The University of Wisconsin - Madison

I was a pre-med psych major... The academics (i.e - professors and TAs) were first-rate... The student body was a mixed bag... It's a public school, so it's not incredibly difficult to get an acceptance... This also means it's not excessively challenging to finish in the top 10 percent of the bell curve to get an A (there is no grade inflation at UW)... But, it sometimes seemed like my classmates were more interested in what party they were attending that weekend than in getting an education (this could be incredibly annoying sometimes; it is a party school with a lot of heavy drinking)... It's a school of 40,000, so the administration can be very impersonal... You need to be assertive... If you're from a larger city, you'll probably find the city of Madison to be kind of small (but the locals are rather friendly) and very lacking in diversity... Most of the in-state students are from small town, rural Wisconsin; they have a different vibe from the predominantly more affluent, suburban, out-of-state kids...In the end, it just comes down to what you want to do with your career... I mean, if you want to be an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, you're probably going to find it difficult to enter that field if you graduate from UW (as opposed to an Ivy; investment bankers at big-name firms tend to be from "top 10" schools)... If you want to eventually attend grad school or go the pre-professional route (i.e. - pre-law, pre-med, etc.), the UW "name" will get a lot of respect from academia when you apply... Very good school overall... GREAT bargain for what you get if you're an in-state student... Loved it academically, hated it socially (if you don't like bar-hopping or attending frat parties, there's very little to do)...

4th Year Male -- Class 2001

Education Quality: A+, Collaboration/Competitive: C