CU Boulder vs UW Madison

Henlo all, me needs sum advice.

I’ve been accepted to a few more colleges but my decision comes down to these two
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I’ll be studying engineering in college. In my view, UW Madison is more prestigious and its engineering graduates are more highly regarded in the field. But I’m concerned with the lack of tech companies in Madison area and Wisconsin at large, and the potential lack of internship opportunities that would follow.

CU Boulder on the other hand, is less prestigious and the engineering graduates are less highly regarded in the field. But the opportunities that exist around it seem really attractive to me: Google’s second largest campus is 30 minutes from Boulder, and Denver, a city whose tech industry is thriving, is also 30 minutes from Boulder.

I got the Presidential Scholarship from CU, a total of $55,000. I got no scholarship from UW, but the cost of attendance to either school is not a big deciding factor.

Please offer me some opinions and I thank you in advance.

BTW, the other colleges that I’ve been accepted into are: UIUC, Penn State, Virginia Tech

If prestige is important, why did you eliminate UIUC?

By the way, the environment of either campus is not of great concern to me, and I heard both campuses are equally pretty. I just want to know which school could offer me more benefits in the long run.

I live in Kansas, so I don’t really want to spend another 4 years in the cornfield, lol.

Besides EPIC (10,000 employees) Madison area has a good-sized tech footprint. Google and Microsoft both have offices too. http://host.madison.com/wsj/business/madison-area-tech-firms-make-the-inc-list/article_0db41162-6266-59aa-b0bd-76dff56e848c.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Systems

thank you for the information, it is much appreciated

Boulder, Colorado has a thriving tech industry.

do you guys think the name of the school where I would graduate from matters?
Also, I’m not certain what engineering major to study, and I’m thinking about taking on 2 majors. And from what I’ve heard, I can’t do double major within the engineering school at UW.
IDK, I can think of a lot of reasons to go to CU instead of UW, please offer me some opinions, they will be much appreciated.

I actually just decided between Madison and boulder!! I am from Illinois and I don’t want to go to UIUC. I think for me the environment is important to me which is why I’m down to these two schools and not UIUC. I just went to the student admit day yesterday for CU Boulder. I LOVED it! I got accepted into the honors program and plan on doing neuroscience. I got into the regular neurobiology at Madison too. For me, I like to learn in not so big of groups since it helps me learn better. At boulder, I am able to do that. At Madison, sure it seems like a better school and it is but I did not feel that homey when I toured. There will still be tailgating at boulder and sure it won’t be as comparable at wisco but I’m fine with that. I think these dorms at boulder are huge and the rec center is also amazing! You can easily go on a day hike at boulder and can see the mountains from your dorm. It does not get as cold as Madison and I think that the classes will still teach the same material at boulder. I don’t think it will be easier to go to either school. And this is why I just chose CU Boulder!
The Madison environment is good too but I just didn’t like it as much as boulder. I think everything is closer together than madison? Not sure but it feels like it. Sko buffs!
But, I have many extremely hardworking friends who got into such good engineering schools but will go to UIUC. I think that Illinois has an incredible engineering program, better than most. You should really think about that school. It is a college town and a big ten, like Madison.
If you have any more questions lmk! I am going to commit to boulder today

But I do know that you will get great out of school opportunities in boulder. I’m sure engineering is big here

I don’t know that much about Wisconsin, but as a former employee I can tell you that CU Boulder is putting ALL of its resources into engineering and geosciences, at the expense of pretty much everything else. If you are interested at all in aerospace engineering, take a look at the LASP institute on campus, Ball Aerospace in Boulder, etc. High tech is big and getting bigger in Colorado in general. Also, 300+ days of sunshine/year. Good luck choosing!

Thank you all for your inputs, I just visited UW today. It’s cold, snowy, and windy, kinda picked a bad day to visit. Everything seems so spread out here, and the area around the Capitol building seems so empty, don’t know if it’s because of the weather though. IDK, im really confused right now. I said earlier that environment doesn’t matter but so far it seems to be what’s affecting my judgment the most. It’ll be sunny tomorrow so hopefully, I will get to see UW in a different light.

Going to a flagship public university majoring in STEM, the most important aspect by far will be your GPA, the difference between UW and CU STEM is negligible compared to that.

Hello all, I’ve made a decision, I’m going to attend UW Madison.

Why did you end up going with UW? Do you feel this was the right choice?