University of Wisconsin-Madison Top Questions

My overall opinion of UW-Madison is that it is a very good school that has a lot of excellent opportunities to succeed. I think the best part about the school is the advising opportunities. The career counseling that I've received here has been second to none. I feel very confident about my career prospects because of the personal, focused, and easy to access advising that I've had here. This is really nice to have, especially because the school actually is very large. The size of the school shows in some classes and not so much in others. There are very large lecture halls but also very small, personal discussion sections which help sort of everything in lecture. I've also had a few lectures in my upper level courses that were both small and taught by the professor, not the TA. Madison itself is a wonderful and unique city. It is small enough so that you can get around quite easily and recognize people wherever you go, and yet its also big enough to have a lot (and I mean A LOT) of excellent restaurants, bars, and retail establishments to suit your needs. I personally find the character of Madison to be one of the most intriguing and attractive parts of being a student here. The school spirit here is very high, and it definitely shows all year round. It runs especially high during football season, but even throughout the year students and citizens alike can be seen daily with Badger clothing and memorabilia. I think that it's a great aspect of the school and the city, and my Badger pride will definitely remain with me through my life. Of all the things that I do like, there are a few things I'd change. First, it would be the class registration system. I'm not sure about how other schools do it, but the process for registering and scheduling classes here has been somewhat frustrating. With some many students, classes tend to fill up quickly, and even as a senior registering very early I was prevented from registering in a class because of high demand. Overall though, I think that UW-Madison is a wonderful place to get an education. Academically, it is among the elite and culturally there is nothing like it. I don't think there are many schools out there that can compare with the great combination of these two qualities.

My overall opinion of UW-Madison is that it is a very good school that has a lot of excellent opportunities to succeed. I think the best part about the school is the advising opportunities. The career counseling that I've received here has been second to none. I feel very confident about my career prospects because of the personal, focused, and easy to access advising that I've had here. This is really nice to have, especially because the school actually is very large. The size of the school shows in some classes and not so much in others. There are very large lecture halls but also very small, personal discussion sections which help sort of everything in lecture. I've also had a few lectures in my upper level courses that were both small and taught by the professor, not the TA. Madison itself is a wonderful and unique city. It is small enough so that you can get around quite easily and recognize people wherever you go, and yet its also big enough to have a lot (and I mean A LOT) of excellent restaurants, bars, and retail establishments to suit your needs. I personally find the character of Madison to be one of the most intriguing and attractive parts of being a student here. The school spirit here is very high, and it definitely shows all year round. It runs especially high during football season, but even throughout the year students and citizens alike can be seen daily with Badger clothing and memorabilia. I think that it's a great aspect of the school and the city, and my Badger pride will definitely remain with me through my life. Of all the things that I do like, there are a few things I'd change. First, it would be the class registration system. I'm not sure about how other schools do it, but the process for registering and scheduling classes here has been somewhat frustrating. With some many students, classes tend to fill up quickly, and even as a senior registering very early I was prevented from registering in a class because of high demand. Overall though, I think that UW-Madison is a wonderful place to get an education. Academically, it is among the elite and culturally there is nothing like it. I don't think there are many schools out there that can compare with the great combination of these two qualities.

Wisconsin is the most beautiful campus, with it's lake view, Capitol, State Street, Bascom Hill, and many more attributes. It's a large school but by joining clubs and activities you can make it as small as you'd like. It's a college town surrounding the capital of Wisconsin, so there is always so much to do. People are so proud to be students at UW, just look anywhere on campus on a football game day, and all you'll see is red.

Overall opinion of Madison= incredible. The school pride that you feel from the beginning of welcome week until late into your years as a Badger alumni never fades. Badgers love being Badgers, and they aren't afraid to let people know. Also, prospective employers and post-bacc admissions committees (dental schools, medical schools, PhD programs, etc) recognize the tradition of excellence and high standards that are maintained on campus, and seek UW graduates for their humility, work ethic, and intelligence. If you like big schools and big opportunities, this is the place for you. That being said, if you desire close relationships with all your professors and an intimate feeling among the student body, UW is probably not the place for you. You absolutely have the opportunity to form close relationships with both peers and profs, but the sheer size of the student body ensures that you won't be able to be in close contact with everyone around campus. The amount of students and the diversity among them allows you to have almost any type of experience you can imagine- from doing research in a neurosurgery lab, to running a committee on student government, to taking break dancing lessons, to learning how to sail and snowboard for next to no money, to becoming a mac and cheese conneisseur in the Cheese Club- if you're interested in it, chances are good that you'll find some great friends who are interested in it too.

I was tempted not to answer this question. It seems too easy and obvious - being here in Madison HAS given me access to the opportunities that I wouldn't have elsewhere, and I could gush about just how wonderful it is to live in such an open and accepting city. I can also, however, speak accurately to the deficiencies here. The largest and most significant one is size. While many, including myself, view this as often being a positive attribute, Madison doesn't cushion the transition that people like myself (Hometown of pop. 450) experience, especially when moving into the Southeastern dorms. Witte was bigger than my town. It's easy to get lost in that, and for those unable or unwilling to reach out and make friends can see a pretty rough year in front of them. Granted, this all did work out well for me, as my floor bonded like a family, and they now comprise most of my closest friends. Thus, I can't ACTUALLY get away from praising this school. Oh well, I guess that's not a bad thing.

Let's get into it: Wisconsin. Cheese. Beer. Brats. BADGERS. These things were all a bit strange to me. I come from southwest Florida, so the whole cold thing was a shock too. The best thing about this school, hands down, is the academics. UW was recently ranked

Campus Itself: Very large, but not hard to get around. Frequent bus loops help for classes that are far away. Lots of green space on Bascom Hill to bum around on in nice weather. Everything is reasonably well marked, so it's not hard to get around. Pedestrian traffic is very heavy, but is manageable after you get used to it. Campus Area: Lots of liquor stores and dive bars, and not much else. There are no 24-hour food places, dance clubs, hangout places, or anything of the like. State Street is nice, but it gets boring after a while. Redeeming quality - absolutely amazing ethnic food of almost every variety. City itself: boring. The campus pretty much is the city. There are no dance clubs or any other venues besides dive bars anywhere near campus (and not much of anything anywhere). Movie theaters/shopping/etc. are available only at the malls out toward the suburbs, which are all an hour bus ride away. If you don't have a car, it's difficult to get anywhere, but it's almost impossible to keep a car... Administration: Horrendous. The bureaucracy is endless and makes everything difficult. Much of the staff in the dean's office/advisers/etc. are underqualified and not very helpful or sympathetic. I had problems with a sexist adviser who told me to take the wrong classes. A friend of mine has left the dean's office crying twice. Any change you want to make academically requires tons of paperwork, and the computer system often has mistakes. The school's website is poorly designed and hard to use. Don't declare your major until you're absolutely sure... Student body: You can probably find a few of any kind of person you could dream up since the school is so big, but the vast majority of the student population is made up of drunks that don't care about school because they're not paying for it. Virtually no activism or organizing outside of polemic political and religious groups. Campus is not nearly as "liberal" as people seem to think. I have been openly criticized for not only my sexuality, but also my hair color. Yes, my hair color. Greek: I'm a member of Alpha Chi Sigma, a co-ed professional chemistry fraternity, and there are several sororities and fraternities active on campus, however, greek life is not really a huge part of UW culture. School Pride: Tons of it! Just watch a Badger football game and you get the picture immediately. Football Saturdays are practically a religious holiday, and most sports are widely followed and supported.

Wisconsin is a big university housed in a very small world. The college is like its own town inside of madison and you are always running into people you know. It is a party school but there are many more relaxed and easy going places and people on campus like by the lakeshore area dorms. I love spending my free time roaming from free seminars, cheap concerts, free movies, clubs, events, the ratheskeller, and the all too affordable mini-courses. Opportunities are endless. Its awkward going from a small high school with zero school pride and no athletic teams to Madison where school pride is in your face and football games are mini-holidays but it is an experience worth being part of. Wisconsin will make you feel proud of your school and your fellow students will make you feel proud to be there. The advisors aren't always pleasant to students, especially underclassmen so don't be discouraged by their uninterest, the professors however, have been, on the whole, unusually approachable for help despite the heavy use of TA's and large class sizes in introductory courses at madison, which can really make your experience easier if you make the effort to ask.

My favorite part about Wisconsin is the school spirit and the location. While it may be freezing cold for a good chunk of the school year, it is absolutely amazing to sit on the Terrace and look out onto Lake Mendota. Or to just sit on Bascom Hill and read. And being in the capital just adds to the amazing location. The school spirit is amazing, I absolutely love Saturdays in the fall, people tailgaiting and walking around Madison showing off their Wisconsin pride. Because Wisconsin is a public school that has 40,000 students, people may say it's too large, but you can make it as small or large as you want. The campus itself is pretty compact for it's size with most of the buildings in one main area. I would say the biggest complaint is about snow clean-up. Madison is not new to snow, and because of that one would assume that they would have a grasp on how to take care of the campus when there are heavy snowstorms. But no, you could walk to class in a foot of snow or sometimes skate to class. And to go along with that, they never cancel class for snow. Fine, don't cancel class for snow, but at least make it manageable to get to class in the snow!

The majority of students that I have met on campus are very driven to do well in their classes and it really helps to create a sense of personal responsibility and desire to excel. However, this also can be rather competitive. I would say the main drawback of the UW is the large size (Meeting people and never seeing them again is a regular occurrence, and is somewhat emotionally difficult)