<p>I have been accepted to UW-Madison as a transfer student. I got into the Banner program, so basically I can go with a full ride: tuition & room and board are covered by the grant that I received. I will be studying math & actuarial science, so I was also looking into UM-Ann Arbor and U of Illinois. I got into U of Illinois (I only received 9k through financial aid), but I did not apply to U. of Michigan this year because I thought the cost of attendance was crazy expensive and I had no chance of paying for it. But now that I'm thinking about it, maybe I should have applied to U. of Michigan and seen how much I would receive through financial aid!</p>
<p>So...
Should I just go to UW Madison or wait a year and apply to U. of Michigan and then make a decision to transfer? The only thing that's stopping me from making a firm decision to go to UW Madison is the prestige. For some reason, especially in my culture, everyone knows about UMich but most people haven't even HEARD of UW Madison. Most people believe that Michigan is a better and higher-ranked school than Wisconsin. Is Michigan's prestige worth it? Is the actuarial science/math program better at Michigan or Wisconsin? What about the scenery and the overall environment? I have visited neither, so I have no idea. Thank you for your input!!!</p>
<p>Math and AS are easily as good at UW as any of the others. UW is one of the few designated top AS schools as is Illinois. The others are not. Why would you wait to go to UM over a free ride at UW today? Makes no sense and same for UNC which is not even Top 25 for math and not known for AS.</p>
<p>For the first time in my CC life I am going to agree with barrons. Why on earth would you pay for Michigan or UNC when you can go to UW for free? Unless you’re a rich man this is a no brainer.</p>
<p>Haha yes at first, I was very sure that I’m going to Wisconsin but the prestige factor came into the picture a bit later when I told people around me and they had no idea about this school. So is Michigan not too much better than UW Madison (in prestige, academics, actuarial science program, etc.)?</p>
<p>With all due respect, you’re being silly. It doesn’t matter what the man on the street thinks, what matters is what employers and graduate schools think. And they all would agree that UW is a first rate school.</p>
<p>No, the difference in quality and prestige between the two universities, if any, is small. Based on what you have posted here, you should accept UW’s offer without hesitation. That is an amazing package.</p>
<p>That is an amazing offer. Michigan usually is seen as having a bit more prestige, but the difference is way too small to rearrange your life to try to achieve it.</p>
<p>Also, novaparent is right. While it can be nice to go around and impress random people with where you are going to school, the fact is the average person often has a very poor view of what school is good or not. This is especially true for UW-Madison, which has a great reputation with the “people that matter” but not as much for everyone else, including a lot of people in Wisconsin itself. A lot of Wisconsinites think UW is a good school, but they’ll also turn around and say their local UW-System school is good too and that Madison just has better sports. Obviously this isn’t the case, and employers and graduate schools know it.</p>
<p>Of course, another problem is that Wisconsin isn’t the most well known state. Michigan and Detroit are famous for the auto industry worldwide, so people will automatically assume that the U of Michigan is better than the U of some state they haven’t heard of (or have only heard in connection to beer, cheese and/or dairy farming).</p>
<p>It’s not even close. In my humble opinion Wisconsin is a better school straight up regardless of cost. If you walk into a room and say University of Wisconsin or say University of Michigan you’ll get no difference in reception aside from the ignorant Michigan alums or the upstanding Wisconsin alums (that’s a joke). If you haven’t seen the UW campus you’re in for a treat, it’s one of the most beautiful (though I hear Michigan is not bad) in the nation. Yes, I’m a tad biased since UW was for me a highly positive life-altering experience. I’ll take that over prestige (I’ve never regretted passing up an Ivy or West Point for UW) any day. Good luck to you. Take your free ride, enjoy it and don’t look back.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the program you got into at UW is pretty rare among state schools. It’s an amazing program, you will get everything paid for with quite a bit left over. </p>
<p>UW is an amazing school. Financially I would say it’s the best decision you can make - as someone who is in the program you got into I can say that most full rides don’t even cover everything this covers. Maybe UMich has a slight academic edge but I highly doubt you will get as good of an offer - it is extremely rare.</p>
<p>“It’s not even close. In my humble opinion Wisconsin is a better school straight up regardless of cost.”</p>
<p>See, I was trying to be a good and objective guy here but this is just too much. Tell it to the OP like it is: they’re both excellent schools, one (Michigan) probably does have somewhat higher “prestige” in some circles, but without question (unless you’re independently wealthy) when Wisconsin’s free and Michigan isn’t you go to Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Blessed- in the future please omit how you sent your post if you can- it’s distracting and useless.</p>
<p>WELCOME TO WISCONSIN! </p>
<p>Enjoy your choice and don’t look back. Of course we’re biased on this board- it IS the UW one… but you also can’t look at two comparable schools and ignore a huge price difference.</p>
<p>Hey.
I got into UW-Madison and UofMichigan this year. I’m also looking to go into Mathematics too haha. It was a tough decision but choose Madison. Although money was an important factor for me, Madison is a great school Just saying.</p>
<p>Hi MathArtGeek (the name says it all lol)! What was the most important or significant reason that u chose Madison over Michigan? I guess besides the money issue…</p>
just signed up for the orientation!</p>
Just saying.</p>