Still haven't decided: UW-Madison or Mizzou?

College Search & Selection
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<p>I have put deposits down for both schools because I honestly need more time to decide. I currently am most interested in going into journalism (hence applying to Mizzou) but am a bit unsure and also interested in English, political science, and pre-law. I am interested in becoming a journalist primarily (magazine journalism hopefully) or something like political, travel, or fashion journalism. I am also interested in editing/publishing, political speech writing, advertising, becoming an English professor, or becoming a lawyer (intellectual property law or child advocacy law), etc. Anyways, because I am undecided, I wonder if Madison is the better option because it is a better school overall. Then again, most of my interests fall under the journalism/writing umbrella, in which Mizzou outshines most if not all schools. </p>

<p>Here are my main pros/cons of each:</p>

<p>MIZZOU:
Pros-
1) awesome j-school
2) pretty campus
3) great facilities, whether it be the j-school, rec center, etc.
4) far away from home (a HUGE factor to me)
5) laid back student body
6) great internships/connections (Mizzou Mafia!)
7) awesome student publications to write for (Columbia Missourian--the actual city daily paper, not some fluff student newspaper, Vox magazine, spanish newspaper--im not hispanic, just speak spanish...)
8) great journalism study abroad programs and summer programs in NYC, London, etc.
9) Can get my masters in 5 years (With IB credit, it most likely will be 4)
10) Good Greek life
Cons-
1) Columbia, MO seems too small of a college town
2) Not a prestigious, highly regarded school outside of journalism (aka I'm screwed if I want to change majors)
3) Not an extremely motivated, intelligent student body (apart from the j-school)
4) J-school too competetive? (I'm not a WW Scholar, but in the honors program)</p>

<p>MADISON:
Pros-
1) Great campus, lots of energy
2) More dining/entertainment, especially State Street
3) Badger football...need I say more?
4) Solid school overall, pretty strong in everything if I change majors
5) Get lots of IB credit (but not my masters in 4-5 yrs like Mizzou)
6) get to live in Lucky apartments (really nice and modern, with kitchens, living room, bathroom, really cool decorations. etc)
7) Stronger student body it seems than Mizzou (more selective school)
8) Good Greek life--I already have an in at a great sorority
9) Better location for my interest in politics (many people get internships at the Capitol---I might even be interested in becoming a lobbyist, but don't want to say in Wisconsin)
Cons-
1) Party school rep.--I hate the whole drinking just to black out mentality
2) Too close to home
3) Everyone I know and their mothers are going to this school...I know its a huge place but I would like to do something differnt than everyone else
4) Not as many journalism opportunities as Mizzou, although the school can hold its own</p>

<p>These are the main things I can think of right now. I feel like I would choose Mizzou in a heartbeat if I knew 100% I wanted to pursue journalism, but I am a bit unsure...If a do go into journalism or anything really, I aspire to move to NYC after college and get a job at some newspaper or magazine/publishing house--anything as serious as the NYT to something as "unscholarly" as Seventeen Magazine (I'd actually prefer writing for a fashion/teen/women's mag than reporting regular news)</p>

<p>Since I am leaning toward writing/journalism/advertising/English professor over the more political/law stuff, should I just go with Mizzou and if I decide journalism is not for me transfer? Or is UW the better choice, even though I really would like to go somewhere different than all my peers and get out of Wisconsin? I like both campuses the same and cost is about the same as well.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

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<p>no offence, but you really should have tried to decide earlier… ever think about the waitlistees who are dying to get into either of those? And no I’m not waitlisted at either, I didnt even apply. </p>

<p>Anyways I don’t know much about either, so I’ll go with Lorelei’s (from Gilmore Girls) pro-con list rule. Mizzou has more pros, so pick it! Lol that wasn’t that helpful.</p>

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<p>*** I should clarify, I haven’t put a deposit down for Mizzou yet, because I called and they are more lenient with deadlines and said students still have like a week to decide…I just said i put down depostits for both so I wouldn’t have to ramble about this…so technically I have only taken one waitlistee’s place at UW-Madison, but that should be solved when I decide which school for sure in the next day or two…I know what you mean, I would never intentionally try to take someones waitlist spot, but I haven’t been able to think about colleges lately because of family/medical problems…</p>

<p>Anyways, I made a pro/con list earilier with way more stuff than I posted (GOT THE IDEA FROM GILMORE GIRLS! LOL—my fav show of all time–all 7 seasons on dvd) and Mizzou had both more pros and less cons…the only thing holding me back is that my uncertainty about journalism is a BIG con for Mizzou…so does it outweigh all of the pros it has over Madison?</p>

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<p>University of Wisconsin- Madison</p>

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<p>Any reason in particular why you think Madison? I really need reasons to persuade me either way…giving me the name of the school with no other info doesn’t exactly help, no offence.</p>

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<p>I think you should go to UW-Madison, since it sounds like you are not 100% sure about going into Journalism and Madison is better overall in other fields if were to change majors. Good luck.</p>

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<p>I also think you should pick Madison. It is higher rated and better overall. Mizzou has the better journalism school, but I think Madison is a better area. You will have more options at Madison and plus it also has a great journalism school. Good Luck!</p>

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<p>i’m in a similar situation except instead of wisconsin it’s a top 50 private with no journalism major.</p>

<p>i’m leaning towards mizzou for a few reasons.</p>

<p>first it’s cheaper, but that’s irrelevant.</p>

<p>journalism at mizzou will prepare you very well for finding a career after graduation. but if you decide you’d rather teach english, grad school is a perfectly viable option. the fact that mizzou’s academics may be a little less rigorous than wisconsin’s means that your work experience with the missourian, komu, etc. combined with your high gpa should give you a great advantage in law or grad school admissions if you decide to go that route.</p>

<p>you can pursue any of your interests with a journalism degree from missouri, so take a little risk and spend four years in columbia.</p>

<p>see you next fall?? go tigers :)</p>

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<p>I just read one of your other threads. And it would have seemed NYU was the best fit, but I can see money was a huge issue. If your instate to Madison I would def. go there. You will save your parents a lot of money and Mizzou is too rural to me too.</p>

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<p>she said cost was about the same, early_college.</p>

<p>i forgot to address your interest in advertising as well. mizzou’s j school has a track called strategic communication which looks really interesting. apparently you work with this agency called mojo ad to design advertisements and methods to reach youth markets. they’ve worked with nokia and some other top companies. so that’s always an option too.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the responses, and yes, cost is not an issue. I really am leaning towad Mizzou because the more I think about it, the more I think I will likely stay on the writing/journalism/whatever path instead of law or just politics alone…and at Mizzou, its really easy to double major/minor and a huge plus is getting my masters in only 4-5 years…</p>

<p>And @ early_college who said NYU would be a perfect fit…i know it is…i haven’t sent the ‘no’ reply card yet, but neither my deposit…my family is having some medical probs so we need to wait for all the tests to be done to see if surgery is required or not…so we can’t really say yes to NYU and take that risk…so instead Im hoping I will be able to afford NYU and send in the deposit a bit late (they say its okay but it can be risky b/c they start accepting waitlistees). So right now, I’m just assuming the worst will happen and I’ll have to choose between Mizzou and Madison.</p>

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<p>Oh, I’m sorry I must have read it wrong. LOL. Ok, well I would go with your heart though. But I really hope NYU works out for you and I think NYU would give you the most chances. I hope your family member will be ok and will not require surgery. I will keep you in my prayer’s and God Bless! Oh, I also remember your screen name from somewhere. Was it that thing on Yale’s Journalism thing? :)</p>

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<p>coffee addict,</p>

<p>I checked college board’s ACT numbers for both schools, and UW has a bit of an edge on the ACT scores for entering freshman, but it is not extremely large: UW 26-30 vs. MU 23-28 (that is the mid-50 percentile range). I can’t find the numbers for the J-school students in particular, but they are known to be a good deal higher than MU as a whole.</p>

<p>I lived in Madison for 5 years (and have a degree from there) and I live in Columbia now, and have for over a decade. It is true that I haven’t been in Madison in a long time, but comparing Madison in the past with Columbia in the present, I have to say I would prefer to be an undergraduate in Columbia. Columbia is very underrated as a college town. The J-school is literally adjacent to the downtown, which is full of shops, cafes, coffee shops and music venues. Movie theater right down town (first in town to show Slumdog Millionaire, by months!). Many hiking and biking trails close to campus. Very vibrant downtown, and overall it is larger than State Street.</p>

<p>While I enjoyed most of my UW classes, they were no smaller than those at MU and the profs were harder to get to know. </p>

<p>UW has a bigger name than MU overall, but most of that name is because of its graduate programs, not its undergraduate reputation. If you think you want to work in journalism, that MU name will be far better; not just the name, but the connections will be important.</p>

<p>I don’t know if this matters, but MU has announced there will be no tuition increase next year, and the budget is not being cut (salaries are frozen, but that won’t affect you. Just me.) I don’t know what UW is doing.</p>

<p>Good luck with the decision. You will enjoy either school.</p>

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<p>@ early_college, yeah, I posted on the Yale Journalism thing…</p>

<p>Thanks for the info on Columbia, MO, midmo!</p>

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<p>:). No problem, didn’t you want to go to Yale? I remember that you liked coffee like Rory Gilmore, lol and I never watched that show.</p>

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<p>thats alright, at least you are trying to decide now, some ppl wait until late june or july, or just don’t show up at all. I was just wondering…</p>

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<p>whoops double post…ignore this and read below:</p>

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<p>Of course I wanted to go to Yale!!! But that was a long shot and I got rejected!!! That’s okay, cuz I at least got on the WL at Columbia! SO HA Yale! lol</p>

<p>Oh, if anyone wants to read my latest (and most likely last) thread about this whole ordeal w/ Mizzou, Madison, and NYU, check here and offer any advice:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/new-york-university/707795-my-last-appeal-nyu-journalism.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/new-york-university/707795-my-last-appeal-nyu-journalism.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Sorry Coffee, didn’t know if you applied or not. Congrats on Columbia, which they get an undergrad journalism program. UCLA should also get one too. Columbia may be a good place to get a masters for journalism.</p>