<p>I've been accepted to both and will double major in Philosophy and International Relations, which one will better prepare me for a career in Foreign Service, in your opinion? I know that Rutgers doesn't have an IR program but only Political Science but they have the Center for Global Security and Democracy. I don't know about the CGSD so if you know anything about that please help me as well. Thank you.</p>
<p>Rutgers is generally quite good in philosphy and good in IR. I think it would come down more to where you would enjoy four years of college the most and get the most out of it. If you are instate for RU it would be hard to justify spending the OOS money to go to UW. However I can say with great confidence that UW is a happier more happening school.
I’m from NJ and pretty familiar with RU and UW.</p>
<p>Started my college career at Rutgers and finished at Wisconsin. There is NO comparison between campuses with UW winning hands down although parts of the original College Avenue campus and Old Main are quite picturesque. The campuses on the other side of the Raritan river felt more like an office park back then and I haven’t been back in quite a while to see if it has changed.</p>
<p>As barrons said, I would not pay OOS tuition to go either way since both are fine schools but if $$ is not an issue, the undergrad experience at UW will far surpass that at RU though it will be a little colder in the winter. ;)</p>
<p>It hasn’t.( to see if it has changed.) Now they just need to get one grease truck to make the drive to Madison and set-up shop.</p>
<p>Funny, I am sitting on the Piscataway campus of Rutgers looking for info over lunch to help my daughter who has just decided to leave NJ to go to Wisconsin (Chem Eng). However, one thing that is really different in the student bodies is diversity. She really saw it, Rutgers is amazing diverse: socioeconomic, race, and international background. That will impact your experience especially in international studies. Many schools including Wisc have diversity at the graduate level, it is the undergraduate diversity that varies more. Also, the train here takes you right to New York, great for international exposure too.</p>
<p>UW is VERY diverse socio-economically with many instate kids paying their own way to (often) out of state kids living in luxury penthouse apts essentially on campus. Race wise NJ certainly is a more diverse state and RU reflects that. UW undergrad does attract a good number of Internationals and the student body is more geo diverse than RU by a good margin. I too made the move from NJ to Madison for college and hardly looked back. There is a bus that runs all day from the UW Union to Chicago. Not NY but it does the job for urban get away. I think she will like it.</p>
<p>C’mon, barrons, UW has a lot on RU but to suggest that UW is in any way more diverse than RU is ludicrious. What are you suggesting, that there are fewer working kids and no rich kids at RU? Just look at its back yard! </p>
<p>An honest response to JerseyProf is this: RU is more diverse than UW in every significant way and by a long shot. Much of this is because of location; Wisconsin is one of the whitest and most middle class states in the union. UW is working hard to improve diversity, but it’s never, ever going to rise to the level of RU. If diversity is a primary consideration in your college choice – go to RU.</p>
<p>RU is 10% OOS, UW is 35%. Just because RU has lots of upper middleclass Indians and Asians running around College Avenue not to mention the Guidos who are certainly a unique race does not make it more diverse. The son of an Indian systems analyst is not much different than the son of a Puerto Rican systems analyst. (BTW that would be my brothers kid who goes to Rutgers and is from outside Somerville NJ. Don’t try to BS me on NJ. I spent many years growing up there. I visit my brother and sister there yearly. Go to the RU sports discussion board (as I do daily) and on thing they want to see is RU get more OOS students because the place empties out weekends…</p>
<p>You’re on a roll, barrons. I’m sure everybody wants their kids to go to UW and grow up to be just like you!</p>
<p>So you don’t dispute my facts? Actually I attribute my style to growing up a poor Puerto Rican boy in NJ. You had to be a little tougher than average and giving verbal beatdowns was much easier on the body than getting physical. UW had nothing to do with that.</p>
<p>Here’s a link showing that more than three times as many RU students receive Pell grants (a key indicator of financial need) than UW students. Note also that UW’s percentage is barely higher than U-Va’s. Apparently there’s more to RU than rich Indians. Oh, and see you at the races, barrons!</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.tcf.org/Publications/Education/pellgrant.pdf[/url]”>http://www.tcf.org/Publications/Education/pellgrant.pdf</a></p>
<p>[ScarletNation.com</a> - Message Boards](<a href=“http://rutgers.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2330&tid=127124354&mid=127124354&sid=988&style=2]ScarletNation.com”>http://rutgers.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2330&tid=127124354&mid=127124354&sid=988&style=2)</p>
<p>Wisconsin is blessedly low on the very poor that would qualify for Pell and most of them are concentrated in one city which has its own large UW campus that most Pell students choose to attend. It has many more working class types than the many upper income folks in NJ and this is the economic diversity that is at Madison. People just like Carol Bartz and John Morgridge who rose from relative lower middle class backgrounds to work their way through Wisconsin and moved on to becoming CEOs of some of the largest companies in the US.</p>
<p>Great point, barrons. If only it had anything to do with diversity . . .</p>
<p>There are many types of “diversity”. It’s not just about race. Is a Buppie from Montclair whose parents make $250,000/yr adding all that much to “diversity”?</p>
<p>How does RU manage to fit in all the Buppies along with all the poor kids that UW has so “blessedly few” of? You’re tripping all over yourself with your inconsistencies, barrons. And didn’t you already say that UW had all those rich kids living right on campus in their fancy private dorms? And how many of the out of staters at UW aren’t rich white kids from other midwestern states? After all, with UW’s lousy financial aid who else from out of state can afford to go there?</p>
<p>Seriously barrons, arguing that UW is on par with U-Va is one thing, but arguing that UW is as diverse as RU? You’re making a fool of yourself.</p>
<p>No racism is involved people, the number of different groups represented from all over the world is an interesting consideration, we are trying to HELP a person interested in international studies, and personal experience is great. As it is good for a person raised in one part of the US to experience another. Access to NYC has to do with the site of the United Nations for someone in International Studies, Two great schools, different strengths and weaknesses. Find your best fit.</p>
<p>Great post, Prof. Getting away to a different part of the country is an education in itself. A college campus is its own world. Being surrounded by poverty doesn’t enrich the expereince if that is the case in NJ. Consider the academics- will exposure to ideas in the classroom in the relevant courses be better at UW? Will opportunities for grad work/admissions and job networking be best at UW? Accessibility to another city is not part of most students’ lifestyle if there is enough going on locally. That can be accomplished during vacations. If finances are not an issue and you want UW, go for it.</p>
<p>Thank You all for the post, they are helpful. On the subject of internships would RU be hands down the best pick because of its close proximity to NYC and the UN? Also, which school has the best study abroad program, in your opinion? And finally, would both RU and UW give me a very similar education in both Philosophy and International Studies (Although Rutgers doesn’t have a IR Program will there Political Science Major suffice)?</p>
<p>P.S. Both are ruffly the same for me to attend so the price is not a factor.</p>
<p>UW has very good connections all over the world. Better than Rutgers in that regard. It also has an outstanding selection (150) of study abroad programs all over the globe and offers more languages than any other college in the US. RU only offers 60 study abroad programs. UW is encouraging all depts to include study abroad components into each major. It also is raising money to provide scholarships for students to study abroad.
The UW Chancellor just returned from a very good trip to China and they will be adding programs with Chinese colleges in the near future.</p>
<p>[The</a> Division of International Studies at UW-Madison](<a href=“http://www.international.wisc.edu/]The”>http://www.international.wisc.edu/)</p>
<p>[The</a> International Institute at UW- Madison](<a href=“Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS) – University of Wisconsin-Madison – UW–Madison”>http://www.intl-institute.wisc.edu/)</p>
<p>[International</a> Academic Programs: Program Search Page](<a href=“http://www.studyabroad.wisc.edu/programs/index.asp]International”>Programs – Study Abroad – UW–Madison)</p>
<p>“Being surrounded by poverty doesn’t enrich the experience if that is the case in NJ.”</p>
<p>Wow. </p>
<p>The point isn’t that RU is in a neighborhood “surrounded by poverty” but that the school, unlike UW, actually ENROLLS and serves low income and minority students and exposes its students to real rather than faked diversity. </p>
<p>[Cut-and-Paste</a> Diversity](<a href=“Cut-and-Paste Diversity”>Cut-and-Paste Diversity)</p>