<p>Parent of a freshman (from Virginia) here so others have more experience, but a couple of thoughts and impressions so far. </p>
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<li><p>Madison very bike friendly! As for year round, I guess, but could be rough on really snowy, icy days. Lots of bikes everywhere. Trails, road lanes, etc…</p></li>
<li><p>Saw your other post. Yes, lots of live music options. My son loves music and says the scene is great (at least to him). He has seen tons of concerts already - more than he can possibly take advantage of once you factor in cost/budget and study time. </p></li>
<li><p>If coming from Utah/BYU-type/Morman/conservative environment, I’d guess Madison may be a bit of culture shock. ALL types of folks in Mad-town, though, so shouldn’t be too hard to find your niche. Also, very down-to-earth and friendly in our experience. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Looks like you already received lots of great opinions above TT, but I’ll add my two cents:</p>
<p>First off: you can certainly bike year around as there are tons of bike paths and nice sectioned off bike lanes on main roads, however I recommend having mountain bike tires on a least one bike for the snow! Seen more than a handful of wipeouts this winter, but they are good entertainment for the pedestrians anyway :)</p>
<p>As far as the culture: I would say it’s certainly liberal, but frankly that’s the norm for me and I would add it’s even to a lesser degree than what I have been brought up on. I come from California, which is rather liberal as I’m sure you are aware, and actually live about 25 minutes from Berkeley. My Dad and his siblings went to school at Cal so I have spent TONS of time there. Nothing here compares to Telegraph Avenue, but State Street has its fair share of odd balls. I’m not sure how the rest of the Midwest is, but I would imagine it’s a little more conservative. Honestly, as long as you’re open to the culture here it should be no problem adapting.</p>
<p>I’m a current student at Madison and it is definitely not a moderate or conservative student body. I grew up in a conservative town in northern Wisconsin and the difference is quite stark. I used to travel to California a lot and the kind of liberalism that exists there in many ways reminds me of some of what I see at Madison.</p>
<p>There aren’t mass student protests or riots of anything of the sort, and of course what is liberal and what isn’t can be a very relative measure, but in comparison to the U.S. as a whole and the current U.S. political spectrum Madison is definitely liberal.</p>
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<p>You might be somewhat shocked, but not in anyway that will prevent you from fitting in or being able to function. As long as you are open minded, you’ll be accepted=)</p>
<p>^Yes. There are only two dorms that are upperclassmen only (Susan B Davis and Tripp). While upperclassmen returning to residence halls get first dibs, housing reserves a portion of *all *dorm space for incoming students, and Smith and Ogg are not excluded. The reason why getting in to Smith and Ogg is “difficult” is because so many incoming students list it as one of their top choices. It’s a lottery system, so it’s purely up to chance of whether or not you get your first choice.</p>
<p>Thanks everybody for the informative posts. I’m used to the cold having spent much of my highschool and college years in UT and idaho. You know its cold when your boogers freeze and the oil in your bike hubs becomes to viscous for the bike to function.
the view out my window:
<p>I’m not actually mormon, nor do I really spend much time with ‘them’. My school is probably ~90% mormon so those of us who prefer less wholesome pastimes fall in a tight knit group. </p>
<p>It will be like a breath of fresh air to be in a place where I can socialize with the majority of the student body and I wont be categorized as the liberal minority (although I don’t see myself as that :-/)</p>
<p>I’m a regular cyclist and spun many miles on the hills east of Madison and throughout town. Great biking town. I suggest studded tires for winter riding.</p>
<p>The Planet Bike Co is in Madison and have lots of great local info and photo’s. U won’t find mtn biking like u are used to, but the road and cyclocross scenes are strong. </p>
<p>im having some trouble deciding between the private halls and public ones. what i want is to meet a bunch of people, but most of all i need (not want, NEED, cant stand the idea of taking a dump in a public restroom) a private toilet if possible, i know the private dorms can offer one shared among 3 or 4 people and i can work with that, but do the public dorms have that option for any halls?
and would it be detrimental, socially if i didn’t choose the public dorms? i mean i read that people that live in the “towers” are from the coasts, and live in frats, and unless i wanna be part of a frat then its not a good idea?</p>
<p>Dude, have you had a chance to visit madison yet? You should absolutely make touring the private residence halls a part of your visit, as that will pretty much enable you to make your decision and you can see specific room styles rather than a generic room as a part of the campus tour (sellery).</p>
<p>With the Campus Connect ones, you usually have a bathroom you share with 1 other person. Towers isn’t a residence hall any more and you definitely don’t want to live there unless you just want to be in a regular apartment–wouldn’t be a good experience for first year students. You can try to get into Ogg or Smith, where you share a bathroom with way fewer people, but the odds of getting into them are small–and if you don’t get them, you’re stuck sharing with like 30-80 people. Private halls have changed a lot since i’ve been on campus, and i think people generally like them a lot. Friedrick could be an option now, too, but I’ve never seen or been in it.</p>
<p>All are very close to the east side of campus except Regent which is close to the football stadium. Lucky is actually closer than some Southeast dorms. None is far.</p>
<p>my son is a sophmore at osu.it’s great for him an us.my daughter has recieved scholarships from both schools that are of equal value.we live in illlinios so uwm is closer.she does’nt like the fact that uwm has no minors only majors.she’s been to osu several times to visit her brother,and loves the campus.she wants to major/minor in journalism or music.she’s met some students from osu that are in these areas.she’s coming up this weekend to visit uwm again her first visit was nice,but she felt the campus vibe was not so friendly.help any suggestions</p>
<p>Madison doesn’t have “minors” but many programs have “certificates” which is the equivalent. Additionally, way more students here double/triple major, especially if they’re in Letters & Science. I’ve never heard of anyone purposely choosing OSU over UW if money or residency were not factors. It shouldn’t be a question, lol. But I suppose, if she liked OSU, then yeah, go for it–UW is better academically. </p>
<p>Tough weekend for a campus visit–especially if getting a feel of the student body is an important part of the visit, since most students will still be away on spring break until Sunday.</p>
<p>Hey! I’m also a second semester freshman here willing to help answer any questions you might have. (:</p>
<p>I’m OOS too, from Illinois. I live in Bradley, which is the freshman-only learning community on Lakeshore. I’m double majoring in biology and psychology so I have taken a LOT of those big 300 person lecture introductory classes. On campus I’m involved with Tribeta (the biological honor society), I volunteer with the UW children’s hospital, and I tutor. I love Madison … I had such a hard time picking a school and I know that I couldn’t have made a better choice. (: Let me know if you have any questions.</p>
<p>TT- you will have a different lifestyle as a grad student than as an undergrad. You will be spending most of your time within your department. Engineers tend to be more conservative than others on campus, but you will find diversity and a chance to explore your more liberal side.</p>
<p>fancy…- I like the majors only way of doing things- consider it a comprehensive major. Compare the course requirements at both Ohio State and UW for a major- they may differ. One can always take the courses that would be needed for a minor elsewhere or do a second major as stated above. Definitely consider the academic peer group and course offerings of interest at both schools.</p>
<p>Check out the distances between buildings by using Google or Bing maps websites. You can also find out distances under the Res Halls individual halls data- there’s a table of distances for each one. Explore.</p>
<p>isn’t everyone a part of the college of letters and sciences their first year, and then they reapply to another college for their soph-senior year?</p>
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