Hi everyone, I’m a freshman at UW-Madison majoring in economics with a certificate in East Asian Studies. Last year, I was faced with the incredibly hard decision of choosing between UW-Madison (large public university where I was awarded a full tuition scholarship with a $400/semester book stipend) and Oberlin (awarded enough aid to graduate with around 25k worth of debt, 10k that I would be able to pay off during school to leave me with 15k after graduation). I chose Madison primarily based on financial reasons.
Now that I’m at Madison, however, I’m starting to reconsider. It feels like an extension of high school: I see at least one person from my high school every day, the same types of ‘cliques’ and student groups are here, large emphasis on partying/sororities/fraternities/football. I haven’t found any of the types of people that I would find at Oberlin; the quirky, intellectual, ‘hipster’ people. Also, to sound like a pretentious snob, I feel like anyone could get into Madison; I know people here who got in with a 22 on their ACT (I know, I know, I am the biggest snob ever). At Oberlin, a top 25 liberal arts school, I would feel like I was with a ‘smarter’ group of people. The only thing that got me through high school was knowing that I could go to a school far, far away from the people at my high school, but now I feel like I’ve fallen back on my promise to myself. I am very, VERY worried about money, as I plan on going to grad school to get a masters in international studies after college, which I know will cost $$, and I also hope to do internships which might not be paid. If it was your decision, would you transfer to Oberlin and take on that 15k (if they give me the same financial aid package; they flew me over for a multicultural overnight weekend visit and even extended my financial aid offer past the may 1st deadline when i was having second guesses), or would you stay at Madison and hope for the best?
P.S. I know I have been at school for a little over a month, and things will undoubtedly change over time. Please answer this question as if I was writing it in March and I still felt this way, when the transfer application is due
Wow- the UW you’re seeing is totally different than the one my son saw. Are you in the Honors Program? That is where you will find the most intellectual students. Most entering freshmen associate more with dorm mates their first months. So easy to avoid the activities you mention. Those same personalities you can find at Oberlin are there at UW. You need to join activities that match your personality. So easy to ignore people from your HS.
UW requires independence and self direction- you are not automatically in the clique you seem to desire (and yes, the same complaints can apply to Oberlin). Visit the same types of places you would on the Oberlin campus- the music scene, arts et al. On a campus of so many students there are many different types at UW. You are like the blind men and the elephant. You are judging based on a limited view, both in area and time. Since you are committed to UW for the school year take time to explore other facets.
Attitude is everything. You choose which aspects of any school to see. Examine the required and available courses in your proposed majors and compare them. You choose a school mainly for its academics. It is worth the debt if Oberlin can give you much more than UW can in the classroom. You haven’t discovered the quirky aspect of UW yet. At UW you can be in a less than 10% minority and still find plenty of likeminded people to be with. btw- less than 10% of UW students are involved in Greek life, it has no impact on the rest of the students.
Ask Oberlin if they would give you the same package as a transfer student. You may not even have the option to go to Oberlin with the same financial package previously offered to you.
Are you in Sellery or Witte? If so that might be where you are getting your exaggerated idea that everyone is a partier.
Greek life is not a big deal at UW. Just one person in 3 years on my kid’s dorm floor was in a sorority.
You know MULTIPLE people who got in with a 22 ACT? How many?
Honestly, you’re just going to make your experience worse if you start considering yourself “too good” for UW. Your experience at UW is what you make of it, and if you choose to consider UW to be a party school that’s filled with dumb people, then that’s what it’s going to be for you.
You have to understand that UW is a HUGE school; there are people of all kinds here, and the only reason why you haven’t found “your people” is because you just haven’t met them yet. UW, and college in general, is not going to hand you what you need on a platter. You are going to have to fight either way to find the people you like and to find the opportunities you need. Not to mention that every single college in America is going to have the same kinds of people you saw in high school. Keep exploring the student orgs; there are plenty of business/economics oriented ones here. Also, consider doing the Honors program, or selecting honors courses as you continue, since the class sizes are smaller and are generally filled with people who care about academics.
Also, where are you living? Like Madison85 said, if you’re in Sellery or Witte, it’s no wonder you’re encountering a lot of party types. I’m a freshman living in Kronshage, and the partying is generally a bare minimum (people usually only party Friday or Sat nights, and when they do they almost always go to the Southeast dorms or a frat house, there’s usually very little partying that actually goes on in the actual dorm), and there are plenty of academically driven people.
I have a full ride scholarship here (tuition+room/board), and no, there’s no way that I’d trade that away except maybe for the top 5 universities, and even then I’d think long and hard about my decision. I assume you’re in the business school if you’re majoring in economics, and from I’ve heard from friends, Madison has a great business program.
Because someone might spend time preparing a serious response to your question without realizing that someone else made the same response on one of the 3 other boards on which you wrote this question.
By coincidence, I also was accepted at the UW and at Oberlin but chose the UW for financial reasons. I agree that as you move out of the SE dorms and out of your introductory classes you will likely end up spending more time with other top students, if that is your wish.
Well duh.
Keep looking and you will find your hipster quirky people there. I bet they are in a coffee shop off of Willy Street.
@CheddarcheeseMN Okay, that’s fair enough. I just wanted to get a wide variety of opinions, but I should have prefaced each thread with the fact that I was going to be posting multiple times so people could read through those threads first.
I chose the SE dorms because I thought they’d be a lot more social than lakeshore, and as an introvert I wanted to put myself in a situation where it’d be easier to make friends. However, my floor is somewhat clique-y and doesn’t hang out a lot.
You chose SE dorms because they are more social and now you are complaining about the large emphasis on partying/ sororities/ fraternities/football? Huh.
What efforts have you made to find friends? What student organizations have you become involved with?
Read up on what it means to be an introvert. Perhaps you are shy instead. btw- you will find more intelligent people in the Honors program classes than perhaps in classes at Oberlin.
It is just as easy to make friends in any dorm, and more likely if you choose the same dorm as others who like the same environment. Lesson # x learned.
Both Oberlin and UW are very good schools. Freshman at both schools have comparable average GPA’s (~3.6) and comparable composite ACT scores (29-30). If you believe in rankings, Oberlin is #23 among National Liberal Arts Universities while UW is #41 among National Universities. My oldest daughter is currently at Belmont University in Nashville (an up-and-coming music school with a large hipster crowd). She would have hated UW. She is not very involved on Belmont’s campus, but is involved in the Nashville music scene (open-mic nights, music gigs, etc). My middle child, however, would love to go to UW and is currently awaiting their decision on her application. She plans to be very involved on the UW campus if accepted. Both schools are very good schools. Both schools are excellent fits for one of my daughters, but absolutely horrible fits for the other, The main problem appears to be the fact that Oberlin is your dream school and UW is not. On paper, entering freshman at Oberlin do not appear to be superior to entering freshmen at UW. You chose to live in a more social dorm on a campus that is known for partying. But UW is also known as an excellent research university with numerous undergrad research opportunities. Nothing in life is free. Go into debt to go to your dream school or stay at UW. No one can make that decision for you. If you were to stay at UW, become involved in one of the many organizations/activities available, take honors courses, etc., then you should be able to get into any grad program in the country.
Have to agree. Perhaps Honors classes and the Chadbourne Learning Community, or any of the others away from the party dorms would have been a better choice.
IMHO, UW-Madison is a better choice than Oberlin + student loan debt in your situation. UW-Madison has a MUCH larger alumni network not only nationwide but worldwide, and that’s nothing to be taken lightly. Small liberal arts schools, though they may be very good academically, simply can’t match that additional benefit.
FWIW and anecdotal… I was halfway around the world, in Thailand for the Full Moon Party, and there was a Badger alumnus on board a shuttle boat of about 20 passengers on our way to Koh Phangan for the FMP.
My son’s tutor raves about Oberlin, so I get where you’re coming from. But to me, graduating with as little debt as possible is the more important priority, given the choice between two comparably good schools.
I liked the suggestion above to see what kind of transfer package you could get from Oberlin. There’s no point worrying about this if transferring to Oberlin is not even a realistic possibility.