<p>Nope. The here and now need to know the details of life on campus is most important. Info that can’t be found on websites. Viewpoints that students can relate to to help in making decisions. Endless stats/debate are like being in a boring classroom- people tune out, abandon the site. Let the readers decide the merits of info.</p>
<p>then let the “here and now” start a thread about dorm life. you’re not the boss of me, wis75</p>
<p>In reality UW faces what I would call a knowledge gap outside the friendly confines of the state and a few areas around the US. There are FAR more people with this view than any other:</p>
<p>"A few thougts on the above</p>
<ol>
<li>Where is Univ. of Penn?</li>
<li>UC Berkeley’s strength is truly amazing</li>
<li>Michigan’s strength was expected, but Wisconsin is up there with Cornell and UCLA</li>
<li>Up and coming UCSD is now up there with Duke and Northwestern</li>
<li>A little surprised that Duke was not ranked higher.</li>
<li>With UC Berkeley and Stanford, a lot of brainpower coming out of the Bay Area"
(From College Search thread on new US News grad rankings)</li>
</ol>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/908756-2010-usnwr-americas-best-graduate-schools-2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/908756-2010-usnwr-americas-best-graduate-schools-2.html</a></p>
<p>So sometimes yo have to educate people and not about the relative dorm quality. These debates can and often do get heated BUT people not directly invested in the debate and just reading it from the sidelines can get lots of good information–both positive and negative. UM did not garner its reputation by just sitting around waiting for people to say–wow, UM is great. They go out and say it every day in every way they can. New students are indoctrinated to this idea. It may seem hokey but it works. I have noticed a general reluctance from Wisconsin people to toot their horn and acknowledge its excellence and accolades. It just was not done. That is beginning to change under the new leadership as I think BM understands the importance of building a brand and an image. UW did not even have an office to help students apply for major fellowships and honors such as the Goldwater and Churchill and Rhodes competition until a few years ago when one person was appointed to work on coordinating this. Must top schools have an office with several staff that work on this full-time. And it works. The UW person is working wonders already.</p>
<p>[News</a> | UW-Madison Academic Staff](<a href=“http://acstaff.wisc.edu/Announcements/posting.aspx?item=1002]News”>http://acstaff.wisc.edu/Announcements/posting.aspx?item=1002)</p>
<p>So while Nova drives me a little nuts too, the debate is good for people to gain information. We all knew that many instate kids worked their way through school and now there are numbers and a comparison to a peer school with a different family economic profile. I found that UW and Uva seniors had about the same response to a question on the availability of needed classes for their major and it was very good–not perfect but very good. I also learned UVa is better in some foreign languages than I would have thought so if somebody asks for a good school for foreign languages I would put them on the list. UW still offers choices more but for French, German or Spanish they are neck.and neck.</p>
<p>Ok- I’ll continue the thread- son used to say “you’re not the boss of me” when he was three- brought back memories.</p>