Wisconsin Prestige

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I was talking to my friend, and he was saying that no one thinks of Wisconsin as a prestigious school, he said people think of it as a blow off party school, he also said Wisconsin is an extremely boring state. I told him that Wisconsin is ranked among the best public schools but he said people dont think of it as a good school and it is no where near UNC or Michigan academically. Would any of you say Wisconsin has national prestige or is it just a party school? And is it at the same level as UNC and Michigan and other top schools? </p>

<p>These statements are coming from ohio if that changes anything...</p>

2

<p>Your friend is uninformed. Look at any factual survey from the US News rankings to NRC to the international rankings of top universities. UW is always near the top. The faculty typically wins more major awards than virtually all the state schools, research ranking is typically in the top 3, it produces as many CEO's as Harvard (ug). Anyone who thinks they can just party does not last long. Madison is typically ranked as one of the top college towns and sports towns in the US. All the college guide books give UW high marks for academics and prestige.</p>

<p><a href="http://thecenter.ufl.edu/research2004.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://thecenter.ufl.edu/research2004.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/topresearch.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/topresearch.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005_Top100.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005_Top100.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

3

<p>despite being a very good public university on its own merits, wisconsin plays second-fiddle to the best state universities (berkeley, michigan, uva, ucla, etc.), so people on this board won't deem it prestigious, especially since how those aforementioned top state schools are already looked down upon by a good portion of the people here.</p>

4

<p>For many graduate programs, Wisconsin in certainly first-rate and highly prestigious, equal to or better-regarded than some of the Ivies in some areas such as history. It also is a fine undergraduate institution, with faculty that is about as good as you can get. I would agree that it plays second fiddle to some extent to UVa, Berkeley, and Michigan, but that may be as much a matter of perception as anything else. Of course it is a party school; so is Williams and most other schools at every level of selectivity. College kids have fun in many places and many ways. They also learn a lot in the classroom, and Widconsin is one of those schools that gives students a chance to develop in every way.</p>

5

<p>where does Wisconsin's undergrad business school fall compared to ohio state, nyu, penn state, IU, U of M, and Penn</p>

6

<p>Below NYU and UM, about the same as PSU and above OSU.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bus.wisc.edu/about/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bus.wisc.edu/about/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

7

<p>First of all, goblue, I imagine you are in high school. I highly doubt any 17 year old has credibility to judge how schools are viewed nationally, especially if not backed up with some substance. Barrons hits the nail right on the head with the correct statistics. </p>

<p>Second of all, I think being from Ohio does have something to do with it. I am from Ohio, I know that there is a thinking of, "OSU or bust," and being from the state, you would agree that people there view Miami of Ohio as another extension of the ivy league. While anecdotal, I am confident Ohioans would agree with me. The majority of people in Ohio that I knew couldn't tell you the first things about Kenyon or Oberlin. For another example, Case is a top university that my side of the state knew little about.</p>

<p>Third, I agree and disagree at the same time with the above posters in the "second fiddle" point. I think this website, unlike all others, gives a little too much credit to a strict group of schools while sometimes unfairly excluding others. When it comes down to it, the admissions to Wisconsin and Michigan are essentially the same. Similiar admit percentages, the exact same ACT score range, similiar class sizes. This website is a bit too focused on having a strict ranking system, where "x" is better than "y". My argument is that you really can't tell much difference between many of these schools (say Duke vs Northwestern, overall) although there may be differences in specific things (weather, specific majors, social scene). Therefore, when the University of North Carolina stated that it sees Duke, Illinois, and Wisconsin as its peer institutions, that says a lot more than people with an obsession for one more US News spot.</p>

<p>In my choice, I picked Wisconsin over Michigan because not only is Wisconsin stronger in my field, (communications/poli sci-- I think for undergrads they are equal in political science, but Wisconsin is vastly superior for my intended second major) I liked Madison more as a location, I felt UW had a better social scene, UW is almost 10,000 dollars less PER YEAR! I will save somewhere around 35K by going to UW. Finally, combined with all of that, it gives me the same post-graduate advantages. I base that off of the placement to law, med, business schools, not to mention research chances which help for graduate work. Let me stress, again, 35,000 dollars. An entire year of law school.</p>

<p>Also, I should note that even if you look at strict rankings, look who Wisconsin places with. It's with schools such as NYU, Lehigh, Boston College, Tufts, USC. So either viewing rankings as the only indicator of prestige is bad, and my criticism from above has weight, or rankings do matter, and Wisconsin is still seen as a highly ranked school. Your friend just did not do his or her homework. </p>

<p>Simply: any way you look at it, UW has serious academic merit.</p>

<p>PS- I do find Wisconsin as a state, kind of boring :) but madison is great fun.</p>

8

<p>I don't know. My perspective is different from both that of Barrons and of your friend: I wouldn't consider Madison either prestigious or non-prestigious. Of the five or so universities I know well, Madison always strikes me as uniquely varied and difficult to define. Students at every school have the choice of taking less or greater advantage of available opportunities, but it seems to me that the range of options is much greater at Madison than elsewhere. As a result I wouldn't be able to judge whether any given graduate's degree should be looked on as prestigious.</p>

<p>I disagree with barrons about the system necessarily culling out slacker/party kids - I've just seen too many acquaintances slide through to the end on very marginal effort. I've been in courses in which a quarter of all enrolled students were cutting class on any given day, and it didn't seem to keep them from passing with grades above the probation range. Basically I think that if a kid wants college to be four years of partying, he can make Madison into what he wants it to be. The institution is just so huge and supervision lax enough that determined slackers can find cracks to slip through in order to avoid the more difficult requirements.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if a student wants to do original research, use state-of-the-art materials, take a class focused on a very specific field of study, or hold intense academic debates with peers, then Madison is as strong an institution as any to support these interests. It has resources and groups of dedicated students and professors as worthy of prestige as those anywhere.</p>

<p>Ultimately, then: when it comes time for others to decide whether your degree is prestigious (grad applications, job applications, ability to perform work at a job you've secured, etc.), reviewers would do well to pay more attention to what you did during your undergrad years than the fact they were spent at this university. I don't think there is such thing as a "typical" Madison student or standard college experience here.</p>

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<p>Goblue -- FWIW the Dean of PennState biz received her advanced degrees from Wisc...</p>

10

<p><a href="http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=wsj:2005:04:03:411011:BUSINESS%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=wsj:2005:04:03:411011:BUSINESS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Notice the comment about UW's undergrad business program.</p>

11

<p>for a person on street, UW isnt a prestigious school. harvard and yale are.</p>

<p>but for the more educated people, they know UW is a fine school.</p>

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<p>Just happened upon this u of w thread. I do think that most educated people think of Wisconsin as a solidly strong and wonderful school although, of course, it may not be as prestigious as either the Ivy League or many small lacs. Still, anyone who goes there could expect that his degree would be well-respected. In fact, many would like the fact that you went to a public institution instead of an elite school with many very privileged kids. I know that were I an employer, I would value that.</p>

<p>My daughter has applied (and will most probably be accepted but may or may not get into Honors)and we are confident that it is a "prestigious enough" school but our concern is with how to find a smaller community within the vastness of the university. Please advise us. Would being part of the Honors program create a smaller community? Would being part of a residential community help? How hard is it to get into the residential dorms?
During freshmen year, do Honors students enjoy much smaller class size than do non Honors students? How does all that work? How would being in the Honors program afford a smaller community and how might one find a smaller community if not in Honors? Can one work on independent projects with profs before senior year? How big are freshmen and sophmore classes for both Honors and non-Honors students?</p>

<p>Also, how do you feel about the cold? How do students cope with it? What do they do? How far is it to go from one class to another? Are there underground tunnels as there are in some Northeastern schools? What sorts of activities do people do in Madison if they are not into heavy drinking and partying? Could those who are not heavy into that scene describe a typical weekend?</p>

<p>So, Wisconsin students--Honors and non-Honors, thanks for answering the questions about community and cold and rest assured your degree will be well-respected.</p>

13

<p>The best place is Chadbourne Hall which combines a learning-living dorm with most of the new honors students. UW has always been sensitive to becoming "elitist" as such things don't sit well with the locals.
Good things are often said about the ILS program as a center of liberal education and smaller classes.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wisc.edu/ils/program.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wisc.edu/ils/program.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.housing.wisc.edu/crc/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.housing.wisc.edu/crc/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>As to social life, there is something for everyone. The student union is a real center of social activity with bands playing nightly and also films, concerts, and road shows. During the summers 2000+ people can be found enjoying the sunset and live shows on the lakefront. The weather is cold from mid November through March and you just dress for it. It does not slow people down a bit. Many enjoy cross-country skiing in the Arb or ice skating in city parks. At night there are often plays, concerts of all types and the parties and bar scene which is pretty much everything it's cracked up to be. The city recently built a fabulous new perfoming arts center a few blocks off campus. It features top quality classical concerts and many major road shows. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.overturecenter.com/overture_hall.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.overturecenter.com/overture_hall.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>There tunnels but not for student use. You learn to cut through the buildings to warmup on really cold windy days.<br>
Sports are huge on campus and many people go tot he games. Fitness is also popular and many students use the many gyms and pools to keep in shape. Biking is also big with many riding to campus as most students live around the campus in houses and apts. The Hoofers is a good club to join as they have all kinds of outdoor activities including a sailboat fleet right behind the union.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.union.wisc.edu/hoofers/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.union.wisc.edu/hoofers/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

14

<p>what MaryCeleste said:</p>

<p>"I don't think there is such thing as a "typical" Madison student or standard college experience here."</p>

<p>I think is true of almost all big state research universities. You get out what you put in. Though prestige is amorphous, schools like UMich and UW are prestigious because they offer the opportunity for a world class education -- the question is whether the students take it. It is usually the minority that dont who perpetuate the party school image.</p>

15

<p>i know like lots of investment bankers from wall street do a lot of recruiting at U of M, at Wisconsin is there any sort of similar recruiting? like chicago maybe?</p>

16

<p>Its graduate programs and its faculty are well-respected in the academic world. </p>

<p>Some of that prestige surely trickles down to the UG program, although I agree that your average east or west coaster, especially the everyday guy on the street, is likely going to underestimate the place.</p>

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<p>Dear Barrons: You are terrific, supplying extraordinaily helpful information on Chadbourne and on the ils program--both of which would fit my daughter like a glove, think. I guess I should infer that the cold just was not oppressive for you or for most of your friends. Were YOU or friends in the HOnors program? In Chadbourne? Let me know (if you have time) if you might elaborate with another few sentences about your and friends' experiences with both ils and chadbourne. Thanks much for a most focused and detailed response. Thanks also for any further info. (just a couple of sentences) that you might provide. I looked up ils and it does seem great for her.</p>

18

<p>dear grad student: Thanks for taking the time to reply. Any more specific suggestions for making a big school small and purposeful would be great. Thanks for your time.</p>

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<p>kinkosmom: I was in the L&S Honors program, though not Chadbourne. I did not find the Honors program a small "community within a college," and was never in an Honors course that was any smaller than the non-honors alternative. In fact, only two of the courses I took to fulfill program requirements was made up of specifically honors-program students. All the other honors-designated classes were just the regular course, with the addition of some extra project. These projects ranged from challenging research assignments to single brief, additional activities (for example, regular students are required to attend four lectures given by visiting scholars, and honors students are asked to attend five). As far as I could tell, additional assignments were entirely at the teachers' discretion. </p>

<p>However, there are many other places to find a steady group of friends: many students are heavily involved in campus clubs, outside organizations, political activism, group houses/dorm activities, or a series of courses that attracts the same group of people. For many, though, the most important small community is the student's home department. If your daughter is focused on academics, I would highly recommend looking into seminar courses because these are one of the best ways to meet other people with the same interests. Several departments offer seminars aimed at first- and second-year students, and many of the students in my senior seminar classes were not yet seniors. In my experience most professors are willing to make special arrangements for any student who shows interest in doing the work, whether that means waiving sophomores into senior seminars, arranging independent study projects/internships/paid summer work in the field, or helping the student find information and funding to attend the national conference. Most departments also have an academic club, which is another great way to meet fellow students.</p>

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<p>That is something I forgot to mention. Your department becomes your home at a school like UW. Nearly every major dept. has its own building, library, student lounge, etc. This becomes the college within a university for many. I was a B school person and spent most of my last two years in that building and knew just about everyone in my major plus many in other majors. We even had our own softball team, picnics and parties as well as a formal club for majors. </p>

<p>I had friends in ILS but Chad did not exist in its current form when I was there--it was just a female dorm. Most people in ILS are very into it. They have the old SOB building as their home--talk about irony--a bunch of liberal tree huggers in the SOB building. I mean that in a good way.;-)</p>