Life in Wisconsin, Washington, Purdue, Indiana, Penn State...

<p>I have regretted of not visiting schools, and now I have to make a decision. So...please tell me as much as you can about these schools:</p>

<p>Wisconsin-Madison
Indiana-Bloomington
Purdue
Washington-Seattle
Penn State</p>

<p>I think I'm going for business major, and right now I'm leaning toward Wisconsin and Washington. However, I've realized Indiana and Purdue may also prepare me with a good business foundation. What do you think? which school is better?</p>

<p>How are the academic and social environments in these schools? How big is a big class? an average class? a small class? How are the professors and people/students are like there? How difficult is it to get the class you want, especially the popular ones? more?</p>

<p>Dorm life? Party scenes? What would be a good housing choice for fresh in each of these schools? Safety??? Study and social enviornments? I'm looking for a place where I can equally divide my time for studying and partying and don't feel pressured by peers by doing that. As an international student, I really want to know the relationships among peeople? I don't want to be in a place where I'm the only international student and live a life by my own :( Do people hang out pretty much in the same groups from the beginning to the end of their 4 years? Is it easy for people to hang out w/ each other? </p>

<p>It would be really helpful if more information on freshmen life is discussed.</p>

<p>thx :)</p>

<p>anyone? plz...</p>

<p>the majority of students in Wisconsin-Madison are from WI and MN, so would the coasties and the internationals feel a bit excluded from the population?</p>

<p>also can someone tell me the dorms in Wisconsin and Washington? like which are the party dorms and which are the study dorms? I would like to live in a non-party dorm (not necessary a 100% study dorm), but still can go to party sometimes...any suggestions for these two schools? It would also be really great if someone can tell me about the freshmen dorms too.</p>

<p>check out the lakeshore dorms @ Wisconsin. Less of the "party" dorms but not isolated either</p>

<p>Wisconsin is the best school academically on that list.</p>

<p>out of those i would lower it down to wisconsin and indiana. My fav out of those 2 is UW. it has a really good b-school and is a big party school</p>

<p>UW and indiana are both HUGE party schools but be warned.. parties at IU get on the scary side at times. Purdue has a lot of internationals so thats nothing big but if u go u might notice the seperation extremes of the partiers and the nerds.. its really like there are two student bodies</p>

<p>thx people</p>

<p>i thought i was going to wisconsin, because i believed that it would provided be a more solid business foundation than any other schools. however i realized the enviornment setting there is just a bit too extreme for me, because i come from a humid/hot area. </p>

<p>anyway, i think i'm going to uw-seattle, since it's closer to my home and more people from my school are going there. more importantly, it has seattle's enviornment is somewhat close to where i'm living right now - urban, rains alot...</p>

<p>any comments or suggestions for washington? i just realized that it has a quarter system rather than a semester system, would that be a problem? what are the pro's and con's for a quarter system?</p>

<p>also after digging out my acceptance letter from uw-seattle long time ago, i found out that i'm admitted to its arts and science college. however i want to pursue a business major. what should i do????? wait and see? or what?</p>

<p>:(</p>

<p>I feel mean saying this, and everyone is entitled to their own reasons, but your decision to go to Washington seems to be on silly logic.</p>

<p>First, college is about new things. you should try going away from HS friends.</p>

<p>Second, Washington and Wisconsin will be somewhat similiar. It might be colder (slightly more) during a Wisconsin winter, but the summers are "humid/hot" as you want. You're going to pick a college based on the average rainfall it recieves? That's a record for CC.</p>

<p>Third, you're not even in the right college of Washington! What the heck. Seems like you're making a funky decision.</p>

<p>GL with whatever you end up doing.</p>

<p>Well clee10,I was deciding between Illinois (UIUC) and Washington too.I'm doing business btw.Yeah..and i chose UW over UIUC mainly because of the location of the two schools which are in two extremes-one urban and the other rural and i feel that the two b-schools are around the same academically.Anyway,if you were observant enough,you would know that UW b-school requires pre-requisites before you actually apply to enter.This usually happens after your freshman or sophomore year after you have taken the necessary courses and using your GPA (and many other factors),you can apply for the b-school.If i'm not wrong Wisconsin-Madison's b-school follows the same system.That is why you are entered into UW as a pre-major first before completing the required courses and applying for b-school.Yup.Are you an international?</p>

<p>of couse not just about the enviornment setting that im concerning, but also realizing the difference of the two schools will make for me.</p>

<p>the top 50s don't make that much of a difference as i came to my conclusion, nevertheless #1 and #50 do make a difference. or i should say, a difference of about 15 ranks isn't that big for me, madison ~32 and washington ~46 (2005 us news). you might think i narrow-minded, but if you considered my cultural background and my family/peer pressures, you might understand why i take some concerns in ranking. anway, they are both good schools for me, and i like both.</p>

<p>another reason i chose washington over wisconsin, as kuni mentioned, is that washington perhaps will provide me greater opportunities for expereincing business. when you realizing both schools are pretty much the same except the setting, you just have to ask yourself that is it just education that you want? or is it education+location? ok, enough said, i think i would be happier if i go to uw.</p>

<p>kuni: yes i know that uw business school requires pre-requisites, madison too! i was asking this for uw, because i messed up a bit on my application when i sent it; i was afriad that i wouldn't be able to pursue what i want. but now...:) thx for clearing my confusions. wait...does your acceptance letter says pre-major? mine says "college of arts and science"! if yours says pre-major, that is exactly why i was worried about.</p>

<p>oops! i just figured out the pre-major/arts and science thing.
hahahaha...i didn't see the word "pre-major"</p>

<p>thx everyone!</p>

<p>yup.mine says "college of arts and science" but under major it says "pre-major (arts & sciences)".well..i dont think its much of a worry..i mean we all have to start from LAS then to business school.so if you're in,you're in!</p>

<p>right.anyway where are you from?</p>

<p>umm ppl but too much emphasis on rankings, fact is that any top 150 school you can get a great job and a great education..</p>

<p>kuni: im from taiwan, but currently living in hong kong.</p>

<p>haha right...looks like we have a lot in common.im from taiwan too..but living in singapore.</p>

<p>i was thinking about Wisconsin a lot for business. I am going to UMD now beause it is instate, i got into the business scholars program, and mostly because it admitted me straight into the business school. Wisconsin doens't admit anyone into the business school directly and the average GPA for those admitted their junior year is a 3.5. All the schools are good at business but Wisconsin is the best overall. It has a big party environment and is big on sports. I don't know about the admission policies at the other schools listed, are you in the business schools directly in any of the others?</p>

<p>Check out this website, <a href="http://www.THEU.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.THEU.com&lt;/a> it's a great alternative to actually visiting the colleges and it isn't sponsered by any of the schools, so it is completly honest and uncensored. I found the videos really helpful, and the blogs from students that are already at schools answer a lot of my questions!</p>