UW-Madison VS. MCW

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Which school would you choose

  • UW Madison

    Votes: 38 64.4%
  • Medical College of Wisconsin

    Votes: 21 35.6%

  • Total voters
    59

dbutz02

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I know this has be debated already in numerous threads but I want to poll it because I still don't know what to do.

So which one are you going to OR which one would you choose between the two.

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Wisconsin-Madison is one of the best state medical schools in the country. I do not think it should be a tough decision. And Madison is a good college town.
 
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For me, a lot of it is location. I've lived in both Madison for the last several years and in Milwaukee for everything before that (currently 21), and have found Madison's "college town" feel to provide some awesome opportunities.

Basically, MCW is in the middle of a parking lot, surrounded by the suburbs. Madison is in the middle of a college campus (actually, now at the edge w/ the new building) in the middle of a dynamic city. Your choice.
 
I am a first year at Madison and I love it. the school, the resources and the faculty are all great. madison itself has several things to offer. i know that this can be a hard decision, so take your time and consider what it is that you are looking for and go to the school where you feel most comfortable not the one everybody else says is the best fit for you.
 
unfortunately, I don't get to make that choice. :mad:
 
blump said:
Wisconsin-Madison is one of the best state medical schools in the country. I do not think it should be a tough decision. And Madison is a good college town.
Not if you can't stand Madison. :laugh:
 
What's wrong with madison?
 
I got accepted to both too, but I'm leaning towards UW-Madison, although I absolutely LOVED the friendly and courteous students and faculty at MCW. But the facilities at UW-Madison are awesome!
 
I am pretty sure MCW has a lot more class time than Madison. Are you a good class learner ? I am not. I hate class - waste of time for me.
 
MikePhen2 said:
I am pretty sure MCW has a lot more class time than Madison. Are you a good class learner ? I am not. I hate class - waste of time for me.


Yeah, MCW does have a lot more lecture time.

I'm a bit lazy, so can someone tell me how UW's curriculum is structured (block, etc)? Thank you in advance... if not, I'll look it up eventually.
 
TheProwler said:
87 square miles surrounded by reality.

that's what some people love about it though. to each their own.
 
TheProwler said:
87 square miles surrounded by reality.


But that's half the fun! :D Besides, I think that's most college campuses.
 
Offear said:
But that's half the fun! :D Besides, I think that's most college campuses.
I was talking about the whole city. ;) Madison is like the Berkeley of the midwest. I'll pass.
 
I definately think Milwaukee is a better place to live, but Madison is supposed to be a better school so I'd say Madison.
 
I was born and raised in Madison and really wanted to go there for medical school, but ended up at MCW (now in my first year). Honestly, I always looked down my nose at Milwaukee being from Madison, but now I've lived in Milwaukee for 7 months and it's great. While it's hard for any school in the country to compete with Madison's brand new medical school, MCW has nice facilities as well...plus you spend your first two years in a lecture hall so what does it matter anyway. Milwaukee has a lot to offer as a city. And considering the small amount of free time you have, you'd be hard pressed to be bored in Milwaukee. Milwuakee also offers a bigger and more diverse patient population to work with during the clinical years. MCW doesn't have the name recogniton of UW, but MCW's repution is going nowhere but up. I think it be hard to go wrong with either school or city.
 
As a resident at UW-Madison that was a med student at MCW, I can tell you the following:

MCWs clinical experience is, in my opinion better than UWs. There is a lot more autonomy for med students in Milwaukee and you really learn clinical medicine well. Many of UWs medical students are farmed out to small areas throughout the state. This may be a positive or a negative depending on the person. MCW rotates through many hospitals in Milwaukee with the opportunity for rotations in other parts of the state, but only if you want them.

The didactics (first two years) of MCW med school was in the block format (and still is). Classes may be heavy in hours, but there is a great note-taking system so you don't go unless you want to. I chose not to go to the majority of my classes starting second semester of first year. I would basically take two weeks off after exams with little studying then start studying for the last two weeks before exams (for me it was mostly the last week). Overall I would rate the lectures a B-, but I don't know how UW lecturers compare.

As for cities. Madison is smaller than Milwaukee, but seems like it would have been a great town to be a med student in. Milwaukee has more variety of places to go and things to do and was a fun town overall. I'd say the town is a toss up depending on if you're looking for a college feel or a bigger city feel.

The reputation of UW is better than MCW, mostly based on the research done at UW. There are ample research opportunities at MCW as well, just not as well known or funded as a graduate research powerhouse like UW.

Good luck.
 
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