I was accepted to both of these schools and am having a hard time choosing. I am from Wisconsin, with many family members that went to UW Madison, so I am very familiar with it. I really love it there; I love state street, the sports, and the atmosphere. I also like the campus and dorms better than UMN. I would need to apply to Madison’s business school at the end of my freshman year, but I am confident that with hard work and a lot of studying I would be accepted. However, I am already accepted to the Carlson School of Management at Minnesota. I have visited it a few times, for a tour and an event they held, and I really like it. I love the atmosphere and family feeling they have at the school. There are 18 fortune 500 companies in the Twin Cities, and recruiters are always coming in and out of Carlson, so I feel that the opportunities are very good when it comes to getting a job or an internship. UW Madison is ranked higher for business (especially for Marketing, it’s 9th in the nation, and that’s what I think I will go into), but I feel that Carlson has better opportunities. I also got a $2,000 dollar scholarship for UMN, but that isn’t enough to sway my decision. I haven’t heard back from Madison about financial aid or scholarships. The other thing is, I eventually would like to live out on the east coast, Washington, or Oregon, so I want a school that has more opportunities to make connections and get interviews out there. I am worried that I will be stuck working in the Twin Cities, Milwaukee, or Chicago, which would be fine to start out with, but I do want to eventually to try living somewhere else. So basically, I like Madison as a college more overall, but I like the business school at Minnesota more. I can picture myself going to either school and having a wonderful time, which is what makes this so hard. I’m sure others have this same problem and I would love to hear about people’s experiences at each business school.
I’m not in business but I’m pretty sure you can take up a position in other cities after a few years. My brother got a position in Maryland and he didn’t go to a spectacular college. I hear Wisconsin is better academically but I know that Carlson students and graduates can still get good internships and jobs.
Well you are going into business and you said you like UM’s B School more. Maybe that is the overriding factor.
That’s true, but I know madison is ranked better for business. I also like Madison’s campus more. It is a tough decision…
You have two great choices, and can succeed in either. Don’t get too hung up on rankings- you’ve seen how strong Carlson is.
Also, you won’t be “stuck in” the Midwest if you don’t want to- lots of companies from the coasts recruit at both schools.
If all things are roughly equal, go with the lower cost school- and use that extra money for a study abroad program or something to add to your resume to show broad experiences. If the cost difference isn’t enough to add such an experience, it sounds like your heart is already leaning towards Bucky-the-Badger land.
You’ll be recruited by more Minneapolis based companies if you go to UMN
Thanks guys! They cost the same for me since I have retroprocity. I shouldn’t worry about it too much I guess haha, since they are pretty similar
Won’t you be recruited by Chicago based companies if you go to UW-Madison? Sure, we’ve got some great corporations here but Chicago has some classic brand management biggies: Kraft, Sara Lee, Quaker Oats . . .
Not trying to sway you one way or the other. I did my MBA in Chicago and live in Minnesota and one thing I’ve noticed is that there are plenty of Fortune 500 companies in both locales.
Definitely! Chicago has a lot of job opportunities, but it it not so convenient for internships, since it is a lot farther away from Madison’s campus. I will keep that in mind though
Not sure I understand your point, @Heather29.
If you are thinking that UW is somehow too far away from the city of Chicago to attract many top companies to the campus for internships, I believe you are very much mistaken unless you’ve heard something specific about this from someone at UW. Chicago is less than 2.5 hours away from Madison, slightly farther than the distance to UIUC. There is no undergraduate business program at either Uchicago or Northwestern. UW’s undergrad. business program is much more highly ranked than the Milwaukee schools, or Loyola, or DePaul, or UIC. It has a national reputation so will attract national corporations (from Chicago and elsewhere).
Now, if you are talking about being able to live on campus during the summer of your internship, that may not be a possibility for you in the dorms, so you’d need to find housing anyway even if you came to Carlson. But many companies will assist in the housing question as will the career center at either school.
Perhaps you can see if the career resources people from both schools can send you internship information, or maybe they can connect you to one of the students working in career services who can answer some of those questions.
Great companies headquartered in Minnesota:
UnitedHealth Group Inc.
Target Corp.
Best Buy Co. Inc.
3M Co.
U.S. Bancorp
General Mills Inc.
Supervalu Inc.
Medtronic Inc.
Ecolab Inc.
C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc.
Xcel Energy Inc.
Ameriprise Financial Inc.
Mosaic Co.
Hormel Foods Corp.
Pentair Inc.
St. Jude Medical Inc.
Valspar Corp.
Patterson Cos Inc.
Polaris Industries Inc.
Fastenal Co
Donaldson Co. Inc.
H.B. Fuller Co.
The Toro Co.
Regis Corp.
Deluxe Corp.
Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.
OneBeacon Insurance Group
TCF Financial Corp.
Life Time Fitness Inc.
Graco Inc.
Allete Inc.
Select Comfort Corp.
Otter Tail Corp
G&K Services Inc.
Imation Corp
Tennant Co.