<p>While I’m a Badger alumnus and booster of the school, it’s not for everyone, and there are certainly lots of places which would provide similar things you’re likely looking for. That said, the combination of things it offers makes it a great choice for many prospective students.</p>
<p>Nearly all the Big Ten schools are good in engineering - Illinois, Michigan, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin competing nationally at the top, with Minnesota and Penn State considered a cut lower overall, followed by Iowa, Michigan State, and Ohio State having solid programs (Indiana doesn’t offer engineering). ANY of the ten would give your son a good education and opportunities going forward. Rankings are based on things which are relatively small matters of degree and ultimately won’t make much difference in what your son will learn. That will be primarily up to him, so while not ignoring them, I’d minimize the weight given to them, as I think you’re doing.</p>
<p>It’s when you consider those other aspects that certain schools begin to look more and more appealing compared to their peers. As you stated, Wisconsin is very strong in many, many fields, with 70 academic programs rated in the top ten nationally. Being a public university with a mandate to provide an education to the children of the state’s taxpayers, it accepts more students below the “HS superstar” level than the top privates. However, by volume, there are still plenty of those same superstars who choose to attend, so finding academic peers for top students isn’t hard. It’s certainly not as competitive as, say, MIT, so if the idea of making a diamond through pressure is what you want, you’re better off looking elsewhere.</p>
<p>Outside of class, Madison is a fun town for students. It has a well-deserved reputation for being a party school, as the cultural heritage of Wisconsin’s residents often revolves around drinking. Drinking to excess happens at nearly every school, but I think there’s more of an expectation to drink at Madison, though those who choose not to partake aren’t lacking for other things to do. Sports are big, but paradoxically, not taken as seriously as at some of their peers - it’s more of a fun, bonding-type thing. Entertainment options are pretty good (off and on campus), from music to theater and the like, while outdoor pursuits are very popular, too (Hoofers, the Arboretum, biking, etc.).</p>
<p>It’s hard to say there’s a predominant culture, though the passionate students for many causes are hard to miss. The city of Madison is quite liberal, but much of the rest of the state is more rural and pretty conservative, which makes for an interesting, diverse student body (and that’s not even counting the OOS and international influences). UW is the only school in the nation with two school newspapers. One is from the wacky left, and one is from the right (which in Madtown makes it the wacky right), and both publish daily. Read them both, and you might even be able to divine some semblance of the truth!</p>
<p>Personally, I had a lot of fun at UW and am glad I attended, but I could have made so much more of my time there (just because it’s available doesn’t mean a student will partake). Early introductory courses are large (100+), with discussion sections to help you make sense of what you heard in lectures. Upper level classes have more appropriate sizes, but you still need to take the initiative to talk to your professors, as it’s pretty easy to slide through all four years without much notice. I dropped out of school in my senior year and had a much better experience academically when I returned and actively engaged my profs. When I attended, there were also issues with getting into required classes, but that’s much less of an issue now (better enrollment management).</p>
<p>Bottom line is that UW is a great place to spend four years AND get a great education IF you’re comfortable with less attention or are inclined to seek out help on your own, but it’s not so good at catching those who are falling behind unless (again) they seek out help (which is readily provided, both for academic and social issues - they WANT everyone to succeed). In that sense, it’s the typical split between the advantages of a large research university vs. a small LAC. As I stated earlier, there are other large publics which offer many of these things, but UW does so many of them well that for someone who likes the large college atmosphere, it’d be hard to go wrong with this choice.</p>
<p>Sorry for the long post - I hope it helps!</p>