<p>Since I couldnt find a place for other Wis. schools, I thought I would try here.</p>
<p>My daughter is just starting the college search process. For starters we are going to visit UW Madison, UW LaCrosse, and probably Lawrence University in Appleton. </p>
<p>She has pretty good stats, excellent writer, OK EC's, I assume good teacher recommendations.</p>
<p>She isnt sure what to look for in a school. She's not into traditional party scence. But, loves music, socializing on a low key type of way. Very artsy and liberal for the most part.</p>
<p>She isnt sure of a major, but is interested in Mental Health (psychology), art of some sort, and creative writing. When looking at a book that shows majors for different schools, it didnt list UW Madison as one for creative writing. Is this right? I assumed that with that big of campus that a person could put together a creative writing major or minor.</p>
<p>What other schools in within about 4 hours of Madison might also fit these interest, and do a good job of prepping for grad school?</p>
<p>Of the other UW campuses, do you see any advantage of others over LaCrosse? Stevens Point is about the same distance for us too. Have also heard good things about Edgewood, Viterbo, and Beloit</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>DJD</p>
<p>Beloit sounds like a very good potential fit, as does Lawrence. Knox in Galesburg, Illinois, too. If she has the stats for it, Grinnell in Iowa and Macalester and Carleton in Minnesota. She really sounds like a LAC kid moreso than a big university kid the way you describe her, but if she falls in love with Madison as many kids do, you're right that a kid (at least a reasonably assertive kid) can put together just about any kind of major. Among the state schools I think you picked a good one to look at in LaCrosse.</p>
<p>Good luck. We're taking our rising junior son on a visit to UW next week to start the process, but we'll be looking at LACs and universities elsewhere, too.</p>
<p>Presume you're instate. The best academics are at UW-Madison (UW), followed by using reciprocity for U of Minnesota, as many Wis residents do. Most of the schools you mention are not in the same league as UW. You need to research and learn where the schools fall in ACT score and gpa mid 50% ranges-US News and World Report has this information, the '09 search issue will be out this month.</p>
<p>Search this website for a thread about creative writing, you will find that learning the craft isn't best done through a major, but through many other routes.</p>
<p>I've seen the Lawrence campus, vastly different from UW- very small, boring, etc. La Crosse and Eau Claire are two of the best outside of UW in the state system- ie, students with the best ACT scores and gpa. You need to read the information for prospective students on the UW website (including the freshman expectations chart under that admissions subsite) and other schools then figure out if UW is a reach, match or safety for your D. Once you have figured out where your D is in the scheme of things you can use the USN&WR rankings to find lists of schools to explore. This source is easier to use than the huge college books you can find in the library or bookstores. The special issue magazine also has college search tips.</p>
<p>Do not limit your search to only 4 hours, add a few more hours to include schools within a day's drive of your home- if the best fit school requires a move-in-day hotel stay it could still be worth it. You now have plenty of homework, remember that this is your D's search, she needs to be doing the work, too. Good luck.</p>