<p>I want to know about Madison's teaching quality(Since this is a rly rly big public school) How about the professors? Are they friendly and reachable? Are there many teaching assistants? Do students have enough attentiona and opportunities to do research? (I am interested in biology)
I am a intl, so I can't visit Madison. Hope you can help. Thanks a trillion!</p>
<p>What I see is that the quality of instruction varies widely. Some excellent professors, some not so good. You can see for yourself at ratemyprofessors.com. Likewise, some profs are friendlier than others. Big classes do have TAs but sometimes they are really good. The most important thing to know about getting attention from the prof and TAs at a large university is that you have to be assertive and go out and ask for it.</p>
<p>The biology opportunities at Madison are said to be outstanding, both for study and research, but I don't know from personal experience.</p>
<p>Another thing: the professors for all-honors courses are usually better, and the classes are smaller, too. The math department has been disparaged on this forum, with some justification.</p>
<p>It really helps. thank you.</p>
<p>You will note the same variation in quality at all schools- including the elite ones such as HYP. Be aware that the professor ratings are the product of who bothers to respond to that website, not necessarily accurate. No school is perfect. Explore the websites of schools that interest you thoroughly and make comparisons. Make lists of things you do and don't like about each school- academics, location, culture, etc. Decide which bothers you most/least and then rank the schools for yourself. Having TA's means having students just ahead of you in the pipeline- they have recently been undergrads and can be a source of information on being in grad school. You also may be able to do some work in the grad labs as part of some lab courses.</p>