<p>Well my situation is completely off from where I wanted it to be at the end of my senior year. Long story, but anyway, I'm most likely going to be attending University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in Fall '09. I got waitlisted at UW-Madison, still haven't heard back...</p>
<p>I've looked it up and all, seems like a fine school. And just fyi, I'm planning to do Engineering and Applied Sciences. So, how is the reputation of the school? Is it a good school to start a degree and transfer into Madison after two years?</p>
<p>I think like the University of Illinois-Chicago, UW-Milwaukee is a hidden gem. If you do well there you should not have any problems, there are some great faculty to work with if you take advantage of forging relationships with them and you might end up just staying because it is a pretty cool place.</p>
<p>As Milwaukeeans know, it’s cooler by the lake.</p>
<p>If you do well at Milwaukee for two years you will have a good chance of transferring to Wisconsin, but are you aware of Chancellor Santiago’s big plans for a new engineering campus in Milwaukee? Big things are on the horizon for UWM Engineering. Good luck and enjoy yourself.</p>
<p>I agree with Vociferous, by the way – UIC is another great urban university.</p>
<p>I attended UW Madison as an undergrad and was very impressed with the quality of the entire University of Wisconsin system. I knew people who attended Eau Claire, Stevens Point and UWM. I also knew people who transferred in from Whitewater and UWGB after two years. People who want to transfer into Madison seem generally able to do so.</p>
<p>Madison is a cool place and there is no mistake that it is the flagship school of the state system. However, I think you might find that UWM is a great place too. They have the lure of a real city with all the conveniences and job opportunities that go with that. They also make a terrific approximation of a campus for a school in a city with a smaller enrollment.</p>
<p>UIUC, UWisconsin Madison, and UWashington are like hidden gems that few ppl talk about :(</p>
<p>UWisconsin is a founding member of the AAU (along with other top publics and Ivy league/top 15 schools) and is a research powerhouse (2nd largest annual research and development budget after JHU). I see many professors from UWisconsin and their research featured on the History Channel and Discovery channel a lot. :D</p>
<p>I completely agree I think all of the academic “Big 10” schools are severely underrated because of both East Coast and Private School bias in most ranking systems.</p>
<p>One reason I can’t convince my self to jump on the UW-Madison bandwagon actually has to do with just how easy it is to transfer in. The student body becomes diluted (I know, strong word choice, but it’s my opinion) with infusions of hundreds students every year with 3.2 GPAs and 22 ACTs from community colleges and lower-ranked state schools. In fact, Madison Area Technical College has some sort of ‘guaranteed transfer’ program where if you do a mediocre job there they will guarantee you a spot at Madison. If UW-Madison wants to become a better school, they need to become far more selective. Fortunately, this will also cut class sizes and ensure that it loses its reputation as nothing but a giant party school.</p>
<p>I have nothing against transfer students in general, but they need to be kept to the same (perhaps higher) standards as the freshman admits.</p>
<p>This is coming from somebody who grew up in Wisconsin. Most people just assumed I would go to UW-Madison because everyone does. Luckily I was able to avoid it. It’s reputation is largely graduate-based.</p>
<p>Anyone who thinks UW’s reputation is as a giant party school is seriously wrong. It is one of the top producers of future doctors, PHDs, corporate officers (not just ceos), Teach for America, Peace Corps, Who’s Who in America, and just about any other measure of success you can put a number. And they do it all while having the time of their lives. UW has never put much emphasis on being a school just for the elite. If that’s a problem, it’s yours really. They have found many of the non-elite students they educated went on to be very successful and very devoted to the UW.</p>
<p>Define elite. If you mean top-performing students, then I see no reason why the UW should not strive for the best student body it can possibly get. There are other state schools for less accomplished students. Isn’t the point of a flagship to educate the best and brightest?</p>
<p>“The student body becomes diluted (I know, strong word choice, but it’s my opinion) with infusions of hundreds students every year with 3.2 GPAs and 22 ACTs from community colleges and lower-ranked state schools.”</p>
<p>Get over it. It’s a PUBLIC university with responsibilities to the PUBLIC beyond the Ivy Leagues of the world. Also, I know PLENTY of students with their 3.2 GPAs in HS and actually did BETTER in college. All they needed was a shot and some QUALITY education.</p>
<p>No. At UW it’s to provide an elite educational opportunity to anyone who can take advantage of it. That might include some who were not the best students at age 16 or 17. The success rate of transfer students has been very similar to those incoming as freshman.</p>
<p>So all public universities should admit anybody who thinks they can be successful there? It is my understanding that there is a general hierarchy of public universities in each state. If flagship public universities outside of Virginia were willing to make themselves more exclusive, the need for top-tier private schools would be diminished. I don’t understand why the best school in each state cannot be reserved for the best students in each state. It certainly makes logical sense. Those who “were not the best students at age 16 or 17” should have to either graduate from another state school or perform excellently there (3.8+) and transfer to the flagship. If its elitist to send the best students to the best schools, then call me elitist.</p>
<p>Wisconsin Madison accepts some weird characters. Have you seen the MTV show where that kid drinks every night??? “MONDAY NIGHT IS PARTY NIGHT” ewwwww what a slob.</p>
<p>Well if it makes logical sense that the flagship should be for the best and the brightest why stop there? Take all current students at UW-Madison who are under a 3.0 and kick them out. My viewpoint is more to the middle of things. Anyone can hit their stride at any time in life and I think that allowing a student who has been successful in a lower tier state school the opportunity to go to the flagship is more than just sending the right message - it’s the right thing to do. However, I think the standards should be at the level that the school can be pretty confident that they will be successful there and will contribute positively to the experience of the other students there. So perhaps boasting the entry G.P.A. a bit would be something they should look at.</p>
<p>The state of Wisconsin does have a program for transfer. Part of the purpose is to lower numbers at the Madison campus for intro classes and to help students save some money. Students can attend any of the states technical schools, 2 year colleges or one of the other 4 year colleges and enroll in the transfer program. If they complete all the classes and maintain a 3.0 GPA, they can transfer to UW Madison. </p>
<p>BigP9998 - you claim that this policy is “diluting” the quality of the student body at UW - Madison. Do you know how many students took advantage of this program last year? 140. 140 students out of an undergrad student body of 30,000. If you average 150 students each year for the last 2 years of their schooling, you will end up with 1% of undergrads in this program. Not much dilution if you ask me. Living at home and attending MATC for 2 years is a whole lot cheaper than going to UW-Madison. So if money is tight, why not take advantage of this program? I think it is a great way to help students with lower incomes still be able to take advantage of a great university for less money.</p>
<p>I have already said that I have nothing against the existence of a transfer program. Rather, as I stated, the standards for transfer students should be just as high as they are for freshman students. Anybody with a pulse can get a 3.0 at community college. If the requirement was raised to a 3.7 or so I would be totally fine with it. If a student wants to save money and go to community college, that’s fine, but they should have to do an excellent job there before they can transfer to Madison. Perhaps Madison could create a program for such students where if they are admitted to Madison as a freshman but want to save money, they can be guaranteed a place as a transfer in two years if they maintain a quality (i.e. not 3.0) GPA.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses, guys!
Now it makes me feel a lot better about the whole UW system.</p>
<p>I’m just worried because I still haven’t heard back from UWM (apparently some of my test scores / high school mid year report didn’t get there, and I re-sent it in two weeks ago; hope my chances of getting in aren’t affected too much by it…it IS a rolling admission after all -.-). </p>
<p>Yea I looked into the Chancellor’s plans for engineering there, pretty sweet stuff coming up. If I actually like it at UWM, I might not even transfer to Madison.</p>