Need Help!! International Relations (or PoliSci) UWisconsin v. UWashington

Hi guys,

I am an international student from China. I previously posted a discussion about choosing between these two schools and Occidental. I carefully read each comment and sincerely appreciate everyone’s suggestions and information.

Now I eliminated Oxy (which I feel truly sorry), but get completely torn about these two options. I feel like in hell now and really crave for your help. >_< To make it easier to see, I shall try to summarize some of the pros and cons. Note that one’s pro might be the other one’s con and vice versa.

Also, I forgot to mention that no matter what my decision will be, I would either focus on one major and fight to graduate in three years or try double major (plus engineering or physics) in four years.

UWisconsin
Pros

  1. possible Honor Program, which increases my possibility of graduating in four years or less (given that I might not be able to register some courses due to large volume)
    Cons
  2. relatively fewer opportunities. Few people talked about this in comparison to UWashington, so if there are anything worth mentioning, please tell me;
  3. relatively inconvenient transportation: it is hard for me to directly fly to Madison.

UWashington
Pros

  1. easy to fly to,
  2. sundry resources after graduation and a good career guidance (not sure if Madison’s weaker so please tell me more)
    Cons
  3. not sure about UWSeattle’s strength in IR or Politics;
  4. need tremendous effort to build a good relationship with professors (which I am willing to overcome but still needs to be considered)
  5. Second-time competition, seriously I’d rather fight for UWSeattle’s engineering from the beginning and receive a rejection.

I would really appreciate your help (tears over my face). Thanks!!!