<p>Now I got into both schools. </p>
<p>Please try to persuade me to choose UVa over wisconsin for chemistry.</p>
<p>You have a thing for secret societies.</p>
<p>Personally, if I were all about academics I would go to UVA. If I wanted an awesome social life while studying then I would choose UW-Madison.</p>
<p>
… for chemistry?</p>
<p>Sorry as much as I love UVA… for chemistry I would choose Wisconsin.</p>
<p>UVA: Great school, good parties. UWM: Great parties, good school. If school is more important to you, UVA every time. (Also it’s warmer, and it’s REALLY well known and well respected in Northern Virginia, where there are a lot of companies doing government contracts. I dunno if a lot of them are chemical, but engineering-wise it’s chock full of them.) UWM has an even more lively social scene, and I think is better at the non-prep sports. It’s not exactly in the middle of anywhere. Is it cheaper for you though? That could make a large difference.</p>
<p>It’s (UW) kinda in the middle of a triangle with Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis and Madison has grown to be pretty big town on its own–much large than C’ville. Most UW grads end up in one of those 4 cities. I think UW sciences>>>UVa and the sciences draw the best UW students so academics are on par with Uva. Here’a little consultants report on UVa Chemistry which includes Biochem–at UW biochem is another dept of similar size to Chemistry. UW Chemistry just got funding for four new additional professors due to demand for classes. </p>
<p>The chemistry department has 25 tenured/tenure-track (TT) faculty from CLAS and two
members from other UVA schools. Most faculty members are active researchers. The
department prides itself on the interdisciplinary work carried out by its faculty as well as
the breadth of technical areas represented. Their undergraduate program is among the top
10 producers of bachelor’s degrees in the US. The department ranked nationally as
number 42 in USNWR’s 2007 graduate program rankings and could not maintain even
this relatively low standing, dropping to number 50 in the recently released 2008
rankings. This is too low for UVA’s research aspirations. The department may not be
big enough both to produce top quality undergraduates in relatively large numbers and
achieve eminence in graduate research. It lacks the necessary infrastructure, TA’s and
other support for graduate students.
The department has sought for many years to grow to 28-30 faculty members on a
sustained basis in order to carry out their programs and raise their national rankings.
They participated in the successful BOV distinguished faculty recruitment and recently
made an offer to a highly regarded junior person. One measure of their current standing
is that retention of faculty members is a real issue. For the requested growth and to deal
with faculty recruited away, they seek permission for two recruitments per year for
several years. In addition to faculty lines, the limiting resource for recruiting new faculty
is startup support.</p>