I am extremely confused between the two colleges. Going as per the ranking for economics, to be particular, Wisconsin Madison is ranked above BU, but BU has a better overall ranking and a campus life. What should I choose?
By faculty scholarly publishing in economics, BU (11th below) and Wisconsin (19th) would both appear to be strong choices for your interests:
BU has a better campus life than Wisconsin-Madison? I am not sure many would agree with that.
As for the overall ranking, forget any ranking that has BU ranked over Wisconsin. It simply isn’t accurate. Wisconsin is considered one of the top 25 universities in the US, full stop. Any ranking that has it ranked out of the top 25 shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Wisconsin is a founding member of the AAU and remains one of the best universities in the country.
Academically there probably is little to choose from between the two but they are very different institutions. The choices are really:
1 - What are the cost differences?
2 - Do you want to start your career in the Northeast or Midwest?
3 - Do you want big time sports?
4 - Do you want an urban campus or a traditional college town?
5 - Does either school have any specific programs that you find appealing?
Two very different schools in terms of location. Academically, both are strong. If you from the East Coast and have always lived there, visit Madison before you decide. Similarly, if you are from the midwest and haven’t lived in an urban area, visit BU before you make a choice. Also, the make-up of the undergraduate student body is very different. The vast majority of kids at UW-Madison will be from Wisconsin. At BU–you’ll have students from all over the US. (Although more will probably be from the east coast than the midwest.)
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Are both affordable? if not go with the one you can attend without hardship/debt.
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I would view the two schools as peer institutions academically, but they will be very different in terms of your overall college experience. BU has no real campus but it is in the heart of Boston, while UW will give you a traditional campus experience (ex. big time sports, etc.) and Madison is supposed to be a lovely college town. How do you want to spend the next four years?
About 40% of UW undergrad students are from outside Wisconsin. Including grad students over half are from out of state.
Note that in USNWR’s university rankings, BU’s overall score (64) places it only a single point ahead of UW (63).
I live 45 min from Madison and am a UW alum. While Madison is a small city, it’s an hour from Milwaukee, 2 hours from Chicago, and 4 hours from Minneapolis/St Paul. Still, being able to visit one of these larger cities on weekends doesn’t make up for being able to be right in Boston. I agree with the other posters-don’t get hung up on the rankings-both schools are good academically. Focus more on the campus environment you want and whether you would rather establish a professional network in Boston or Madison. Something else to possibly consider is Wisconsin overall is not doing well economically, and the governor and state legislature have made significant cuts to UW’s budget and have weakened tenure. As a result 34 tenured professors left last year and 200 others considered leaving. https://www.google.com/amp/fox6now.com/2016/10/14/uw-madison-spends-24m-to-keep-200-professors-from-leaving/amp/
NolaCAR, Madison is not that small. It has a population of 250,000 (over half a million if you include the suburbs). And Wisconsin’s principal professional network will not be Madison, it would be Chicago.