Wisconsin (Madison) or UF (international exchange student)

College Search & Selection
1

Hello everyone,

Next year hopefully I can fulfill one of my wishes since I was a kid, experience the American college life. I know because of the pandemic the college life is different now.

But let’s just imagine September 2021 everything goes back to normal and my exchange is good to go. So forget about the pandemic and consider this to only be relevant if life goes back to normal.

I have a hard time choosing between the University of Wisconsin or the University of Florida.
Some factors in my decision:
-I don’t really care about the academic side, that does not play a factor in my decision.
-Money is not a issue, since I’m an exchange student, I still pay the same money to my current university and nothing to the Uni I’m visiting.

  • I’m only staying for one semester (6 months)

I really want to experience the full American college life. This means partying a lot, living in a dorm on campus, be really involved in social life etc. I know both schools are big so they must have a great social life but I have no idea what the difference is etc. I’m a huge football fan which I why I decided to choose a school with a big football program. I also want to travel during my exchange but I don’t know which city has better travel opportunities (for example I know people visiting UF usually visit NO and Miami, and UW go to Chicago etc.)

Since both schools seem so similar, the only difference I can really find is the weather, since I’m from Europe, I seem to sway more towards UF because of the weather.

I would really appreciate if you guys could give me some tips, thanks everyone!

2

@SSBP101 I think based on what you are looking for UF would be a better fit. As you mentioned, the weather is quite different - much warmer and humid in Florida than Wisconsin. Their football program is why the Gatorade drink exists, and they definitely have a party scene. I also think you could take trips to typical American places - Disneyworld and Universal in Orlando, NASA etc (Miami is a bit far).

However, if you want to live in a big city, Madison has 100k more people in its population than Gainesville. If you want some cold winter snow days, UW could be for you.

Also try posting this in the UF and UW specific forums here and their subreddits if you want to hear from people who know more specifics :slight_smile:

3

This one is easy. Wisconsin >> Florida. For at least half of semester, the weather in Madison is better than Gainesville. Travel is going to be difficult for both places. The other students may not have the money to travel with you.