<p>Hello everyone, I have a tough choice ahead of me and was wondering if anyone has any insight on this topic. I'm deciding between UW-Madison and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. I'm currently accepted to CBS and the honors program in Minnesota and most likely the honors program in Madison as well. I'm going the pre-med route so I understand I have lots of work in front of me, but I most certainly want to have tons of fun along the way, without it dettering me from getting the important stuff done. Any help would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Minnesota is famous for easy cirriculum and UW-Madison is notorious for being the opposite.</p>
<p>go to madison if u want a more challenging 4 years though i think that may not be the best thing</p>
<p>For what it's worth, I attend what is thought to be a pretty good school in the University of Virginia, though I'm from MN. In random conversations about schools with people here, the Midwestern schools that constantly come up in conversation are Michigan, Northwestern, and Wisconsin. The reverence for UW here is essentially unmatched as far as public schools go. I know of at least one person who has transferred from UVA to UW. I'm sure UW's curriculum is a lot tougher than the U of M, but regardless I'd attend UW in a heartbeat, no questions asked, end of story. That degree will get you a lot farther than a U of M degree would (I'm a huge Gopher fan, but an honest one), and as I said will be marketable from coast to coast. Mpls is a great city, but Madison is a one-of-a-kind college town; one in which you could have those tons of fun that you're seeking. Madison's a bit warmer, too, but I'm sure it still gets pretty nasty in the winter.</p>
<p>I just re-read my post, and I should clarify that a degree from the U of M will not close any doors on your future. I have many friends who attend or have attended the U, and the ones who've finished are all doing very well. However, I think that while the U won't close any doors, realistically UW will open a few more. </p>
<p>I should also note that I don't know for a fact that UW's curriculum is more difficult - that is just based on hearsay.</p>
<p>I dont agree with you.
If you go to UW and do badly, it will only look bad on your track record.
UW is competitive, if you are not up to the mark, go somewhere else.</p>
<p>Well, obviously if you don't perform well that won't do you any good, regardless of where you attend college. But I guess for the sake of discussion/comparison I'm assuming that a student does well at both schools...</p>
<p>If you are doing pre med, Minnesota will be fine. Yes, Wisconsin is somewhat better, but if you do well at Minnesota you should have most of the same options for Medical School as you would had you gone to Wisconsin.</p>
<p>so basically if i have gotten into Wi.... go?</p>
<p>I would. But it's your decision, so the only correct option is to choose which school is best for you. You'll be the one spending four years there, and will be an alum for the rest of your life. It's a very big decision, but it sounds like you're in a good situation where you're choosing the schools instead of hoping that they'll choose you. So my advice is to make as informed a decision as possible, while making sure that it's your decision and not anyone else's.</p>
<p>I'm posting another reply, because I want to get to 100 posts to see if that removes the "junior" from my profile.</p>
<p>Choose the one where you will do better socially and feel most comfortable. Academically and careerwise you will be in the same position with either school.</p>
<p>Wisconsin is in a league with Michigan and UCLA.</p>
<p>Minnesota is in a league with Texas A&M and Iowa.</p>
<p>I must agree!</p>
<p>It depends on your program.</p>
<p>And overall Minnesota is pretty much in the same league Wisconsin (especially for engineering).</p>
<p>I'm with Vespucci.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies!.. very helpful.. I now know that I'm going to Madison.. but my best friend will be heading to Minnesota so I'm sure I'll be visiting often!</p>
<p>best of luck!</p>
<p>That's just not true. Minnesota's peers are Iowa, MSU, maybe Ohio State. Wisconsin's include Michigan, UCLA, Texas, Cal, etc. They are similiar schools, sure. Big Ten, large, sports, research, good grad programs ... but Wisconsin beats Minnesota 2:1 in cross-admit battles, has student from around the country consistently applying (how many OOS schools consistently send 10+ to Minnesota? not many. Wisconsin has them in CA, MA, MN, MI, IL, and more), and 70 departments in the top ten nationally, not to mention higher caliber students.</p>
<p>If you want to do lots of medical research, I would say UMN. If you graduate from CBS, then the UMN medical school is amazing. Although, if you want to do john hopkins or something for md.. i'd say uw.</p>