<p>Although I don't post regularly, I thought others might be interested in a report on a college visit my family just completed - we combined a trip to the in-laws with stops at University of Wisconsin - Madison and DePaul. As a quick refresher: DD is a rising junior interested in large schools and/or urban campuses with a vibrant music scene (alternative/emo/indie) and a good business department (with internship possibilities a plus.) We realize that summer is not the ideal time to visit campuses, but at this stage of the game, we're trying to keep things low-key and combine vacations with visits whenever possible.</p>
<p>The University of Wisconsin has a beautiful campus - 900 acres of trees, flowers, and gently rolling hills situated on the shores of Lake Mendota. The town of Madison itself offers many restaurants, bars and shops (DD spent some time browsing the music stores) and is often cited as a "best place" to live and work. We happened to be there just as summer school ended, so there were still quite a few students milling about.... just enough to give us a flavor of the campus atmosphere. In fact, we spent the night before our visit/tour wandering along State Street (the main drag), eating dinner and people-watching.</p>
<p>The information session was pretty standard - a slickly-produced video followed by a power point presentation. The admissions official was informative if not terribly inspired. In their profile of admitted students, the GPA (middle 50%) is 3.5-3.9 (UW academic) with an ACT range of 26-30 (SAT 1180-1350). Someone asked about out-of-state admissions and if the admission criteria were noticeably different; her answer was "different but not noticeably." (It looks as if Wisconsin has a large number of out-of-staters - between 25 and 30%. At our session we had a healthy contingent of prospective students from the East coast and other Midwestern states.) The estimated cost of attendance for an out-of-state student is now $31,000 (as compared to $16,000 for in-state.) </p>
<p>The admission counselor was rightly proud of 2 statistics: that Wisconsin has produced the most Fortune 500 CEOs (okay, they're tied with Harvard) AND they also send more graduates to the Peace Corps than any other university. I also thought it was interesting that the speaker strongly encouraged applicants to submit at least 2 letters of recommendation (one academic and one personal), even though (technically) such letters are not required.</p>
<p>Our guide for the campus tour was awesome - enthusiastic but not overwhelming, with a sardonic sense of humor. (For example: Did you know that the Languages Dept. at Wisconsin offers a course in Elvish?) He also solidified my daughter's interest in Madison when he mentioned that he plays lead and bass guitar and has taken music classes in guitar/band. The tour lasted about 90 minutes and included exterior stops at most of the major classroom buildings and libraries. We did visit several classrooms where the guide talked about class size (average class size of 29 and 10% of classes with 100 students or more.) Several parents expressed concern over class size, and the guide did mention that the Honors College was one way to avoid the "dreaded TAs." (Disclaimer: Back in the day I myself was a TA, so I know that they're not necessarily the boogeyman that many imagine.)</p>
<p>The dorm room seemed standard: cinder block walls, tile flooring, pretty cramped (but aren't they all?) Housing options appear to be varied, with "most" freshmen living in one of 15 University Residence Halls. We didn't get a chance to eat on campus, but there seemed to be plenty of options. We heard a lot about the plethora of campus organizations, and of course they offer any major you can think of (Iberian Studies or Rural Sociology, anyone?) The quantity and quality of potential majors is appealing to me, since my daughter is still undecided (although leaning towards business, as I said.) The business school is highly regarded and recently required a 3.4-3.6 GPA for admission.</p>
<p>Daughter's impression? She liked it better than the other large state schools we've visited (oh, and it helped that The Fray was scheduled to give a concert there.) She feels that here would be a critical mass of "her kind of people"(whatever that means), and she liked the laid-back, liberal-leaning vibe of the campus. She also liked the "large-ness" of it all. At this point, it's still "on the list."</p>
<p>Parents' opinion? I liked it just fine. The quality of the academics and the reputation of the school are definitely selling points. The large size bothers me a little, but that's her choice, not mine.</p>
<p>Boy, this is much longer than I thought it would be! Guess I'll do the DePaul report later....... Hope this is helpful to some one else.</p>