I am transferring to the University of Wisconsin - Madison as an incoming sophomore and I was admitted into the BioCore program but I plan on doing the CALS Honors College and the URS (undergraduate research scholars). I will be pursuing a genetics major and over the summer I am working in the University of Michigan Hospital’s Research Lab. I will be getting a lot of intense lab experience and so I am wondering if the URS will be as much of a workload as my summer internship. If anyone has any experience or personal knowledge of the BioCore program, the URS program, the CALS Honors College, or the Genetics major/program I would really like to know more. The only information I have found is on the websites, but there weren’t many real personal experiences there. I am trying to see how to balance all of these programs or if some are more beneficial than others, thanks!
There is an Honors Program in L&S at UW, not a college. It is fantastic, Biocore is one of the available L&S Honors sequences (still requiring organics chemistry I believe). Being in Honors means taking some Honors courses or sections of courses for Honors. There are some added benefits- see the website. Not sure what the Ag school does for honors- info on the UW website. There are no special dorms for honors students (one difference between a college and a program). Just meet the program requirements to get an Honors degree. Worth signing up for, if it doesn’t work out it’s no big deal.
CALS is known to be a little smaller and supportive re: their bio offerings. They are sometimes able offer smaller scholarships or stipends (per availability) to advanced, talented students. While I think all of your named programs are excellent – I was L & S Honors, but a long time ago, and in humanities – you might begin with actually contacting CALS Honors, and asking some of your questions directly. They may help you better to navigate and integrate your proposed path(s), or at least give you some pointers on how you can begin sorting out the process. I don’t think they compete with one another, so it should not at all hurt your prospects by inquiring directly.
Once you arrive on campus, you will also get a better idea of what may be a viable and successful way to integrate. There’s an abundance of programs because there’s an abundance of talented students, faculty and resources. Your research experience over the summer should be an asset, but it may take a little time for you to develop the relationships necessary for advanced work. Even though I went into humanities, I also had some advanced bio research under my belt, and I believe that was looked upon favorably. Best of luck-
On edit: if you’re not already familiar, one fundamental path of inquiry might be researching the life and work of James Crow in your spare time. He was known as something of a “father of genetics,” and he spent a long and esteemed career at Wisconsin. Some of his writing and work are still used as foundational texts in genetics courses, including UW.
I have heard of James Crow and I had no idea he did work at Madison! And thank you both for the input