<p>I am applying to UW this year and am wondering how life is at the school? I am deciding between UW or Ann Arbor if I get accepted into them. What is the school food like? How are the people there? Are the classes auditoriums? Is it a good med school for a bio major? How are the dorms? What is the area/city around it like? If someone could give me a good explanation that would be very helpful. Thank you.</p>
<p>WM**** My apologies.</p>
<p>I suggest looking at a few college guides that have all that info. </p>
<p>[The</a> Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014: Edward Fiske: 9781402260643: Amazon.com: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Fiske-Guide-Colleges-2014/dp/1402260644/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374862970&sr=1-1]The”>http://www.amazon.com/Fiske-Guide-Colleges-2014/dp/1402260644/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374862970&sr=1-1)</p>
<p>[The</a> Insider’s Guide to the Colleges, 2014: Students on Campus Tell You What You Really Want to Know, 40th Edition: Yale Daily News Staff: 9781250029379: Amazon.com: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/The-Insiders-Guide-Colleges-2014/dp/1250029376/ref=pd_sim_b_1]The”>http://www.amazon.com/The-Insiders-Guide-Colleges-2014/dp/1250029376/ref=pd_sim_b_1)</p>
<p>[The</a> Ultimate Guide to America’s Best Colleges 2014: Gen Tanabe, Kelly Tanabe: 9781617600357: Amazon.com: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-Americas-Best-Colleges/dp/1617600350/ref=pd_sim_b_4]The”>http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-Americas-Best-Colleges/dp/1617600350/ref=pd_sim_b_4)</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> The Best 377 Colleges, 2013 Edition (College Admissions Guides) (9780307944870): Princeton Review: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Colleges-Edition-College-Admissions-Guides/dp/0307944875/ref=pd_sim_b_3]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Colleges-Edition-College-Admissions-Guides/dp/0307944875/ref=pd_sim_b_3)</p>
<p>Some quick thoughts, from my son who just finished freshman year.</p>
<p>In his mind (UW was his first choice) – Madison is perfect college town, with State St (quirky shops, bookstores, etc) plus, as a capital city, lots of internships etc, all sitting on a lake with arboretum, running paths etc. </p>
<p>Food – well, everyone gets tired of dining halls eventually, but there is lots of great food on State St etc. </p>
<p>Dorms – two distinct “neighborhoods” which tend to attract different kinds of students. Southeast is more “in town” with high rise dorms (1000 freshman each), plus some smaller dorm choices. Lakeshore, more bucolic, dorms generally a little smaller, more intimate. </p>
<p>Intro level classes will tend to be large lectures, anywhere from 75-several hundred students (I am sure is the same at Michigan). Any class that is a lecture has a discussion section led by TA once a week (a Ph.D. candidate in that department). Students can also sign up for Honors sections of a class (automatic permission to sign up if you are in Honors program, otherwise, you might need permission first, but you are not excluded, at least as far as I understand). Honors sections are taught by the prof who gives the lectures. </p>
<p>Freshman can sign up for First Year Interest Groups – a cluster of 2-3 courses linked by theme or subject matter, that you take with about 20 other freshman. FIGS include a seminar, open only to that FIG group, plus 1-2 other classes, in which the discussion section is only, once again, those FIG students. Forms a real core group of friends – yes, my son did a FIG, and he remains good friends with a number of figmates. </p>
<p>To really know which school is right for you, you should visit. You can’t go wrong with either school. If you are out of state for Michigan, tuition is closer to privates ($40k) whereas UW is about $27k for out of state students, so cheaper if that is a concern. Neither school is going to give much financial aid to out of state students. </p>
<p>Good luck – spend time on both schools websites to get a feel for each place.</p>
<p>Thanks for the helpful input</p>
<p>This was really helpful. I’m also thinking about applying to UW. I’m definitely visiting soon!</p>
<p>Food: dorm food is ok. Madison has a lot of restaurants so u have choices. There’s all different kinds of ethnic foods and other specialties like bubble tea so venture outside of dorm food for best experience.</p>
<p>People: we’re the best</p>
<p>Lecture halls: some are good some are old but ok, but I think it’s the professors that matter the most not the lecture halls…</p>
<p>Bio/med: great! Very good research school so you get get undergrad research. And a good amount of people are premed so you guys can study together.</p>
<p>Dorms: don’t really think they are any different from dorms anywhere else. They are usually for first years to get used to the experience, a lot of people move out to the apartments after 1st year. The apartments can be nice/bad, old/new depending on how much u willing to pay</p>
<p>Madison is a great city. It has a lot of different things you can do. If u are into the whole party scene, it’s a big party school. But if you are not, there’s a lot of other things you can do too. Free bus passes to anywhere in the city. So it’s super easy to go to the mall or to the movies. There’s cultural events, speakers of many sorts, theater, etc. so it pretty much has everything it really needs. The campus and the city is pretty well integrated unlike some schools.</p>
<p>Thanks for the post, hopefully I get accepted and find a way to pay oos tuition</p>