<p>I go to a public high school in Wisconsin, and I can tell you we have some snobbish kids who think they are God's gift to the earth too. </p>
<p>Overall, I certainly don't think the location one lives in is the predominant element that determines attitude and character. Some kids who grow up in wealthy families are going to be extremely-down to earth, some kids who grew up without much money are still going to be rude no matter which part of the country they come.</p>
<p>I'll be at Madison next year, and will be happy to make friends with fellow Wisconsites and coast-dwellers alike.</p>
<p>(Oh, and I would totally live in California any day of the week. :P San Diego is the most beautiful place in the world!)</p>
<p>Most Wisconsin kids do not have their own bathroom- bedroom these days probably but not necessarily bath. I'd rather be well educated and lack snobbish polish. Most who go to college do not live the beer hall lifestyle you describe (the drinking age is currently 21). Nothing better about the foods you describe, only different. The point is that a small minority apparently feel they are too good for the lifestyle the rest of the students live and disdain the public dorms- dorms that are no worse than these students would find at most elite private colleges. Why come to Wisconsin if you won't mingle with the locals after hours, it is the local culture that produced the good university and most students are not spending their time out drinking any more than those in the private dorms are. I'm picking on you Barrons because of so many not nice statements you make on CC- you do a good job of scrounging for some interesting articles but other than that do not seem to have liked your sojourn in Wisconsin. Did you separate yourself from the mainstream here in your social life, or can you count instate residents among your college friends (I have OOS friends)? Have you seen the campus recently?</p>
<p>I have been reading this thread as my daughter just got accepted. Yes we are from the East Coast. I was troubled by some of the statements made earlier in this thread, by MWong for example, but figured that this relected immaturity. However, it now seems that this has gotten personal and there is some anger coming out. The fact that there is a rift and that people portray it with such vehemence is cause for concern for parents of OOS and Instate parents alike. Education is supposed to open one's mind, through academics yes, but also through learning from interaction with all types of people as well. </p>
<p>One of the crappy things about CC is that sometimes a thread is started by someone who may not know better and the interaction between people who may be very nice devolves through the magic of anonymous internet postings.</p>
<p>This thread should just die before a vendetta develops between wis75 and barrons, among others!</p>
<p>I had friends in both groups but must say most of my instate friends were from the Milwaukee suburbs like Whitefish Bay than upstate small towns. The rest were from California, DC and Chicago. It was a matter of shared interests--and when I went there the drinking age was 18 so nearly everyone was legal. My crowd gravitated away from place like the Pub and more to Rick's Havana Club, the original Nitty Gritty with live bands and Merlyns. We thought they were much "cooler". I did live in a public dorm, Witte, where I met my BFFL who was from LA. The next year my roommates were two from LA, me (NJ), and one from DC as well as a guy from NY who did not officially live with us but seemed to spend most days and nights at our place. Later on I had roommates from Boston, NY, New Orleans and Indy. I don't think many disdain the public dorms but often they don't get a choice and have to live in a private==probably about half of the new OOS students are in that group. The rest prefer the privates so they can have a single or a suite style place with a more private bath. I see nothing wrong in that--it's a free country. Madison has a culture broad enough for everyone. The one I liked did not include places like the Pub and the Brathouse and getting flat drunk before football games. I liked Ella's and Rick's and watching the games sober. I think we OOS'ers come to UW for the campus, the politics, the schooling, social/sports, and the town. If we meet and liked instaters fine but many I did meet just had different social interests. We like going to the foreign films on campus and such. Most if my local friends never heard of Truffaut or Bunuel and were not interested in going to them. You tend to spend time with people you feel things in common with and UW has enough diversity that you can find plenty of friends no matter where you are from. </p>
<p>My last visit was two years ago and I plan to go back this Fall. </p>
<p>I can hardly think of many not nice statements I have made about UW and Madison. Wisconsin the state I can take or leave.</p>
<p>PS-While I might have a different opinion than Wis75 I would never hold that against him/her. I do the local college fair booth for UW and do not hesitate to recommend UW to kids from Seattle.</p>
<p>Columbia1985, congratulations on your daughter's acceptance. UW truly is a wonderful school, on an awesome campus in a fantastic town! Suffice it to say, with 40,000 students roaming around, everyone will find their own niche and make wonderful lifelong friendships there! No worries.</p>
<p>Yes, I found the gap even more pronounced at UC Boulder because many of the wealthy OOS students were there for the P A R T Y (gratuitous Gretchen Wilson ref.), skiing, and coke. School was an afterthought unlike at UW were most everyone took school at least somewhat seriously. I am pretty certain this is a common complaint at any state U with a large OOS contingent and moderate instate incomes. Given OOS tuitions these days and limited aid it's just a fact the average OOS kid will come from a wealthier background.</p>
<p>Once again, I will reiterate that being from the coasts does not make you a "coastie." I have a lot of friends from the coast. Being a pompous jerk makes you a coastie. Dressing a certain way makes you a coastie. There are a lot of fauxsties from WI and especially from IL that may as well be coastie.</p>
<p>Also, as for being prepared in "the real world," just because coasties are from LA and NYC does not mean they are prepared for working in those cities. They tend to lack maturity, smarts and the je ne sais quois you need to be succesful in business, law, medicine, academia, etc. I think a lot of them think having a college degree, a cocky personality and good networking skills will get them really far really quick. This is true to a certain extent, but not for all. Coasties are notorious for crashing at their parents house and living off trust funds until they find a middle-level sales job because they often just don't have what it takes.</p>
<p>After all of this, let me rephrase my original question:</p>
<p>The label of "coasties" aside, if I choose to live in a private dorm, will I lose an important part of the college experience? I understand that based on the person what that means will differ, but just in the general sense am I giving something up?</p>
<p>And also, I understand that at most colleges I would be in a dorm like those at Wisconsin. I honestly feel that I would do fine in these and have a great time at college. If I go to Wisconsin over one of the privates I applied to, I would be saving my parents a substantial amount of money (due to tuition reciprocity). Them offering to pay for a nicer dorm was an incentive for them to be able to actually pay less for college. I don't know what this changes, but I want you to know that I don't feel my motivations were snobbish.</p>
<p>mohammed -- you're actually just pathetic if you think people who dress well and have refined tastes are going to end up at middle-level sales job. that's just sad that you're that naive to think that. the rest of the world isn't like wisconsin, so you're in for a real treat!</p>
<p>Serious lol @ coasties having "refined tastes" or "dressing well." Spandex, frumpy overzied coats, aviators and backwards baseball hats are not examples of refined culture or good fashion. I would consider myself to be much more "refined" than coasties, and I'm an in-stater. I look on in-state provincial slobs with the same disdain I have for idiot coasties. I find it strange that you brought this up, because "coastie" and "cultured" are usually mutually exclusive. </p>
<p>Anyway, I think you've missed the entire point of my post.</p>
<p>Volleysnap, the simple answer to that would be no. You won't miss out on the college experience by staying in the private dorms. It's a safe bet to say you'll probably still be spending a large amount of time in the res halls socializing anyway. If on the other hand, you have a hard time initiating contact to meet new friends, you may be better off in the res halls, just due to the sheer number of kids walking up and down the halls with easy access to your room. That's not to say you won't meet a lot of people in the private dorms though, so unless you're more socially "reserved," you should be absolutely fine!</p>
<p>Thank you for the answer, trn99. I am not at all socially reserved so I don't think that will be a problem. If I go to Madison a friend of mine would probably be one of my three roommates at lucky 101 as well (someone mentioned earlier that might be a good idea and we had already been planning this)
has anyone ever had a problem rooming with friends? good? bad?</p>
<p>I've read and heard a lot of stories about the friend who's a roommate situation, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Personally, I wouldn't risk losing your friendship over the possibility that you two can't live together due to different living preferences.</p>
<p>
[quote]
college degree, a cocky personality and good networking skills will get them really far really quick.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Actually, a college degree, a confident personality, and good networking skills WILL get you rather far in the big city. </p>
<p>
[quote]
just because coasties are from LA and NYC does not mean they are prepared for working in those cities. They tend to lack maturity, smarts and the je ne sais quois you need to be succesful in business, law, medicine, academia, etc.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Maturity, smarts, and je ne sais quois that a student cannot find in LA and NYC, but which, presumably, may be obtained in ... Wisconsin? Who knew :)</p>
<p>This thread is pointing out how a large school like UW means many different things to different people. Compare to the blind men examining the elephant. Although the age for beer was 18, then all alcohol, different students led different lives in my day. Only a certain portion of students are interested in business, some of us were heavily into the academics such as science. I think Barrons and I look at different faces of the same great institution. One tends to make long lasting friends among those in one's classes/major so I wouldn't worry about the people in your living space past those to hang out with while everyone finds their niche. </p>
<p>Choosing a selective living space does set you aside from the majority who live in the public dorms- it may have more creature comforts but will not expose you to some people smarter than you who come from all sorts of backgrounds. I had dorm friends who tried to convince gullible me that one of them from a small town up north (there is no upstate anywhere except in NY to my knowledge) had the only telephone in town- they were on work study, but not that out of date. Had discussions on "soda" versus "pop" versus "soda pop"- Milwaukee/Madison/Missouri (the latter according to a girl who had transferred as an OOSer there and at UW) and marvelled at the Kuwaiti girls there on scholarships who made arrangements days in advance to call home. We all lived in the quieter lakeshore dorms- I later had best friends in Barnard, none of us wanted to live in each other's area.</p>
<p>UW is in the Midwest and justifiably has a midwest flavor- no better, no worse than either coast. Sometimes insecurities make people stick with those from a familiar background. Others are looking to discover who they are and which lifestyle suits them as they didn't fit in in their hometown environment. So, to answer the original question- Where should the original poster live? Set your priorities. Is it more important to have creature comforts or to mingle with the masses? It may be too late to get in Res Halls unless you are instate and hurry before the March 15th? deadline. </p>
<p>Above all, remember the purpose of this institution is to serve the people of the state (have been seeing the UW Hospitals ads on TV recently)- no institution can be all things to all people. You may be going to a university you think of as a discrete college in a specific place but the mission of the school is to provide resources to all corners of the state, not just educate a few of the country's young people. This is one major difference between public and private institutions. This fact differentiates UW from instate private schools and its academic peers across the country- the state schools in other states are subject to the wishes of their state citizens and the private schools to whatever they have determined their mission to be (some religious). The flavor of every school in every location in the country is provincial (huge populations don't change that, merely give you more people with the same regional outlook), even if the academics are the same. You all chose Wisconsin and each of you will be influenced by both its location and the diversity of opinions of the students and faculty. Appreciate the fact that academics are valued here- the phrase is study hard, then the play hard part...</p>
<p>Just glanced at some posts again. Wisconsin has a coast with international shipping via the St Lawrence Seaway- and parts were settled well before there was a USA (the French, not just the English, were active in this continent in the 1600's). A major midwest difference from the east coast seems to be that public education seems more dominant here- one could say we lack the numbers of and elite private institutions at both the HS and college level, but one could also say the east coast lacks the best public institutions as their elite were sending their kids to private schools and didn't/don't spend as much on their public ones. Along the east coast the states are so close geographically and there are so many private institutions it presents a different college scene.</p>
<p>The east coast definitely does not lack good public schools. UVA, UNC, William and Mary, Penn State, Florida, Rutgers, GT, Maryland, etc. The midwest=UM, UW, OSU, Texas, Illinois, Iowa, and a few others</p>
<p>When people say the East Coast they really mean the northeast which is Penn, NJ, NY, CT and on up to Maine. Most of the schools you list are really in the South or Southeast. PSU and Rutgers are really the only similar ones with UConn working its way up to that level. And the private schools really tend to get most of the attention as the number of top quality large and small schools in the northeast is pretty amazing. Given the numbers you will always have a decent number of students from the northeast looking farther away for college and they tend to have the talent and money to be able to look around. </p>
<p>As to UW focusing only on the area within the borders of the state, I think that is a narrow and parochial view. Between Federal funding, OOS tuition for undergrads and grad students, and donations the UW probably gets about half its funding from out of state. It is well documented that direct state funding is less than 20% of the total budget. UW has always taken a broader view of its role as a national institution and the importance of OOS tuition to maintaining the quality of the UW in light of declining state funding has also been well documented. So today the UW in fact has to serve a broader constituency than just the state residents. A nice gesture in this direction would be to give ALL students equal access to the public dorms and stop treating OOS students as second class citizens. They are keeping the UW's head above financial water and providing the margin for excellence as well as helping give the UW a national reputation.</p>
<p>Evidence UW is much more than bounded by the state borders, the Gov's words notwithstanding, as any cures through stem cells will go far beyond the state's borders. He just said that to placate the locals and remind them that when UW benefits the nation and world they benefit too. Many of them have a tough time with that concept--especially in the Legislature. </p>
<p>"Madison - Wisconsin's capital city will host an international stem cell research summit this fall, which will bring up to 1,000 of the world's top researchers to Madison.</p>
<p>The World Stem Cell Summit, to be hosted by Wi Cell and the University of Wisconsin Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center on Sept. 22 and 23, will mark the 10th anniversary of James Thomson's isolation of human embryonic stem cells at UW-Madison. </p>
<p>Thomson is expected to give a keynote address about his latest breakthrough using human skin cells.</p>
<p>Gov. Jim Doyle, a major backer of the stem cell industry in Wisconsin, said the summit helps preserve Wisconsin's place as a leader in stem cell research.</p>
<p>"In Wisconsin, we are working hard to build innovative centers, to turn research into life-saving treatments in every corner of the state," he said in a news conference. </p>
<p>Madison beat out New York and Washington, D.C., to host the summit.</p>