My son has scholarship offers from Wisconsin and Ohio State University. He plans on studying mechanical engineering. He has a difficult decision to make. Can anyone help with the pros/cons? Any help/ideas is greatly appreciated.
My D applied to both Ohio State and Wisconsin. I was surprised by the low student retention rate at Wisconsin. Ohio Stae has a very high retention rate. D was accepted at Wisconsin, is deferred and waiting for Ohio State. Wisconsin is alot colder …
What are the retention rates @Sorisky ?
@Sorisky “low student retention rate” for whom? Your statement is meaningless without further clarification. Are we looking at freshman 2nd year? 3 year? Graduating in 4? You can do the comparison, links follow. Broken down by multiple categories and subcategories.
https://apir.wisc.edu/students/retention-graduation/
https://oesar.osu.edu/pdf/grad_rates/RETENTION_SUMMARY.pdf
UW’s 2016 cohort had a 95% return rate for freshmen. What numbers are you looking at? Go Badgers…
I was going by what was reported on our FAFSA report. I don’t claim to be an expert. All should research for themselves. You are correct there are many ways to analyze it. Both good schools. Forgive my input. Although it is still colder in Wisconsin …
Wisconsin is generally considered the stronger school.
Hmmm per above link 95% of entering freshmen returned and 87% still there after three years for UW. Doesn’t look too bad to me. A brief glance at Ohio State looked like fewer stayed. Advantage UW.
Graduation rates- a lot of people choose to take longer. Individual decision.
Weather not THAT much colder. UW campus terrific. Each potential student needs to look at campus, culture, academics, instate demographics, OOS numbers… Sure, football is currently doing well at UW but plenty of students who don’t care. Minimal/unobtrusive Greek presence.
UW dorms and food service excellent. Check out food plans, service availability… Of course look at engineering. UW students most often move to apartments after a year or two in the dorms- west side of campus available very close to classes for engineering.
The choice, once finances are taken care of, comes down to individual preference. This is the UW site and we have a lot of loyalty. The UW campus is vibrant enough there is no need for a bigger city surrounding it.
Wisconsin is always higher rated than osu has a more national student body and is more selective if you enter act and gpa in the various apps. Madison while it may be colder is always also considered one of the best college towns in America. I don’t think it’s close unless you are from Ohio. Then of course it’s your state school.
CA mom here so no loyalty to either option. After touring, I’d choose UW hands down! Higher ranked, great student spirit, love Madison! My son has been admitted and only qualm is weather. Honestly, they are both cold in winter. Do a few degrees even matter once you are cold?!
CA mom- your son should look forward to a change in scenery. College is an ideal time to experience winter. Conducive to hitting the books and having kid-style fun. btw- he should wait to purchase his winter stuff (jacket/hat, gloves…) until in Madison since the prices and availability will be best in fall and he’ll know what to get (winter jackets come in barely warm enough to definitely so). Tell your son not to worry about weather and go for it. He’ll likely start with hot summer temps and have time to adjust to the changing seasons. Fall is gorgeous on campus, winter can be very pretty and spring beautiful.
Thank you @wis75 ! We had a great visit a few weeks back. Still waiting to hear from CA schools and another UW (Washington) to make a final decision. But I would love to see him at Wisconsin!!