UW-Madison vs UofM Twin Cities?

College Search & Selection
1

Howdy!

I’ve lived in Wisconsin my entire life, at a little town 20 minutes south of Madison. I recently got accepted into Twin Cities, and I am debating whether or not to even apply to Madison.

People here always brag about how amazing Madison is. And maybe it’s true. Madison certainly has great programs and a big impact on worldwide research. Is Minnesota similar?

I know both are Big Ten schools. I am personally not a fan of the sports, drinking, and partying culture. Which is less… Football-y?

I know Madison’s campus is super spread out, and cold. Transportation there intimidates me. Is Minnesota similar? I hear that it’s even more cold. And if it’s in two cities… Would it be even harder to navigate?

People talk about Twin Cities being one of the happiest cities in the US. Is it true? There certainly seems to be a lot more to do in St. Paul and Minneapolis than in Madison. However, I’ve been to Madison several times and the Twin Cities only once or twice.

I know Madison’s super liberal. What’s the political atmosphere of Twin Cities?

Which one do you think is better?

Thank you!

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Is cost a consideration? Wouldn’t UW in-state be cheaper?

3

I would get in state tuition at Minnesota. WI and MN have a reprocity deal.

4

Football is a big thing at UMN-TC. There are the Vikings too. But there are a lot of other things to do other than football. Minneapolis has the Skyway System where you can move from place to place without having to deal with the elements. The two cities are adjacent to each other and are separated by the Mississippi River.

I was a transplant to the Twin Cities area for 7 years. People there are more relaxed/ less high strung than other areas. They’re more likely to be involved in sport or outdoor activities. I could always tell that it was deer season opening day, because the roads would be much less busy. I found the area actually more conservative than other places that I’ve lived in the US.

The campus is fairly compact. There is a lot of research going on at the “U”. I haven’t been to Madison, but UMN-TC is probably more urban.

If you want a more urban campus or you want to go further from home, I’d say choose UMN. If you want a more small town feel and closer to home, then Wisconsin.

5

Minneapolis is a liberal city, but not “super liberal” as are Berkeley & Madison.

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My oldest daughter graduated from UMN-TC in 2016. She is very liberal and definitely found friends who felt the same way. She was not a huge sports fan. I think she went to one or two football games and several hockey game (which she enjoyed more than football). While she was attending, a light rail line opened that runs right through campus, making the public transportation there even better. She was able to hop on the light rail to get to the airport, which made holiday transport much easier. It is cold in the winter, and spring lasts a long time. UMN does a great job of clearing the snow on campus, and there is an underground tunnel system to make it warmer in really cold weather. The campus bus system is also very good. I strongly suggest you visit to see how you like the campus if you haven’t already.

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One sad thing about UW is that the state/governor has cut funding there by hundreds of millions and has also made tenure “in name only”. (I think that the money went to a sports arena in Milwaukee but check my memory on this.) Tenured profs are subject to a board that the governor appoints and can be terminated. Several profs left as a result–the ones that could leave did leave. While UW is still a great school, sadly it’s stressed from these moves.

I personally think that in light of this you may want to try Minnesota – also it might be fun to try a new city.

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What are you interested in studying? Each university has relative strengths and weaknesses in academics.

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Ok - I live quite near the U of MN and am a U of MN alum. I’ve also had occasion to visit Madison campus and surrounding areas several times in the past year. My son is applying to both this fall.

The U of MN is sprawling, but there is excellent transit. The light rail cuts right through campus. What school did you apply to? While you are completing gen eds you might be running around a bit but most schools concentrate their classes in one area. I graduated from CSE and was not a partier at all and I survived. My kid won’t be a partier. Both schools will have tons of parties if that is your scene but I do think these bigger schools have something for everyone. And I think there is much more available for students to do outside of partying than when I was a student (clubs, events etc). Plus twin cities is near a lot of urban amenities. We have one of the best bike systems in the US, lots of outdoors stuff to do all seasons. The U is accessible to the river trail system which is fabulous. Many museums and theaters are accessible just via the light rail.

To characterize Minneapolis/St. Paul as conservative is just wrong. Yes, there are more conservative suburbs and pockets places but Minneapolis in particular regularly makes top 10 most liberal lists for US cities. Um, yes Berkeley is more liberal. LOL. The last list I saw had Mpls at 6 and St. Paul at 13. I literally know no one who deer hunts personally. There is a very welcoming LBGTQ community. It could be more racially diverse (although is certainly more so than Madison) but the U itself is pretty diverse. I think state schools attract students of all types but yes I think you could be very at home as a liberal person. We are all flaming liberals at our house. If you drive Minneapolis and Saint Paul the political signs are VERY liberal.

In terms of academics, I really don’t think the U should be rated much differently from Madison for at least a decent share of programs. We fine tooth combed faculty profiles and curriculum for programs my kid is looking at and really didn’t see anything compellingly better about either program. Both were very strong. I’m sure that could vary by department but I do think CSE, Bio Sciences, Carlson, CLA are very strong schools. Actually, if you pull out those 4 schools, the average ACT score may be higher than Madison I recommend doing the same for the programs and departments you are looking at.

I think both schools are football-y. But I also suspect there are anti-football students at both schools. I love Madison as a self contained college town. It’s a beautiful little city. But I can totally see wanting to go somewhere new and different as someone from that corner of the world. Can you come visit the twin cities soon? I visited Madison in February and the weather was similar to here that week at least. Maybe the average temps are little bit colder but if you’re from Wisconsin I don’t think you’re in for a brutal shock weather wise. Good boots, long parka, wool socks, etc I walked miles every day all winter as a U of MN student.

As someone mentioned there is tuition reciprocity between Wi and MN so tuition should be pretty close for both schools. If you can’t visit soon maybe apply to Madison and see if you can make a trip before you need to make a final decision.

Oh one last thing. The Saint Paul campus of the U of MN houses very limited programs. If you are applying to CSE, CLA, Carlson you’re not likely to EVER have a class on that campus. Bio Sciences is in Saint Paul. And even if you did have a class there occasionally, the free transit bus is easy, runs constantly, and is about a 10 minute trip. It’s very stream lined. Or if you’re centered on Saint Paul campus you might need to run over for a gen ed class. It’s not horrible. Saint Paul is actually a great self contained little campus but I literally never had to travel there as a student.

You are welcome to PM me as well about U of MN TC.

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I don’t believe I said that the Twin Cities were conservative. I said they were more conservative than other places I’ve lived in the US. I didn’t find it super liberal at all. And yes, many of the native Minnesotans that I knew went deer hunting.

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Having lived in both Madison and the Twin Cities (and also in a small town 20 minutes south of Madison like the OP), I also encourage the OP to walk around the U of MN campus since he/she’s never been there before.

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That’s fair and I’m not saying there aren’t parts of the cities that are not more moderate to conservative. Like off the top of my head the NW suburbs in particular tend to lean more conservative. Did you live and work in Minneapolis city limits? I do think different communities here can definitely tend one way or another and I do think people here at times not willing to leave their personal bubble. Even individual neighborhoods in Mpls and St. Paul tend to have slightly different leanings though all lean liberal. Some are more moderate than others. I suspect liberal students at the U will probably feel more comfortable than conservative ones in general though I’m sure they have Republican and conservative clubs at the U as they do at many large state schools.

If you’ve lived in very diverse and top 10 coastal liberal cities, I guess I’m not completely surprised at that characterization. Or if you were living and/or working in some of the particular suburbs.

https://www.salon.com/2014/10/29/the_10_most_conservative_and_liberal_cities_in_america_partner/

Actually this is pretty interesting and shows how the urban core has always been solid blue and the inner ring suburbs are turning more blue. Outer suburbs are red.
https://www.twincities.com/2015/09/26/twin-cities-suburbs-swinging-democratic-exurbs-more-republican/

Anyway - that’s enough hijacking this thread. I’ve lived in Mpls/St Paul city limits for going on 30 years.

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Transportation on the Madison campus is simple. You walk everywhere. UWisc is normally ranked higher than UMinn. But it is not a meaningful difference. Bucky is a significantly better mascot than Goldy. The real question you have to ask yourself is what colors do you look better in? Cardinal and white or maroon and gold?

14

Both great schools, my son was accepted to both, out of state, chose UW and never looked back. I think the most significant consideration, in terms of difference, is the major city location of U MN vs. smaller city location of UW. Someone who does not want their Saturday afternoons dominated by football might enjoy the opportunities for museums, music etc. at U MN. Both schools are excellent academically, though I tend to think of Minnesota’s Engineering and Sciences as its greatest strengths and its most competitive programs, whereas Wisconsin has highly ranked departments not only in STEM but also in social sciences, humanities etc. I realize, however, that my perception is influenced by having seen my kid’s double major in humanities and social sciences and I am simply not as familiar with Minnesota in that regard.

Both will be cold, both will have lots of students from the other state (Twin Cities and Chicago send a lot of students to UW, and I imagine Wisconsin and Chicago also send a lot of students to Minnesota). Twin Cities campus is somewhat more compact than UW in Madison. I thought Minnesota would have a much more diverse student population than Wisconsin, but just checked the Common Data Sets and Wisconsin is about 73% white and Minnesota is about 67% white, so not as big a difference as I expected. Interestingly, Minnesota does not report the percentage participation in greek life; it is about 8-9% at UW and I understand from my kid that it is there for those who want it but pretty much irrelevant for those who don’t.

As a parent, I think having options is valuable so applying to UW, with the opportunity to compare campuses, experiences, etc. in the spring, is worthwhile.

In terms of finances, in-state tuition at UW is about $3000 less a year than tuition at Minnesota with reciprocity so that can be something to consider.