<p>My first post on this site! I just finished my freshman year at Madison and I’m a biomedical engineering major (possibly going pre-med), so I hope I can give you some insight!</p>
<p>1) Not being able to get into the classes she needs and having her life delayed unnecessarily</p>
<p>Madison allows students to register based on the number of credits they have. With D2’s AP credits, she’ll be able to register before many of her classmates. Some friends in more humanities-oriented majors have had trouble getting the classes they wanted, but I’ve never had a problem with math/science/engineering classes.</p>
<p>2) Premed weed out - If she can’t get AP Chem in HS due to budget cuts, will she have a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving the weed out classes should she want to do that.</p>
<p>I took basically no chemistry in HS and I made it through freshman weed-out classes fine!</p>
<p>3) How much someone OOS who refrains from alcohol in order to maintain herself in tip-top athletic condition would enjoy attending what’s known as a great party school.</p>
<p>Madison is a great party school, but there’s a lot more to it than that! If she’s an outdoorsy sort of person, Hoofers (our outdoors club: skiing, biking, sailing, etc.) would be a great match for her. I strongly, strongly recommend living in the dorms her first year. The friends you make there are the ones that’ll stick with you all of college.</p>
<p>4) Coastie vs Sconer - She would hate this even being an issue. She really likes all kinds of people. I suspect that this is overblown, but who knows.</p>
<p>My roommate was from Connecticut and there was absolutely no problem with it. Just a hint though, they’re usually a Sconnie ;)</p>
<p>5) ChemE requiring mandatory lab over a summer term - can’t find another school that does this.</p>
<p>Most people stay over the summer after freshman year anyways!</p>
<p>6) Questionable advising - lots of CC stories about advisors being most unhelpful</p>
<p>The engineering department has a fantastic program for freshman trying to get their bearings. I can’t vouch for any other programs though. As long as you put in effort, they’re super helpful.</p>
<p>7) Difficulty/Uncertainty of being able to get involved with research - I can’t tell if this is an issue - are there many people who want to get involved and are unsuccessful?</p>
<p>Again, if she puts in the effort and does well in classes she’ll be fine. </p>
<p>8) Difficulty of navigating such a huge place</p>
<p>After two weeks it starts to feel small! The tours make it feel big but all of the classes are basically within two or three blocks of each other.</p>
<p>9) General attitude toward undergraduates of many faculty and graduate students at a major research university which is also a public school where teaching is not a priority.</p>
<p>I’ve had great teachers and horrible teachers. It’s about putting in the effort and doing what you can with what you’ve got.</p>
<p>10) Availability of getting help in a course if you need it.</p>
<p>Teachers and TAs are required to hold office hours where you can go in and talk to them about whatever you need. </p>
<p>11) Wisconsin winter - do people still plug their cars in at night? LOL!</p>
<p>I’m from MN so I might not be the person to ask about this, but Wisco winters really aren’t that bad! And we have a great bus system so it’s easy to get to class without having to walk outside a long distance. </p>
<p>Hope some of this helped! Good luck to your daughter with her search. Go Badgers!!</p>