College- Going to Madison!

[T B0NE 10]

I have officially now applied to UW-Madison and Marquette.

 

I should get a reply back for Madison within 4-6 weeks. I'll be pretty nervous when I open the letter as I'm unsure to whether or not I'll be accepted.

 

Marquette pools their applications so I wont know until January

 

I'm also going to apply to UW-La Crosse and Eau Claire

[T B0NE 10]

Well I got into Eau Claire and La Crosse.

 

 

I applied to Madison 2 weeks earlier than both of those but with all the applications they get I won't know probably for another month.

 

I wont know about Marquette for a while either.

[RyDogg66]

Congrats on La Crosse (and Eau Claire) as I know La Crosse is difficult to get into for a state school.

[T B0NE 10]

Postponed from Madison.......ugh

 

Now I have to wait until March 15th.

[Hammer]

Nah, just ditch the Madison thoughts and go to La Crosse! Personally, I would recommend this to any upcoming grad...

 

<--------- UWL Alum

[jjfanec]

As a UW-EC alum I would recommend the LC or EC route as well. I planned to transfer to Madison after my first year but with my major I had no real reason to go to Madison and EC is a good school for a lot of different programs.

As a positive Eau Claire has had a really good club team over the years. When I was there they even made the Collegiate club team World Series and I think it was down in Florida.

[T B0NE 10]

I got accepted to Marquette earlier this week, going to visit the campus again and take some scholarship tests in February. Also I'm starting to fill out my FAFSA.

[bucks2281]

T BONE, if you need any info/advice about Marquette, give me a PM. I'm currently a student there.

[T B0NE 10]

I think I've narrowed my decision down........

 

Its between

 

Marquette and UW-Madison

 

I visited Marquette this weekend, and I really liked it. As of right now it is probably now my top choice. Scholarships from Marquette have brought the cost down comparable to Madison. And just visiting campus/talking with students/alum it really is impressive, and I really like the feel of campus, and I would definitely be happy there.

 

And I haven't even been accepted to Madison yet....I got postponed in December, and I would say I'm far from a lock to get in. When/if I get in I'll head down for another visit. The Badger fan in me wants to go to Madison, along with basically my entire life my family and I assumed it would be where I'd go. But deciding on a college is alot more than the athletics.

 

But basically I wont be able to make a choice until if I get accepted to Madison, and how I like my next visit. It will be a really hard choice, or easy if I get denied.

[NeedMoreFans]

But deciding on a college is alot more than the athletics.

No it's not!!! Remember, UW has a hockey and football team. Hockey games are mighty fun!

 

Not knowing where you live, the decision may come down to where you want to live during college. Do you want to live in Madison, or Milwaukee? Living in Madison during college was great...and it's even better now that I'm out of college. I lived in Milwaukee for a couple years, and didn't like it as much. But that is me. I like the smaller city that surrounds a couple of lakes.

 

Another thing to take into consideration is what kind of experience you want to have. UW is huge, there is no doubt about that. However, as you progress in your college career, it gets a lot smaller. There are tons of chances to meet people and to get to experience a lot of things at UW (I'm sure Marquette has a lot of these same things, too).

 

When it comes down to decision time, you will know.

[T B0NE 10]

The sports are about even anyways between the two.

 

At Marquette I got MU basketball, and the Brewers.

 

At UW I got Badger football, basketball, and hockey (not a big hockey fan, but love going to the games)

 

And I plan to try out for the club baseball team at either school.

 

As to where I'm from- basically the middle of nowhere. North-central Wisconsin in a small town of around 200. Go to school at a school of 425, so city life is going to be a huge change. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[wisconsinfan47]

Postponed from Madison.......ugh

 

Now I have to wait until March 15th.

Don't sweat it if you don't hear anything by then, and have to wait 'till the 17th or 18th or whatever the following Saturday happens to be. It's how it worked with me, and based on me and my friends experiences, admissions offices in general are not terribly keen on expedience (I was also supposed to hear back from the School of Ed in April...found out I got in at the end of May).

 

I can't remember if I've shared it here or not, but my admissions experience to UW was odd. I'm a white male from a Madison high school (two checks against me already) and I had a 3.4 with a good ACT. I got waitlisted...then rejected...then a month before school was supposed to start in LAX I got a call from UW that I had been accepted. If you really wanna go to Madison, show them how badly you want it.

 

Good luck with your decision, and know that transfering (within the UW system) is actually pretty easy. Tons of people do it every year, so don't sweat that too much. Just use your first year to explore and see where you fit in...It's an exciting time.

[tdeggie]

T-Bone,

 

If you are thinking about the transfer method and are transferring from UW school to UW school, check out the website below. Also, if you are near a UW college there is a program that you might want to look into, its called Youth Options Program. You go half day or less to HS and go to the college to take courses. I found it to be very beneficial. You can get the paperwork from your counselor. Essentially, the state pays for you to go to college, the only thing i payed for was transportation/gas and a parking permit. Just make sure your HS doesn't provide the class. If you take all AP classes and are confident in your test taking ability, you might get more credits that way but its not guarrenteed.

 

http://www.uwsa.edu/tis/

 

click on 'credit wizard transfer'

click on 'course wizard'

then choose your schools, department and click on match all courses to see what transfers.

 

I hope this helps, good luck

[T B0NE 10]

Thanks, but I'm pretty much looking at going next year to Marquette or UW-Madison (if accepted) now

[UeckerAddict]

I went to both Marquette and UW-Madison.

 

I went to Marquette my freshman year. There is a rule that you have to be in the dorms for two years and no (!) girls allowed on your floor after 10:00 pm. I had my girlfriend in town and staying over and we got caught. They took us down to the office and made us stay there for an hour before forcing her to stay with some random girl she didn't know. It was one of the most embarrassing nights I've ever had. I said I wasn't going to do another year of living within a babysitting service when I can go to UW for $7,000 a year (and much more interesting electives), so I transferred and had a blast in Madison. You only have to be in the dorms for one year in Madison, with no coed restrictions.

 

The reasons may sound petty, but Madison was a much more fun town (minus the Brewers) and I got to double major and graduate with honors. That said, if someone has no discipline and gets completely caught up in the nightlife, your schooling will suffer. But I just loved the football and basketball games, along with an actual campus (sorry. Marquette is just some buildings up against Wisconsin Ave.) and the ability to travel much farther around the city than I could at Marquette. There are more attractive women, more majors, more class choices, better atmosphere, and for much less money.

 

That's my two cents. Others might disagree, but that was my experience.

[bucks2281]

There is a rule that you have to be in the dorms for two years and no (!) girls allowed on your floor after 10:00 pm.

 

They changed that rule -- girls are not allowed on the floor after 2:00 am, but the rule isn't strictly enforced. IMO, I think it's asinine, too, but it's pretty much the MO at Catholic universities.

[UeckerAddict]

They changed that rule -- girls are not allowed on the floor after 2:00 am, but the rule isn't strictly enforced. IMO, I think it's asinine, too, but it's pretty much the MO at Catholic universities.

 

Unfortunately for me, I decided to go to Marquette late in the game and ended up at O'Donnell Hall. I'm guessing that McCormick was much more lax. O'Donnell is only 3 floors and (when I was there) only had one wing of women, so any girls anywhere else made them stick out like a sore thumb. I guess I would advise T-BONE to pick his dorm early if he decides to go to MU.

 

You do still have to stay in the dorms for 2 years, right?

[bucks2281]

Right -- you do have to stay in the dorms for 2 years. I have friends who live in the metro area who skirt this rule by becoming "commuter" students, but end up renting off-campus apartments. O'Donnell is now 100% male, but is 5-6 floors, I think -- not sure on that one. And, I would definitely advise him T-BONE to pick his dorm early. Abbotsford on 13th & Wisconsin has really nice 3-person rooms (I honestly don't think you could ask for nicer college dorm rooms), and it's cheaper than a 2-person room.

 

Marquette is a great community, but sometimes I feel like, "this is it?" Don't let it turn you off because I hope you choose to join MU, but it gets stuffy here at times. And, amen on the women aspect http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[hawing]

You only have to be in the dorms for one year in Madison, with no coed restrictions.

I'm going to question that statement. I think UW-Madison would like all of its first-year students to live in their dorms, but since some upperclassmen opt to stay in housing, there aren't enough dorm rooms for every "freshman." Over the years that I have employed UW-Madison students, not all of my first-year student employees have lived in dorms (though most have).

 

Co-ed restrictions are gone now. In the 80s I picked "limited visitation" dorms (where guests had to be out by 2 or 3 AM), mostly as protection in case I was assigned an inconsiderate roommate - which had already happened to me at another school.

[Brewbadger]

You are not required to stay in the dorms freshman year at the UW, but if you want to meet a lot of new people (as is the goal with most when they go off to college), you're definitely best off living in the dorms. However, one year is usually sufficient. Lots of rules, and the whole anti-drinking stigma kind of gets to you after a while (not that college, or specifically the UW, is all about drinking).

[T B0NE 10]

I got into UW! Pretty pumped I got in, kinda wasn't sure if I'd get in.

 

Now I have to decide MU or UW.

 

I will be visiting Madtown again, possibly MU again.

[NelsonR]

I got into UW! Pretty pumped I got in, kinda wasn't sure if I'd get in.

 

Now I have to decide MU or UW.

 

I will be visiting Madtown again, possibly MU again.

Congrats. Both are great schools. My only advise would be keep in mind the difference in cost.

[utdfan]

Congratulations, I was in a similar spot a few years ago and ended up going to UW. Best decision I ever made. For me, I lived just west of Milwaukee growing up and wanted to get a little further away from home than Marquette. Combine that with the academics, campus and athletic programs at UW and it ended up being a easy decision for me. What are the biggest factors you are weighing now in terms of your decision?

 

One thing that I would recommend is that you should not wait too long to make the decision. If I remember correctly this is the time when you send in your housing application UW. Some of my friends who got accepted later and turned in the housing application late got stuck way out in the furthest lakeshore dorms possible.

[T B0NE 10]

UW

Pro's

Cheaper (Got generous scholarships from MU, but still around $5,000-7,000 more a year)

Great School

Badger games

 

Cons

Too big?

Too liberal?

Will I graduate in 4 years?

 

Marquette

Pros

Smaller than UW, more one on one education

Great School

Sports around (MU hoops + Brewers)

Great atmosphere

 

Cons

Cost 7 grand more than UW a year

Private School?

 

For majors I'm looking at Political Science, International Affairs, or History.......but I could end up switching all around.

Cost will probably be the deciding factor, along with my next visit to Madison....I will be paying most of the college costs myself, my parents said they will pay what they can but they really won't be able to afford too much.

[hawing]

As for whether UW is 'too big'...only you can decide that, but I'll mention that I spent my high school years convinced that I could never feel comfortable at a big school. Then after choosing a small (like 1100 enrollment - similar to my high school) college in the area, I felt closed in almost right away, and found to my surprise that UW-Madison was in fact a good match for me.

 

I found that although it was (and is) a big school, there are many ways to scale it down. In my case, I'm sure it helped that I picked a low-enrollment major, but when I was in large lectures, I made a point of sitting toward the front of the room, which helped faculty/instructors recognize me, and I did not hesitate to ask for help (academic and otherwise) when I needed it. And this was all in the 1980s; in the intervening years, UW-Madison has put a ton of effort into making the campus less "big" (as in overwhelming) and the student experience more personal. You still have to make some effort, but being in college, I hope you are ready for that anyway.

 

Another thing that I discovered was just as important to me as being able to scale down the campus when I needed help...was being able to blend in when I wanted to. At the college where I started, there was zero opportunity to do that, and I did not like the feeling of everyone knowing everyone. I felt like I had the best of both worlds at UW.

Of course, MU isn't nearly as small.

 

Also, just saying...it's not like there aren't "sports around" at UW-Madison. Your access to Badger sports will never be as inexpensive again, as they are while you're a student.

 

Good luck deciding, and congratulations on scoring in what has become the UW-Madison undergraduate admissions lottery.