My younger daughter (high school senior) is looking hard at the U of W in Madison WI. She is interested in Computer Science and Graphic Design, but not 100% sure on what she wants to do, does not want to go to a small town college. She wants to attend a larger school so she can change majors if she does not like what she is studying.

Must be some graduates or students on Trapperman. Interested in your thoughts about the college and / or your experience there?

You can change your major anytime no matter where you are. The first two years isn't that big of a deal. You're just getting prerequisite classes out of the way. Small schools can save a lot of money. Just make sure the credits transfer. Did she talk with her guidance counselor at school. They can help.

I went to university of Wisconsin in river falls, nice school but very liberal

Exactly what Flicker Shad says. The first two years are like placing your toes in the water before you jump in. As a society we tend to place an emphasis on where did you go to school, what was your major, what was your average? Two more important things in life are decision making and motivation.

I attended two smaller universities and changed majors. At smaller universities class sizes tend to be smaller allowing professors to help individual students more. Madison is
a known party school.

"The 25 Top Party Schools in America"


"3. University of Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a highly rated public university located in Madison, with popular majors including Information Science, Economics and Biology.

One top-rated Niche review states: "Wisconsin is the best place on earth. The campus, the academics, the sports, the party/bar scene, UW has the perfect balance of everything."

my wife , Brother , Sister in-law , some friends and a Few cousins are all alumni of UW Madison.

your grades need to be excellent , it isn't cheap but it is a good school also very large and spread out.

if she doesn't know what she wants to do , a year of Gen ed at a smaller UW school is a lot easier way to get into UW MAD and can save you money that is how my friend and wife got in. no one cares where you started only what your degree says at the end.

I did my Grad Classes there- great school. I believe they're ranked #2 for Computer Science. A lot of kids change majors and many individuals never work in the field of their degree but trying to select the best school for your major is a great place to start.
An example is accounting: University of Wisconsin Whitewater a D3 school is #1 for first yield pass CPA's... great choice for accounting.
Computer Science: University of Wisconsin Madison #2

The reciprocity between Minnesota and Wisconsin is a great thing for education, I wish we had it for trapping. Things change but when I went you needed to be a 4.0 to be accepted and the thought by many was easier to transfer in than to be accepted in, University of Wisconsin La Crosse takes a lot of over follow from Madison and probably a 3.75 is the ante to get in there.

UW Madison is over 40,000 students. Very liberal neighborhood, probably all big "land grant" campuses are (??). I graduated out of U.W. River Falls in Soils and Agronomy in 1979.

Can she play quarterback?

I went to UW Madison. Study hard and party hard.

Gerald has she consider a Canadian university .?
there are some $ 10,000 yearly and free student lodging scholarships for outside applicants
if this is the daughter that collects coins , give me a call after 6pm and I will give her the inside track.

as the phrase goes;" It.s not who you know but how you know= that pays off "

Have had several relatives graduate from UW. They reported the experience to be very positive.

I’m not buying her reason for wanting to go to a larger school - you can change majors at just about every college/university. Even small schools with 10,000 to 12,000 students offer multiple majors and changing is easy, though it may take an extra semester or two to graduate.

I went to UW - Eau Claire and changed majors 3 times and added a second major my junior year. Still graduated on time.

The bigger issue should be how she will deal with a campus that big with 40,000 students.

Is she outgoing, social, adventurous, makes friends easily? Or is she more reserved and quiet? It takes a certain type of person to be able to adjust to a campus that size. I know it would be way too much for me to deal with.

The UW system has lots of campus of various sizes and transferring credits should be easy. Why jump into the big pond right away, start out at a smaller school.

The first year will be all basic courses. Probably won’t start on a major until second semester sophomore year or even junior year. Get the basics out of the way at a small school to give yourself a taste of college life. Then transfer, IF you still want to.

You know your daughter and her personality and help her take that into account.

My thought exactly.

Like Wissmiss, I went to UW-Eau Claire. Changed my major from Medical Technology to Public Health in my junior year. Still finished in 4-years but I did a lot of 17 credit semesters too.

The town is nice. Lots of woods and water. You have to be careful because partying can get out of hand if you let it. The professors knew every kid’s first name by the end of the second week. The classes aren’t huge. The marching band is one of the top performers in the country, though that was a few years ago. With reciprocity, it’s a good place to get your feet wet. There’s a decent sized computer software developer there called JAMF, she’s probably be able to get a job with. There are other software companies in the area too so having job opportunities in her field could make a difference for her.

Does she want an education or the "college" experience. That can be two completely different things? It can be costly too.

My son is a freshmen at UW - EC. His major is computer science. He graduated in the top 5 of his high school class, great ACT score. He was accepted at UW - Madison. In the end it boiled down to class sizes and tuition.

UW Madison https://financialaid.wisc.edu/cost-of-attendance/

UW Eau Claire: https://www.uwec.edu/tuition-financial-aid/tuition-fees/

There was almost a $10,000 difference per year between the two. He will be able to graduate with no debt due to the difference.

Many very good points regarding smaller UW campuses around WI and MN. Wisconsin and Minnesota have a reciprocity arrangement. While at UWRF, probably 50 - 60 % of the students were from MN.
I changed majors several times (and UW colleges as well) before I graduated at River Falls.
My farm is about 15 miles SE of Eau Claire. UW Eau Claire and CVTC (Chippewa Valley Technical College) are both excellent schools. My church (downtown EC) weekly hosts 50 - 100 college students in our worship service).)
FWIW - my son initially wanted to attend UW Madison for engineering, my wife and I said no way.....too many distractions, etc. He attended UW Platteville instead and did graduate as a cvil engineer. Anyway - I honestly doubt he would have succeeded had he attended Madison.
Best wishes..

If she is a mink trapper like you, remind her there is no Right of Way trapping in WI:)

Sounds like the mind is pretty made up but my advice to my students the last ten years was go to a two year school, knock out the generals for half the price then transfer to UW school for 4 year degree. Have many students going to CVTC in Eau Claire then transfer. But also with H=high school college course offerings and tax payer funding many students graduate with 1 to 1 1/2 year of generals done. Kids are graduating college itself in half the years.
Madison though is very liberal as most colleges are, but Madison is liberal insanity surrounded but 15 miles of more insanity.