<p>And your parents are comfortable with the extra cost?</p>
<p>It sounds like you’re leaning towards Minnesota. For engineering, there is no difference…you’ll have the same employment opportunities.</p>
<p>You say you like concerts, nightclubs and big events…the Twin Cities will probably offer more of that opportunity than Madison.</p>
<p>Minnesota is also cheaper for you (and your parents).
If you liked the campus environment when you toured - go there.</p>
<p>yeah i think they dont mind the difference. im am still waiting on financial aid from fafsa for wisconsin…idk if i’ll even get any.</p>
<p>what i like about minnesota is the twin cities, not so much the school itself.
what i like about wisconsin is the school itself, not so much the surrounding city.
so you see where my conflict occurs. </p>
<p>in fact, the only thing that’s keeping me towards minnesota is the proximity to city life, because i love the city life. but i know that madison is not too too far from milwaukee which i think is comparable to the twin cities? so if i find somewhere that milwaukee has a better nightlife, concerts, and music scene than twin cities, i’ll probably be 100% sold on UW. </p>
<p>after college, id like to be in either chicago or LA. which university would best set me up for that?</p>
<p>“UW’s student social life is beyond compare.” </p>
<p>And you determined this… how? It really depends on what you’re looking for in your social life, I think. If Madison, a pretty typical college town, can offer more than a major cultural and economic hub like Minneapolis, I’d be shocked. But really, what does UW have to offer socially that UMN doesn’t? Partying? Nope, I’m sure UMN has that. Night life? Uh, middle of the twin cities. Sports? Brand new football stadium and three professional sports teams a few blocks away. Size? Both are huge. Music scene? Again, in the middle of the twin cities. So what if a higher percentage of UMN students commute to campus, you don’t see all 20 some thousand students everyday anyway. Milwaukee and Chicago are both in the region, but it hardly compares to actually being in the shadow of the Minneapolis skyline. The idea that UW has some vastly superior social scene is laughable. </p>
<p>With that said…</p>
<p>Generally speaking, UW-Madison is a better school, and you’ll probably have better job prospects on a national scale than you would at UMN. But still, one of the students I talked to there was an urban studies major and she was offered a job in Florida… so it really just depends. UMN is still really good, and it’s reputation is quickly on the rise. With the way you sound, however, is seems like you’ve already made your choice. I mean, if the night life and music scene are all that’s keeping you from committing to UW 100%, you should probably go there haha.</p>
<p>Is that 10K extra per year? If so then go to MN. If it is 10K extra for 4 years total than I would go to Madison. But likely its per year. I would go to Wisconsin but only if it is going to cost a tiny bit more. NOT 10K more per year.</p>
<p>For a college social scene I think it is important to socialize with other students–not at some random bar in the downtown of a major city where most of the people will be working folks with little in common with you. Same for professional sports–they are not the sports of YOUR school. Most kids away at college still follow their hometown pro teams which makes for some fun parties on Sundays where kids from different cities cheer for their home teams. And I know this because I have lived in several major college towns or cities with major colleges (Austin, Boulder, LA, Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle, Madison) and have a good basis of comparison plus all the people who study such things usually find UW at the top for student social life.</p>
<p>Having lots of commuters saps the strength of the college experiences and just turns it into living in some random big city you may or may not even care about. Most UW kids plans of interacting with other students for four years before moving away for their next phase of life in Chicago, NYC, LA. Denver and even the Twin Cities.</p>
<p>^^^^But is it worth 40K more in expenses?</p>
<p>^ Good question…</p>
<p>UW made Playboy’s list of top 10 party schools. I admit, UW, to me sounds like more fun, plus it has great academics. BUT, when you can save $40k at UMinn, it overrides those factors.</p>
<p>^^^Probably not. $40K is a goodly amount of $$$ for most people. It’s a solid downpayment on a house.</p>
<p>okay now the big question is…is madison worth 10k more than minn???</p>
<p>cuz as of now, i STILL dont have any financial aid from madison >:|
however, i do at minn.</p>
<p>Well, both Madison and U of M (The U as I refer to it) are good schools, but I would lean more towards Madison. </p>
<p>-I would say don’t worry about the rankings, because generally Madison and the U are basically on an equal level, maybe Madison has a slight advantage. Engineering is great at both schools, but I would probably say that you will have a better edge if you go to the engineering program at the U, since it’s a major there that’s constantly growing, receiving more funding, and has higher quality than the others at the U (not that the others are terrible).</p>
<p>-The social scene does vary quite a bit (at least that’s what I thought). At Madison, there are alot of clubs and fun things to do on campus, but to be honest, booze and weed dominate the social life quite a bit. When I went to visit the campus, I talked with one of my friends who is a junior there, and he said that he actually hasn’t joined any clubs or done something along those lines cause he’s too busy doing keg stands and getting high (I’m paraphrasing this). Plus, SO many kids from the twin cities go to Madison, and many of them travel home on the weekends to do something, so if you really wanted to go to concerts, events, etc. in the cities, I can 99% guarantee that you can hop a ride from someone to head into the cities. It’s pretty common.</p>
<p>-For the money problem, I don’t know what to tell you. If your parents are willing to help you out with the extra money, and they won’t be struggling by and you won’t feel guilt or anything like that, then I would choose Madison. And even if you got it in loans, $40,000 isn’t too terrible for 4 years of loans. It is still pretty high, and will probably be harder to pay off, but if you’re going into engineering, I really wouldn’t worry about that. </p>
<p>-Job opportunities are about the same in each city. The Twin Cities has a fair amount of engineering jobs, but remember you’ll be competing with a HUGE amount of other kids from the engineering program at the U, plus the other 3+ universities directly in the Twin Cities, and most colleges in MN end up having the undergraduate students flock to Minneapolis, making it super competitive for college grads to get jobs (maybe not as bad in engineering, since it’s an in demand job right now). In Madison, you won’t be competing with other schools in the same vicinity, and depending where you went into engineering in WI, I’m thinking you would probably have better luck overall in Madison securing a job.</p>
<p>Ultimately, for your predicament, you’ll have to choose whether you’re more worried about academics or social life, but either way I think you get a good combo if you go to Madison. The people are friendly there, teachers are pretty cool, academics are good quality, there’s always something fun going on, and overall the atmosphere is pretty great there. Plus, I honestly think you will have an easier time finding a job there.
Then again, I may be biased because the U has put me through so much red tape, I’m about to freak out…lol hope that helps?</p>
<p>yeah thanks for your input silly09er.
but the thing is, even though i see academics greater than social life, yea i want a good social life, but not one of drinking and booze and weed and all that. im not a druggie and have never done ANY type drug or alcohol my entire life.
so is it hard to avoid that kinda stuff at madison?</p>
<p>UW no doubt</p>
<p>OP, I’'m the same way you are… drugs and booze are not my thing. But whether you choose UW or UMN, they’re both big enough that you probably won’t have a problem finding similar people… and you’ll probably have a great social life at either place.</p>
<p>i hope your rightt.</p>
<p>anymore inputt?</p>
<p>bump^^^^^^</p>
<p>For 40K, I’d go to UMN, although I would go to Madison if they were equal.</p>
<p>im kinda leaning towards madison now…despite the potential extra 40k (did not hear from financial aid yet).
the pushing factors are
<p>However…
why im still holding on to Uminn…
<p>anyone wanna change my mind?</p>
<p>U of M has a lot of students living off campus in the area near the university. That may make it look more like a commuter school than it is.</p>
<p>Wait, where do you live now?</p>
<p>i live in suburb of chicago</p>