UWisconsin Students/Atmosphere/Programs

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Wisconsin
1

<p>For current students or anyone who knows current students, please…just a few questions:</p>

<ol>
<li>What are students like? How happy are students here? What is the "quality of life" like?</li>
<li>What was the deciding factor of Wisconsin for you, and now that you go there what is your favorite thing about it?</li>
<li>Would someone interested in business be able to tell me about the program Wisconsin offers?</li>
<li>Does the schoolwork/atmosphere create a lot of pressure?</li>
<li>How are the career services in terms of internships and job placement?</li>
<li>Could you tell me about the Honors College, and what credentials prospective students should have to get in?</li>
<li>How much merit aid does Wisconsin give (to both in- and out- of state students)? What credentials should prospective students have to get money from Wisconsin?</li>
</ol>

<p>Just looking for some insight. Thank you so much!</p>

2

<p>Very happy overall</p>

<p><a href=“Top 10 Colleges with the Happiest Students | HuffPost College”>Top 10 Colleges with the Happiest Students | HuffPost College;

<p>Business is good with some great specialty programs and placement office. Competitive for admission</p>

3

<p>See link below for recent thread on the merit aid question:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-wisconsin-madison/1674481-merit-aid.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-wisconsin-madison/1674481-merit-aid.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>As a parent of current UW student – Madison is considered one of the best college towns in the country, and the school makes all kinds of “top” lists, including best football traditions, best mascots, and most recently, in the top 10 for LGBT friendly environments (which kind of surprised me, in a good way, since I did not expect to see that one). It is a big party school for students who want to partake, and it has many highly ranked departments for students who don’t partake and for those that can balance the work hard play hard ethic. </p>

<p>All admitted students, at least in the College of Letters & Sciences, are invited to submit a separate application for the Honors program in L&S. The idea is that all admitted students are qualified to participate, but only those who are motivated enough to write more essays in their senior year and demonstrate other qualifications (as I recall the app, it involved more detail about ECs plus 3-4 thoughtful essays). Honors, at least in L&S, is not a separate college but a program within the College, which offers students additional opportunities. </p>

<p>Pressure – seems to be largely self-driven, at least in my student’s experience. There are plenty of my son’s friends who party hard, but also make Dean’s list every semester. Most – but not all – kids know when to buckle down and work hard. </p>

<p>Can’t tell you about the B school, though the kids who are admitted seem to love it. </p>

<p>Deciding factor – my kid loved that it was a big school, with incredible academics (his two majors are both ranked in the top 10-15 nationally), in an incredibly beautiful location, and the energy of an urban – albeit smaller – environment. He wouldn’t trade it for anything. Worth every penny we pay in OOS tuition. </p>

5

<ol>
<li><p>As a current student, I never realized how “small” you can make a big campus like Madison. While walking to class I can almost guarantee I will see one if not five of my friends to say hi to, which for me, it’s the little things that define happiness. Besides the vast amount of different personalities (it’s easy to find someone exactly like you), your first year it is so easy to meet people (I lived in Witte because of the social atmosphere). If your into the party scene, which I was, the possibilities are endless. Overall, quality of life is really good. There’s always something to do and as the above poster stated, if you jump right into the work hard, play hard vibe, you’ll do well. </p></li>
<li><p>Wisconsin was always the perfect place for me to attend as an in-state student, but the most appealing part was the atmosphere. The success of our sports teams, the prestige the school has, and the social life was my perfect mix. Now that I’m here my favorite part is Greek life, I never in a million years thought I would join in high school but now that I did, I really love it, but I understand it isn’t for everyone. Greek life also doesn’t impact campus much overall which is nice to the kids that don’t like it. </p></li>
<li><p>I’m an Accounting major in the School of Business. The programs offered are some of the best and the overall feel of the Business School is great. Due to curves in classes, there seems to be more pressure to do well, especially in the four required classes before you can apply (English 100, Psychology 202, Math 211/221, and Economics 101) and once you get accepted all of the 300 level requirements are difficult yet rewarding. They really try to broaden your skills by forcing you to take other business courses you wouldn’t normally for your major. </p></li>
<li><p>There’s pressure but it depends on your ability to focus in class, study after, do homework, find peers who have the study ethic you do, and the ability to use your resources as far as tutoring or going to office hours. If you can understand your abilities, your understanding of topics, and manage your time well, you are FAR better off than most, better off than I was. </p></li>
<li><p>If you are a Business student, from my experiences there are a countless amount of opportunities presented to you. Time to meet companies, attend seminars, or speakers. From my experiences, companies look very favorably to Wisconsin Business students, especially if you have the outgoing personality to back up your credentials.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>6/7. I can’t help much with these but I hope I was help with the rest of the questions. </p>

6

<p>There is an Honors program, no Honors college. This means students are not segregated for housing based on being in it. The L&S Honors Program offers many excellent courses, sections of courses et al. There are no courses all students choose nor are there specific courses required except by majors. The student body is too diverse to lump all Honors students together. You need to research the Business school site of the UW website for its honors courses. Also check the L&S Honors program site. You may be interested in taking some of your breadth requirements and electives for Honors. </p>

<p>Do not count on merit aid as an entering freshman. There is no HS gpa or test score that automatically gives you money like at some schools. Most merit money will go to majors in departments or to perhaps the one best student in an entry level class at the end of the year (math or chemistry?)- among many hundreds.</p>

<p>The student body is large enough and diverse enough most can find their niche. Greek life is important to those who choose it but not to most students. Sports- spectator and participation- many choices but you don’t need to care about them. Many clubs to join. Res Halls is where most freshmen live in a variety of dorms and locations. Food service is a la carte in Res Halls facilities (and anyone can eat there, dorm resident or not)- you only pay for what you eat. Check out that site as well. As a freshman you may have classes all over campus (not always in the course’s departmental building) so choose housing based on what you like, not closeness to the business building. Some prefer the Lakeshore and others the Southeast dorms- wherever you feel is best for de-stressing, spending your down time. Libraries are all over campus if you like to study there. Two Unions. The lake. State St.</p>

7

<ol>
<li>What are students like? How happy are students here? What is the “quality of life” like?</li>
</ol>

<p>What a loaded question! What are the students like? It’s a huge student body of 25-30,000 undergraduates. So the students are… well, like everything. Compassionate, arrogant, intelligent, kind, hilarious, rude, intriguing, boring, and every personality type in between. There is someone for everyone. </p>

<p>I’ve never been happier than when I’m at UW Madison. But that isn’t say school isn’t tough. You’ll be frustrated, angry, stressed out. It’s college, but that’s part of the fun. Sometimes all your friends are miserable, but you’re miserable together. It cultivates a weird sense of community. </p>

<p>My quality of life is superb. I get enough sleep. I work a job. I’m involved in student organizations. I have time to go out with friends, and I have a 3.9 gpa. It’s definitely doable. You grow accustomed to the balancing act that college is, and after it’s taken from you you feel weird without it. You don’t FEEL busy until you’re no longer busy. After semester ends, many of my friends and I feel something I’ve decided to call “post semester anxiety.” Going from constantly running at 9000 miles a minute to coasting at zero is a weird feeling… I actually prefer the hustle and bustle of the semester. </p>

<ol>
<li>What was the deciding factor of Wisconsin for you, and now that you go there what is your favorite thing about it?</li>
</ol>

<p>Ha! It was the only school I got into. I shot for the moon and missed, but I landed among the stars at UW Madison. I like everything about it… it’s hard to pick one thing to nail down.</p>

<p>I love being academically challenged by my professors and my peers. I love staying up till 3 in the morning debating about existential life questions (coincidentally, it may be because I’m a poli sci guy). I love my job, and I love goofing off with my coworkers. I love my roommate and my dormmates. I love the residence life staff and the community they’ve developed. I love that the three minute visit to my friend’s room often turns into a multi-hour goof off session. I love the athletics. I love the libraries. I love the green spaces and the modern architecture. I love getting to know my professors and my TAs. </p>

<p>I love UW Madison. </p>

<ol>
<li>Would someone interested in business be able to tell me about the program Wisconsin offers?</li>
</ol>

<p>sorry… don’t know. </p>

<ol>
<li>Does the schoolwork/atmosphere create a lot of pressure?</li>
</ol>

<p>Of course there is pressure to succeed. It’s a highly competitive, flagship, world-class university. That being said, if you get in, you CAN succeed. There is support everywhere… friends, coworkers, academic staff, advisors. See the part about post semester anxiety.</p>

<p>It becomes so manageable you forget it’s there. </p>

<ol>
<li>How are the career services in terms of internships and job placement?</li>
</ol>

<p>Haven’t used them yet… but seemingly good. </p>

<ol>
<li>Could you tell me about the Honors College, and what credentials prospective students should have to get in?</li>
</ol>

<p>Anyone in L&S can apply. I am technically still in it, but I’m going to be dropping out. For me, it doesn’t fit with my academic goals. The class selections for honors classes are not what I’m interested in taking, and the additional senior workload conflicts with some of my plans for early admittance into grad school.</p>

<p>To each their own.</p>

<ol>
<li>How much merit aid does Wisconsin give (to both in- and out- of state students)? What credentials should prospective students have to get money from Wisconsin?</li>
</ol>

<p>Moral of the story – you don’t get money at UW Madison. It’s tough to get and it comes in insignificant amounts. </p>

8

<p>Interesting post #6- so much like it was in my eons ago experience, and I presume my son’s (of course he never told me anything). My generation also spent a lot of outside of class time discussing everything. Sorry, we left plenty of unsolved problems for you.</p>

<p>For Honors math son took several grad level courses instead of the research/thesis I did for chemistry. The nice thing about Honors is its flexibility. The above poster was able to take the classes he wanted but is under no obligation to finish the requirements and get “Honors” to be on his diploma (H’s will show up on the transcript for classes successfully completed for Honors credit, that includes getting a B or better).</p>

<p>You can’t be afraid of pressure, working hard et al or you can psych yourself out. You just figure if they admitted you then you are capable of doing the work. Study hard/party hard has been said- but you have to study before you party. </p>

9

<ol>
<li>Students are sooo happy here. The quality of life here is great. Its what you make of it but tbh even if you dont make much of it at all, it still kind of rocks.</li>
<li>Deciding factor for me was whether I would get a worthy degree and of course I will. This school placed 25 in the world and is always breaking barriers within our nation. Also, I knew I had to pick a place I could enjoy all 4 years. I wanted to go to a college where I would miss the campus whenever I left for breaks. </li>
<li>The course load is a lot. But thats expected. College is tough. UW-Madison does a good job though with offering everything a student needs to succeed.</li>
</ol>