereotype to the student body as a whole. Maybe the one defining and uniting characteristic of all Wisconsin students is that we work hard, and play harder. Wisconsin is undoubtedly the hardest partying cold-weather school in the nation. However, I truly mean it when I say we work hard, whether it's a credit to our inferiority complex towards Michigan our admissions board, no one can say. The prevailing stereotype is that of the Sconnies. As a non-Sconnie who associates with mostly Sconnies, I can say these are the down to earth people on campus. Humble kids who like to drink and work their asses off. I would fit into the next big stereotype, that of the Coastie, or anyone from the East or West Coast. Most of us are Jewish, and even the ones that aren't are pretty wealthy and exclusive. If you like people from Long Island, then this your crew, just be careful what you wish for. Other than those two distinctions, the size of the student body allows for all walks of people, this campus is truly a microcosm of society.