So I have been reading all these comments talking about how difficult the classes are at UW Madison. But is it really that bad?
I am coming from Iowa State University. I find it difficult to believe that Madison would be significantly harder than other Big 10 and Big 12 schools. Im sure its tougher than Iowa State, but I can’t imagine the academic rigor to be too much tougher since both schools are in the same category relatively speaking. Meaning that
both schools are thought to be on the same level basically.
But if Madison is really gonna be tons harder than ISU please someone let me know. Cuz ISU ain’t exactly easy.
It’s on a curve and uw are all “a” students essentially. The student body grades and tests are well above Iowa let alone isu. But if u got in you belong. But yes whatever your grades were they’ will be tougher to get at uw.
And not sure anyone in academia would mention uw and isu in the same breath but again if u got in work hard and do it. Congrats.
There aren’t many “gut” majors at UW, though you can find the easier class here and there, especially to fill out your gen eds. You can search the current course offerings online, and if you search for “grade reports” you can find the historical grade distribution for every class every semester. You will find that, overall, the average freshman gpa is something like a 3.1 and maybe rises to about a 3.3 by senior year (I can’t recall exactly). You can also see the average grades within each College, such as Business, Engineering etc.
Bottom line, UW is known as a “work hard, play hard” school – and those that neglect the “work hard” part often wind up transferring out to a regional campus.
Yeah that doesnt seem to be true. From the stats I have looked at, Madison students score higher than ISU, but not by a large margain.
For context, I am coming from the Greenlee School at ISU which is a top 10 school for Communications and Public Relations. I can’t imagine Madisons Communications department to be all that much harder.
Middle 50% ACT at ISU is 22-28. At UW it is 27-31. That is a different peer group.
So, you have been accepted as a transfer student at UW. This means UW knows you can handle the work. Perhaps you have been able to do well at Iowa State without working too hard. There must be academic reasons you want a UW degree. You will earn your degree and know you got a great education.
Not all athletic conference schools are created equally. Yes, UW has a higher stats student body for your peer group. Yes, you may need to work harder but you are also likely to have more material presented to you and get more out of your classes than at some other schools.
Be prepared to not only take part in the social (“play”) aspects of the school but to study hard first. It is nice to be in an atmosphere that, despite being a school with a party reputation, students expect to work at least as hard.
Do expect things to be different. You may find some courses easier and others harder. Your previous work may prepare you for some but not others. There will be an adjustment. You have reasons to transfer, keep those in mind if/when things may get to you.
Most survey courses I took were pretty hard for me, and I was a good student – not a superstar, but a 30 ACT (no studying) and 3.75ish hs student. I finished UW with about a 3.0 – partly due to my social habits, but also due to the difficulty of the avademics. I was a Journakosm major.
Among survey courses, I recall one in particular: my Botany class’s exams were mostly multiple choice, but instead of A-D the options were more like A-J. My Criminology, History and Sociology/Demography exams were all essay-based – written in what we called “blue books”.
UW has quite a larger academic rep than Iowa State – ranked in the teens, 20s and 30s in most global reputation rankings, ahead of all other flagships except Berkeley, Michigan and UCLA, and about even with other top flags like Washington, Illinois and maybe Georgia Tech and, depending on the ranking, UVA and UNC. Texas and UCSD are among large publics that do well in such rankings too. The huge research budget/output, nobels, and high-quality faculty spur the global academic rep. The undergrad level is not quite as highly ranked, but the academic quality and rep are still pretty strong, something you’re about to own the satisfaction of discovering.
ISU consistently ranks among the top 30 as well. Though its never broken the top 10. My particular school, Greenlee, however, is consistently top 15 for Journalism and Mass Communication. And the reason I wanna come to Madison is cuz I am from Wisconsin and want to finish my education there.
@Hobo2Student My son from Wisconsin is a freshman at ISU. He seems to enjoy it. He has met some great kids and loves the campus. I don’t think he intends to try to transfer, not that he has mentioned anyway.
Keep those ACT ranges for ISU and the UW posted above with a grain of salt. ISU has no say in who they admit. As I’m sure you remember, there is an admission formula set by the regents that every public univ in Iowa has to follow.
Couple things for you to consider…are you guaranteed admission to the UW school of journalism and mass comm? How likely are you to finish in 4 years at the UW - and does that matter to you?
UW Madison has the bigger name and bigger reputation. That doesn’t have to take anything away from ISU though.