UW-Madison vs. IU vs. Minnesota - HELP!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>When applying for college, I knew that I wanted to go into Business. I live in Wisconsin and chose three schools that I thought would give me an exceptional opportunity to study Business. Turns out, I was accepted into all three, and now I cannot decide. I've created some PROS and CONS of all three, but I just can't decide.</p>

<p>UW-Madison - PROS:
- Best overall school out of the three.
- Cheapest, I receive in-state tuition, obviously.
- Tremendous Business school.
- Great sports, which I love.</p>

<p>CONS:
- I like UW, but I don't like the urban campus vibe.
- I have to apply for the business school end of Freshman year, which I don't like.
- Have to maintain at least a 3.5 GPA to be considered for the business school, which can be difficult while you're adjusting to being in college.</p>

<p>U of Minnesota - PROS:
- Overall, a great school
- Beautiful campus
- Great being near Minneapolis
- Direct admission into Carlson
- Receive in-state tuition due to reciprocity with Wisconsin
- I love that every Carlson student must study abroad for a semester</p>

<p>CONS:
- I hate cold weather; moving north wouldn't help
- Lackluster sports
- The campus is HUGE, as is the student body
- Direct admission into Carlson seemed really easy, will it even be challenging?</p>

<p>IU- PROS:
- Absolutely beautiful campus, I love it
- IU is my first choice, I fell in love with the campus when I visited
- Decent with sports, at least basketball
- Kelley is an amazing business school, plus it's being renovated
- I LOVE Indiana, especially the Colts :)
- Hard to describe it, but IU just feels like the right fit</p>

<p>CONS:
- Good lord, the tuition is ridiculous. Roughly 10k more than Madison and Minn (at least)
- Big party school, I can deal with that, but I still like to focus on school
- There's that perception that there is a rather large intellectual difference between Kelley and the rest of IU
- Did I mention crazy tuition?
- Tuition
- About 8 hours from home; travelling would be difficult</p>

<p>To sum it up, here are my main concerns:
-IU is my first choice, and I absolutely love it, but the tuition could put me in roughly 120k debt for all four years.
- Minnesota just seems average, I like their Business school but I have a hard time finding other positives when compared to IU and Madison.
- I don't like Madison's urban feeling, but their sports are superb. Big concern here is applying for their Business school after freshman year when I've already been admitted into Carlson and Kelley.</p>

2

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<p>As a graduate student at “the rest of IU,” I have to ask where you get “that perception” - because I’ve never heard of it.</p>

<p>The debt issue makes it pretty clear-cut to me, though: IU isn’t worth $120,000 in loans.</p>

3

<p>It’s just what I’ve heard from students who are in Kelley and not in Kelley. May or may not be true.</p>

4

<p>You do not have to have a 3.5 gpa to get into UW SOB. A 3.25 is probably fine. 3.5 is the average so many get in with lower gpas.</p>

5

<p>I had to choose between Carlson (MN) and UW-Madison. I live in Minnesota, so UMN would be the cheapest. Also, I like knowing that I was guaranteed a spot into their business school. With Madison, there’s a possibility I wouldn’t get in my first try, or subsequent tries. I knew I had a good chance of getting into UW’s business school if I worked hard, but I enjoyed the reassurance from Minnesota. I know of some people who had to change their major to economics, which isn’t bad, after being rejected at UW’s business school.</p>

<p>Carlson and UW-School of Business are similarly ranked. With the University of Minnesota located in a city with tons of corporations, the internship opportunities and job prospects seemed very high. I believe over 85% of Carlson students have internships somewhere. </p>

<p>I did find Madison’s campus more attractive - being next to a lake, good/new buildings, college atmosphere. </p>

<p>Being next to the Twin-Cities, I felt that Minnesota had more things to do. At Madison, I felt like my life was confined to the campus. In Minnesota, if I want to go eat, go shopping, or find other activities, it’s literally like a 15 minute bus ride to major attractions like the Mall of America.</p>

<p>TLDR: I chose Minnesota (freshman 2016) because it was cheaper, because it was located near the city (job/internships/recreation), and because I was guaranteed into Carlson - a very good business school.</p>

<p>I know this post is extremely biased. But either UW or UMN would be a good choice. It depends on your personal preferences.</p>

6

<ol>
<li><p>Where, exactly do you propose to get the extra 10k you would need each year for IU?</p></li>
<li><p>Where, exactly, do you get the notion that Minneapolis is all that much colder than where you already live in WI? And where do you get the notion that moving to IN is going to make things a whole lot warmer? We are not comparing Nome and Rio after all.</p></li>
<li><p>Why do you think classes at Carlson would be so much easier than at Madison? </p></li>
<li><p>You can’t borrow 120k without having a very foolish cosigner. On your own, you can only borrow the Stafford Loan maximums each year. Pop over to the Financial Aid Forum and read up on paying for college.</p></li>
</ol>

7

<p>While most Carlson grads end up working in Minn, the recruitment and placement from UW is much more geographically diverse. Nearly 30% of UW grads go to jobs outside the midwest while only 10% of UM grads do. Also UW has put some distancr between itself and UMinn at #24 vs #41 in most recent Businessweek ranking for undergrads.
<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?;

8

<ol>
<li><p>Where would I get the starting tuition for Minnesota or Madison? Loans.</p></li>
<li><p>I never said it was a whole lot colder. Doesn’t take a genius to realize that, as you move north, the temperature will usually DECREASE. </p></li>
<li><p>Again, from research and talking to current students, classes at Madison average out to be more difficult than at Minnesota. Again, your wording, it’s misleading.</p></li>
<li><p>I have family that would borrow me the money, and family members that would cosign for me. The decision is up to me as to whether or not $120k is what I want to pay back.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks for the input, though.</p>

9

<p>Okay, here’s my advice:</p>

<p>Generally, I recommend following your gut instinct. But finances must take priority. $120k in debt is obscene and absolutely not worth it. Case closed.</p>

<p>So it’s down to Madison and Minnesota. Your pros and cons for these two are mostly irrelevant: the weather isn’t that different, both schools are huge, and you’d be spending a lot of time on West Bank at Minnesota which has quite an urban feel. I’d give an edge to Madison simply because it sounds like you are more positive about it. Carry that attitude over to next year and earn a high GPA.</p>

<p>If the preadmission is that big of a deal to you, I’m always happy to recommend Minnesota and you can PM me for more details.</p>

<p>(One quick note: if your goal is academic challenge, I wouldn’t really recommend a business major at all…with that said, I don’t think there’s a big difference. You can find the stats for Carlson [url=&lt;a href=“http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/academics/profile.html]here[/url”&gt;Academic Profile of Fall 2022 Admitted Freshman Applicants by College | Office of Admissions]here[/url</a>] and they are respectable.)</p>

10

<p>I knew that the most obvious first step was to knock Indiana off, which I have done. Now I’m having trouble deciding between Madison and Minnesota.</p>