<p>I have to decide between these two schools which both have strong engineering programs</p>
<p>UW
pros- cheaper by almost 15K
excellent social life
its located in Madison
sports</p>
<p>cons- everyone is white (im asian)
far from home</p>
<p>CMU
pros-stronger reputation for academics
very diverse
easier to get to from home</p>
<p>cons-lack of social life?
expensive</p>
<p>I feel stuck between these 2 choices
any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated</p>
<p>I'm from Wisconsin, and have seen UW-Madison, but I'm still a high school student. I was accepted to both CMU and UW-Madison (But I'm going to MIT) as well. I would personally choose CMU over UW-Madison.</p>
<p>Madison has the reputation of going waaay overboard with their parties, at least according to the few people I know that go there / went there. Here's a story (This is about my dad's friend's son). This is a worst-case scenario.. but it gives you an idea of what the parties can be like.</p>
<p>This kid was a very nice, calm, respectful student in high school. At UW-Madison his freshman year (18 yrs old) he went to a party, was pretty much coerced into getting drunk, and he ended up getting pushed down / fell down a flight of stairs / some other large drop. Now he's got irreversible short-term memory loss.</p>
<p>Now, you can choose to be involved in partying or not, but from what I've heard, the general atmosphere of UW-Madison is to party as much as possible. I don't have any first hand experience, so take this with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>I'm sure CMU has enough of a social life - I wouldn't be too worried about it.</p>
<p>Finally... Try to petition the financial aid office for more financial aid money. I've heard that it usually works! Show them your UW-Madison financial aid package, and tell them that you face a very tough decision because of the money. (But be tactful about it..) Chances are they'll throw in a bit more aid to make it an easier choice for you!</p>