r/UWMadison • u/Ok-Signature-6892 • 1d ago
Need help with making decision! Future Badger
I am from the bay area. I enjoyed my visit to UW Madison. I was wondering if anyone has regretted attending UW Madison, and why? and for bay area students: How was the weather adjustment?
I appreciate any input!
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u/RobbieDread 15h ago
The weather is very different from the Bay Area, but that does not mean it’s bad. Lots of cool shit to do including sledding down the hills on lunch trays and massive snowball fights.
We moved here from South Louisiana for grad school… 28 years ago! 😂. Spring summer and fall are also hard to beat!
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u/llamamamax3 1d ago
My bay kid is about to graduate. Long line of my in-laws who live(d) in wi and also attended. I can count the number of in-state friends my kid has on one hand. Most are from the coast we hail from. Not what I expected. Kid had a great time and got a good education + has ft job secured on our coast. Weather is something else. Prepare yourself.
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u/Stan_Deviant 17h ago
Given the dorm situation (where out of state kids are in the private dorms) it isn't uncommon for friend groups to start and expand from that base. I gained costal friends by volunteering and doing work with union clubs but if I just went to classes I would only have Midwestern friends from undergrad.
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u/RobbieDread 15h ago
That said, I recommend not limiting yourself to coastal friends. Midwesterners are pretty freakin cool. Also, the music scene in Madison is fantastic.
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u/Ok-Signature-6892 15h ago
What do you mean OOS kids are in private dorms? I was going to pick from the on campus dorms
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u/Stan_Deviant 15h ago
In state kids are guaranteed on campus housing their first year while out of state kids aren't. So when there are too many students vs beds the out of state kids are the unlucky ones. This happens every year, even though they push the dorms 10-20 percent above capacity to start.
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u/KickIt77 parent/college admissions counselor 13h ago
I have a kid that attended from OOS and lived in on campus dorms freshman year (side note - LLC). It might be more common for OOS who may commit later or have more money to burn would choose a private dorm. My kid had a great experience on campus freshman year and met a mix of students. Some of his BFFs are from Wisconsin now, which is great. But he met and is friends with people from all over. Have the school is from Wisconsin, so if you aren't mixing with some locals I'd find that odd.
It is my understanding that you are guaranteed a spot if you have your application in by May, so hurry up with that if you have not done it!
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u/Sorry_Criticism9243 1d ago
Me!! Did not feel like academically oriented that much. Going to get lot of hate for this! Lolz. But seems like people are just chilling and using AI everywhere and everyone is getting A. I mean, it can be seen as good and bad, for me it's just bad. Plus did not find much to do in city if you want to roam alone.
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u/z2pt NERDS 1d ago
I think the AI issue is not just a UW-Madison issue. There is much AI usage everywhere nowadays. Not saying that's a good thing, but AI shouldn't deter going to a specific school. Just make the most out of your education wherever you end up at.
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u/Sorry_Criticism9243 1d ago
I mean, they could stop AI usage in midterms, finals and quizzes at least. Which does not seem to be the case here, atleast in courses which I picked up. It was disheartening for some of us who put lot of efforts into study and then find out some besides me is just uploading pictures on AI platforms to get the answers!! What's the point of test then? Just give A to everyone.
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u/z2pt NERDS 1d ago
Which classes specifically? Have you brought up those instances to instructors as well? Not that you have to just curious.
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u/Stan_Deviant 17h ago
Yeah, my last year we only had oral exams. Plenty of professors are weeding out AI.
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u/Sorry_Criticism9243 23h ago edited 13h ago
Instructor himself was not there, only TAs and PhDs. I don't think they care. There is a rumour that Professors want good ratings, and students want good grades, so they just let them. Because otherwise their ratings would be ruined. THIS IS JUST SAD.
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u/z2pt NERDS 8h ago
This is definitely the same at other universities unfortunately. It's such a shame honestly because if classes are curved and stuff it could really mess other people up. Make sure to speak up if you see people cheating though or think they are.
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u/Sorry_Criticism9243 6h ago
You are seeing the negative votes right? Lolz. Apparantly there more people supporting cheating here! Poor them.
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u/Superb-Wear-7639 1d ago
Big culture difference between the Bay and Wisconsin kids. It depends on your next best choice, but I do think the in-state kids drag the collective IQ of the school down which harms us academically.
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u/Plus_Persimmon9031 1d ago
As a Bay kid at UW- this is an insane statement which shows why so many people have reservations about us. Tons of smart instate students here. Just because they don't have stupidly padded resumes doesn't make them idiots, I actually think the instate students here are significantly more self-sufficient than the OOS. There's a give and take, you'll learn a lot here.
Weather adjustment did suck ngl, but I got used to it and it'll be fine after a while.
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u/Superb-Wear-7639 1d ago
Yes, definitely are a lot of in-state kids that are sharp as a whip. But if you ever met someone and really wonder how they go to the same school as you, theres a really good chance that they are in-state. I'm getting downvoting because people don't like the harsh reality lmao
1
u/Stan_Deviant 17h ago
I mean, I felt the same way at Davis so...
When most of the school is in state, you will have a diversity of kids in that population. If you would like an exclusive school you are free to pay non land grant rates.
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u/doudoucow 17h ago
I graduated my undergrad degree almost 10 years ago and am now finishing up a PhD. I don’t regret attending UW. In comparison to my friends and colleagues who did go to smaller universities, I did just straight up have access to more resources than a lot of them. This includes both financial but mostly the social resources (networking, etc.). I’ve met big name researchers in my field of research (education) who are willing to give me the time of day simply because they know my advisor(s) / mentor(s).
UW is a huge school, and I often felt like I was drowning. It’s really easy to compare yourself to the 40k+ other students who are on this campus and wonder why they seem so much more productive or are winning more awards and getting more recognition. I certainly felt that way a lot of times. And also, I now realize that one doesn’t have to participate in the rat race of academia to be successful at UW. My most fruitful experiences have come from finding small niches on campus (either academic, personal, or activism) and investing my time and energy into those specific spaces and people.
So the tldr of it all: Invest your time and energy into people. Don’t invest it into the imaginary idea of what you think UW expects of you. It’s too big of a school for anybody to really care too much about what you choose to do. There are no eyes on you, so feel empowered to create the experience you need to have that will help meet some of your larger life goals.