O.K. – with one week to go before the May 1 deadline, my son toils over and constantly changes his mind about choosing St. Olaf, U of M-Twin Cities and UW-Madison. Facts ACT 33, 4.2 weighted GPA, a Minnesota resident. Currently thinks his major will be Biology and sometimes wonders about engineering. Thinking of pursuing medical school. Strong trumpet player.
UW-Madison: Accepted to College of Letters & Science, would want him to pursue Honors in Liberal Arts (HLA) program. He likes Madison and the facilities. Attended three lecture classes, ranging in size between 150 students and 400 students. He would pay in-state Minnesota tuition costs due to reciprocity agreement (about $26,000).
U of M- Twin Cities: Accepted to College of Biological Sciences, with a $2,000 merit scholarship (cost about $24,000). Like that CBS is a small college within the university. Liked the collaborative/team setting of the Biology class he was able to attend after goading the admissions staff for permission to sit in on classes.
St. Olaf: Strong in sciences and music, smaller class size, great campus and increasingly selective. He fears it might be too small and feel isolated. A merit scholarship brings our cost to about $34,000. This would be the choice of both parents, who think he might thrive best (and stay on track) with smaller classes and with more accessible professors. We do understand a large campus could be liberating for the right student.
Help!!! What were the deciding factors for others choosing between two – or all three – of these schools?
If money isn’t a factor, fit and gut feel.
All three are great schools, but big difference between the U, Madison vs Olaf as far as an experience. My DD, who also plays an instrument and wants to study biology, just finally decided on Olaf last week. For full disclosure , she did not apply to either the U or Madison as she had no interest in going to a big school in an urban setting. She was however stuck between two LAC’s.
She made her decision by making a list of the things that were important for her to experience over the next four years. Then she placed them in order of importance. This wasn’t a list of pros and cons of each school, but rather her wants and needs. After that, we looked at each school to see how they fit. Olaf won out for her for these reasons: Music program. Research opportunities- no grad students. Travel- both with the St. Olaf band and with study abroad programs. Not a suitcase campus- kids stay on campus on the weekends. No greek system.
In the end it was focusing on just her wants (which had evolved and changed since last fall when the whole app process began) that made it a fairly clear choice.
Strong biology + strong trumpet player + thinking about med school = St Olaf.
Other points:
Academics are strong and students overall focused. No Greek life. Music is to St Olaf what football is to Notre Dame. :d
It’s a “large” LAC (3,200 students) + biology professors are selected based on their ability to integrate undergraduates into their research + opportunity to intern at MAYO clinic in the summer + MANY possibilities for off-campus study (I strongly recommend the Semester in Chicago, for instance, can be done Spring sophomore year without a problem; Biology in South India is excellent for premed students as well as distinctive; additionally, “Humans and Biomes” in Arizona, Medical something in South America, Tropical biology in Costa Rica, or the infamous “islands biology” in the Bahamas are neat January term offerings that allow you to avoid Minnesota Januaries. 
Parent of UW Honors in the Liberal Arts student here – I will say, UW faculty have been incredibly approachable for our kid, he has developed close relationships with a number of them, often through the Honors section of a large class, where it is the prof who leads discussion section rather than a TA. My sometimes forgetful, spacey kid has really appreciated that he can, in fact, disappear in a class and not always be “on” as would be the case in a semester full of only seminars.
Parent Update: Our son decided on UW-Madison, believing it is the best fit for him. Your comments and advice is appreciated. As parents, we still felt St. Olaf was his best choice.
Great - put the $32K towards Med School.