Madison vs. Marquette for pre-med

[lolgirooo]

current Marquette Biomedical Sciences major. Thinking about transferring to Madison, majoring in the Biology neuroscience tract, mostly because I really dislike Marquette's campus and the environment here.

Just finished freshman bio and chem, but worried about transferring to Wisc and having organic kick my ass and kill my dreams.

Can anyone from either school weigh in? I'm not really in a position to get anything less than an A in O-chem at Madison, since I did poorly in Chem 1 and Bio 2 (C and BC).

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[ShenanigansMD]

Uh... Madison easily. Awesome town, compared to yooper Marquette.

Edit: nm, wrong Marquette.

 

[lolgirooo]

I'd actually prefer if Marquette was located in yooper territory. Better than the ghettos of Milwaukee. I've already been mugged this semester, and we just barely finished midterms.

 

[Anathema]

Madison by far on so many levels.

 

[ShenanigansMD]

Madison is phenomenal (visited for undergrad). You have the city if you want it, and the lake/woods are right there when you want to make the change. Just fantastic, besides the midwestern weather.

Plus, UWisc will look good on apps bro.

 

[BoneDoc91]

Madison by far on so many levels.

Agreed. No question I'd prefer Madison.

 

[1289]

Madison alum here. I can only speak for uw but tbh the competition in o chem HELPS you more than anything. The averages on some of my exams were in the 50-60 range, so as long as you're scoring a 70+ (which is doable) the curve will put you in the A or AB range.

plus o chem is gonna suck no matter where you take it.

 

[Ignatius M.D.]

I don't think it would look much better as far as your application goes (not enough to make a difference anyway), but I'd go to UW. It's not Berkeley, but it's a solid state school, and you should be able to work hard and get the grades you need. It's also a beautiful place, which is always a plus when you spend so much time on campus. I was close to attending for the great neuro program there, but ended up (very) luckily getting into a top 20 with a good undergrad neuro program. I would have been very happy to attend UW (even though I'm OOS). I was a transfer too, so I should tell you to be prepared during interviews to answer the "Why the transfer?" question. Good luck!

 

[Wisco1]

Madison no question. I'm an alum and can say that you will want the reputation of Madison to carry you a bit in the app process. It is much harder to bust admissions committees if you come from a smaller, less known, less rigorous university.

 

[nheit]

Marquette tuition (per year) = $33K
UW-Madison tuition (per year) = $10K resident, $27K non-resident
For me, that just about does it

The only concern about UW would be the size if you're the type of person that needs small classes, personal attention, etc.

As reputation is concerned, Marquette is pretty well known nationally for a smaller university, but it simply does not have the same brand name as UW. Adcoms on either of the coasts will know UW for sure but might not have heard of Marquette. If your desire is to stay in the Midwest, either will suffice.