<p>Those rankings are essentially based on the scientific research and awards that a school has produced. It is factual as far as it goes and is indicative of the science quality of a school hence Rock>Penn makes some sense as it is one of the most accomplished scientific schools in the US. Same for UCSD which has far more famous science faculty than most schools. Do some research on those places and you might not feel so insulted.</p>
<p>How am I feeling insulted? Since you are all-knowing barrons, I will bow down to your superiority.</p>
<p>Esrajay, accusing someone of being a moron is uncalled for. We are all volunteers in this forum. We try our best, but we also do not always read every single post that's on a thread. </p>
<p>Secondly Esrajay, Wisconsin and Tulane are not ranked closely at all. At worst, Wisconsin is ranked between #25 and #35 in the nation. At best, it is ranked among the top 20. Tulane at best is ranked between #40 and #50. At worst, it is ranked significantly below that. Fiske gives Wisconsin a ***** academic rating and Tulane a **** (maybe even a ***) academic rating. Wisconsin is ranked among the top 20 in every field of study at the undergraduate level...and it also has top 30 MBA, LAW and Medical programs. With the exception of Biomedical Engineering, Spanish and a couple of other minor fields, Tulane is seldom recognized. So to say that they are ranked similarly is not accurate.</p>
<p>But I agree that picking between the two for something as meaningless as prestige or rankings does not serve anyone well. Two of the best graduate students I had the pleasure of meeting at Cornell were Tulane alums. Brilliant people who received incredible educations. The OP should think about what he wants, see how each of those two fine universities fit in the big picture and make up his mind accordingly.</p>
<p>Don't just judge schools upon ranking. Tulane has a very good name. Whenever I tell people my brother goes to tulane they are very impressed. You just wouldn't get the same response from Wisconsin. Most people view Wisconisn as just another state school like Iowa or Indiana. Remember, Wisconsin is 80percent instate. A good part of the student body are farm kids. At tulane, the average student is gonna be a lot brighter.</p>
<p>Most people who know anything about colleges think a lot more of UW than Tulane--that's why it is higher in every ranking around.<br>
As to the farm kids crack--one it is wrong as most UW kids are from the larger cities and suburbs--I doubt 5% come from farming backgrounds. There are more kids at UW from Chicago than off farms. That said what's exactly wrong with farm kids?? Also the instate ratio is 70%.
There is no such thing as an average student. UW has many more bright students than Tulane and some dumber ones. The latter tend to get weeded out pretty quickly.</p>
<p>MarcusG, the Tulane kids may be richer; maybe some are also brighter. But I assure you that being a farm kid doesn't make you unintelligent, nor does being from Wisconsin indicate any lack of sophistication. There are good reasons to attend either school, but your post reflects a certain snobbism mixed with naivete that doesn't really say much about about Tulane or UW-Madison.</p>
<p>I dont know much about UW, but I do know alot about Tulane. Tulane students are considerably better on the average than UW.</p>
<p>Wisconsin probably has more prestige.
Tulane is not good in English.</p>
<p>It is clear what you should pick.</p>
<p>If you don't know a lot about UW students then how can you draw that conclusion? lol.</p>
<p>I think the point in this thread has been made over and over so I won't repeat it.</p>
<p>tulane is better</p>
<p>tulane will give you the attention you need as a human being....at Wisconsin you are just another number and profs care more about there research than their students. It is interesting to note that barrons and maybe one other person who replied here attend or did attend Wisconsin. They are bias and trying to plug their school instead of giving honest advice.</p>
<p>And what do you base your advice upon??At least I know what I am talking about. UW as a large school places more emphasis on teaching than most large schools. You also have the resources of a large university that excels in many areas. Tulane was nearly broke a few years ago and is now trying to build some hype as they rebuild their reputation. Those are facts you can lookup.</p>
<p>Tulane has a gorgeous campus and the weather is a major plus. New Orleans has a crazy interesting culture. Tulane is also on their way back to the 30s of US News rankings. However, Madison has the higher ranked programs and the town in quite interesting as well(though it is freezing cold). I guess I don't have to decide until May, but I do think that Madison has slightly better name recognition, while tulane is considered a very good school that is difficult to get into, especially in the south. I may need to do more research.</p>
<p>New Orleans weather sucks. It is either hot and humid or raining. There might be three sunny dry days a year. Bugs are everywhere as is the smell of human waste and decay. The culture part is cool though. I did not find the campus very neat at all. Just small flat and random.</p>
<p>I never applied to Tulane, but I did visit. I thought the students were kind of snotty, but that's definetely open towards interpretation. For the cost of attendance, I think that Tulane could also maintain the campus better...it had lots of overgrown weed and stuff...</p>
<p>The campus is in a really neat area of New Orleans. It's in the residential area, with stately looking houses lining the streets with trolleys frequently passing by. New Orleans itself is a great town, even if you aren't into the whole partying thing.</p>
<p>My campus visit was interesting. I was late for the tour because it rained really hard and the streets completely flooded where it was impossible to drive!!! It was so strange, but the people in NO acted like it was perfectly normal. Eventually, the water was drained, but it took over 20-30 minutes. </p>
<p>The weather at UW couldn't be more opposite of Tulane's. It's really humid at Tulane. Another thing that freaked me out in NO was seeing a snake(I've never seen one outside of the zoo). I freaked, partly because it was in a grocery store, and partly because people acted like it was no big deal. Uhh...freaky...</p>
<p>Haha I miss this crap so much. I haven't been around CC since the summer leading into my senior year, the great "college freakout" summer almost everyone goes through. But boy, this was a lot of fun to read. Anyway, seeing as how I'm a student at UW with several friends attending Tulane, I thought I'd give my two cents. From what I've heard, while Tulane can give you some of the perks that all private schools can, for example nice rooms, it doesn't have the same academic flair that UW has. Not to say Tulane has a campus full of morons, nor that UW's student body is composed entirely of geniuses, but UW definately gives you more bang for your buck in the realm of academics. Also, personally, I have NEVER heard of Tulane as being a "prestigious" school. Now that may just be a coincidence, but it's true. The thing is though that all of the prestige crap shouldn't matter. Also, esrajay: your comment, "I dont know much about UW, but I do know alot about Tulane. Tulane students are considerably better on the average than UW," is ridiculously stupid, not only because you have no way of proving that, but also because you are doing the exact same thing as who you're attacking (barrons). A biased opinion isn't more resourceful just because it's coming out of your own mouth.</p>
<p>Well, this thread is getting interesting again. At last we are talking from experience instead of just making uninformed and unfounded statements.</p>
<p>When I was moving from Ann Arbor to Houston for my job. My professor said I should ask for combat pay...of course he was talking about the traffic, the humidity, and the bugs. When I got to Houston, they had this funny guy doing weather on the news, and every night he would show a picture of a blizzard storm in Chicago or somewhere up North. I was flipping hamburger on the grill in my short sleeves, and feeling lucky that I didn't have to worry about digging myself out from 16" of snow... What I am saying is that how you feel about the climate of a place is kinda personal...southern folks will think that Wisconsin is freezing cold, and Midwesterner will consider NO too humid. But you can get used to it.</p>
<p>And I have almost forgotten about the flood on the street. It's not uncommon in Louisanna. If it snows a lot in the winter, in the spring you will get flood problem along downstream Mississippi. Everybody has flood insurance and it's just part of everyday life. Cars stuck on a flooded street...snake in a grocery store...of course NO people acted like it was perfectly nomal. That's why they call it the Big Easy.</p>
<p>Here's the best article I've read on UW-Madison. It gives a very insightful discussion on the U of Wisconsin, the campus life and what makes the Madison campus unique:</p>
<p>"Madison is a truly awesome place to be. It is the perfect combination of an intellectual academic school and a hedonistic social school. It is very similar to Michigan in this respect. UW-Madison is unique in that both its liberal arts and its sciences are both extremely highly regarded. UW-Madison has over 40 programs that are ranked in the top 10 nationally. In terms of its pure academic reputation it is among the best in the nation. Almost all UW graduate programs are ranked very highly. Because UW it is so large and can accept a large number of students, and because it is in the Midwest as opposed to the east or west coast it is not as selective as some other schools that it competes or bests in terms of pure departmental rankings. Michigan also has this same problem when competing against the best from the east coast. The academic reputation of UW will help you in seeking a job, and especially in gaining entrance to a top graduate school.... </p>
<p>Downtown Madison lies between two very large lakes, Lake Mendota and Lake Menona. The campus of UW lies along the shore of Lake Mendota. The Memorial student union is on Lake Mendota and there you can sit on the terrace, drink a beer, feed the ducks, and watch the sailboats (weather permitting of course). UW-Madison has a very liberal campus, some people sarcastically refer to it Berkeley-North. There is a constant political dialogue on campus. In Madison you will see sit ins, protests, speakers getting booed off stage, legalize pot marches, socialists calling for revolution, and every other fringe opinion you can think of being expressed. I am a conservative person but I appreciate the liberal atmosphere because it leads to self examination and growth, which is important in a college atmosphere. I am currently at the University of Virginia in grad school and it is painfully clear how much there is to be said for a liberal campus atmosphere which we so sorely lack here. The UW campus is so large and the student body so diverse and open to anything that you can get involved in absolutely anything you have an interest in. State street is the street the runs from the edge of campus down to the Capital building marking the middle of the isthmus between the two lakes. It is a walking only street with TONS of bars, restaurants, shops, etc. It is a very cosmopolitan and fashionable area catering to very diverse interests and the real estate in the area is astronomically expensive (and unfortunately so are rents when you leave the dorms). Hardly any sudents drive in Madison as everything you could ever need is within walking distance. It is impossible to get parking from the university so if you decide you want a car you will have to pay for private parking running somewhere between $50-100 a month depending on your luck. I would say maybe 10% of students have a car (I had one since I was from Nebraska and had to haul my stuff back and forth). There are more bars on State Street and the side streets off of it than anywhere else I have been in the world except on Bourbon street in New Orleans (Dublin can't compare). Every night is a wild night on State Street. Everyone has a top 10 list of their favorite bars and these can be hotly disputed. The Capital square also has lots of great restaurants and bars. Halloween is totally wild where around 70,000 people take to state street dressed in every conceivable costume (don't bring children...). It is a crazy event that always ends with things being burned and police trying to stop things from being burned....The Mifflin block party is a similar event in the spring without the costumes, maybe not quite as big, but also probably even more out of control. Open house parties are all over. All you have to do on a weekend is walk around and pick the house with 100 out front people that suits you. DI athletics including Badger football and basketball are awesome if you like sports. </p>
<p>I just cannot express how much fun you will have living in Madison. It is always incredibly lively and there is more going on in Madison on a random Tuesday night than there is on most campuses on a Friday or Saturday. It is a very hedonistic place, but it is also a very intellectual place. Your professors will expect a lot from you. Most courses are graded on a strict curve. Personally I have found that many of my undergraduate classes at Madison were taught at a more advanced level than my graduate courses at UVA. Work Hard, Play Hard could definitely be the UW slogan."
(copied from the CollegeBoard forum 20791.2) uvacavmatt who wrote the above is a history PhD student currently at UVa.</p>
<p>I totally agree with what Matt said from my own experience. I couldn't have said it any better.</p>
<p>I got into UW, and I would have submitted an application to Tulane if I hadn't gotten into George Washington University in December. </p>
<p>Being from Georgia, Tulane seems to have a better reputation than Wisconsin. When I told people that I was applying to Wisconsin, hardly anyone had heard of it. They would always give me weird looks and ask "Why would you go way up there?" Most didn't realize UW's academic excellence, and would sometimes accidently mistake it for Nebraska or Iowa. </p>
<p>On College Confidential, you'll find more people making decisions solely based on US news rankings. I don't think that it would really make much of a difference when applying for a job or graduate school if you went to UW or Tulane. Both are good schools, with very different sizes, opportunities, and students. </p>
<p>As far as admissions is concerned, Tulane is harder to get into than UW. If you are in the top 10-20% of your hs class, you are pretty much in at UW. The average SAT is a 1250, and I literally had an acceptance a week after I applied. Tulane looks at applicants closely, though, and accepts less than half who apply. It's average SAT is slightly above a 1300.</p>
<p>Them Dawgs don't know too much about higher edumication.</p>
<p>Hoo - you have to remember that the standards for in-state and out-of-state are a bit different in the case of UW. Someone who gets in UW out-of-state would probably get in to Tulane as well, although this is not neccessarily the case for in-state.</p>