How rigorous is univ wise academically? How does Econ or business compare to other large public schools?
Do professors have office hours, are they productive?
Thanks in advance.
If you look at the rating for various departments and the entire university you will find UW highly ranked. Of course professors have office hours. The usefulness depends on the student’s making use of them. btw- TA’s are excellent for conducting discussion groups and labs. They likewise have office hours. A student may never need to use office hours- I did well without them eons ago. Do not use that as a marker for schools.
You need to peruse the school’s website for many, many different types of information. Do check the majors of interest and the Honors Program sites. As with all schools, it is up to the student to make the most of the possibilities. Academics can be very rigorous- it depends on the classes chosen by the student. Many top tier grad programs with courses a top undergrad might take in their major.
A top tier flagship- much better than many/most private schools.
As someone very familiar with the school, it’s good but declining. They are having a lot of budget issues and the student-teacher ratio has gone up quite a bit. Adjuncts are doing a lot of the teaching (which might actually be better for students) these days. They are also bringing in a lot more out of state and international students who pay full-fare tuition over residents.
The UW of today is a good school, but the UW of 20 years a go was a GREAT school.
Thanks very much for the feed back. Much appreciated. Like most things about a college experience, the student has to “show up”!
I can’t speak to UW of 20 years ago, but my current student has seen no change in his experience from Walker’s budget process as he prepared to graduate, and I’ve seen that the Legislature is increasing funding going forward. OOS, including Minnesota residents, is about 40%. As an OOS family, we have no concerns paying OOS tuition for the education our kid has received. He has world class faculty, close relationships with his professors in his double majors, has never been taught by an adjunct or non T&R faculty (though has had TAs for discussion group leaders). And, for a school as large as this, “things” work. Emails to registrar and bursar’s general email address are returned within a day, as are my kid’s emails to advisors etc. Communication is clear and accessible, to parents and students.
Good luck to the OP’s family in making a decision.
Also, as a public university, a tremendous amount of information about the school is required to be public. You can search for “grade reports” on the website and pull up the data for every class given, in every college within the University, showing the class size of each section, the grade distribution, the average gpa in the course, in the department, by student level etc. You can also pull up the class list for the upcoming semester, and see how many sections of different courses are offered going forward etc., and who is teaching them.
@Midwestmomofboys thank you for information.being from india no idea of school particularly collecting informations from you knowledgeable guys.though site shows hearingvfrom parents of admitted students gives true and clear scene.thanks
My H is from India. We know of several good Indian restaurants and grocery stores in Madison. Possible to eat out and buy favorite foods/snacks while a UW student. You may want to contact Indian/international student associations at schools of interest with questions about life as a student.
btw- your child needs to make this his/her project. It is the student, not the parents, who are in charge of a college education, regardless of who is paying the bills. A great paradigm shift from taking care of your child’s needs to letting go and having your emerging adult be independent. Your child needs to want to come to the US and take the initiative in researching schools. Something I noted decades ago was a different mindset of Americans. My H was atypical but I’m sure most Indian immigrant parents here can tell you differences- their children are Americans with attitudes developed here. You are not sending your child (who will be an adult, btw) away but s/he is going away because s/he wants to be at an American college.
@Midwestmomofboys, thank you for mentioning online grade reports. I found them very easily.