izibo said:
I am incredibly psyched up about potentially going to school next year at UW-Madison, but I haven't heard a lot of buzz (or, any really) about the school on the forums. I would really appreciate some thoughts any one else can provide about the school/town/program.
Madison is hands-down one of the most progressive small cities in the country and is constantly ranked as one of "the best cities to live in" by Money Magazine. That said, it's not a big city, and can't compare to New York, Chicago, or LA. To me it feels more like a smaller, cleaner version of Cambridge. As everyone else has said, Madison is very, very liberal (the green party is the dominant political party in city politics) and surprisingly culturally diverse for the Midwest. There's a good amount of solid ethnic restaurants downtown (definitely try the Ethiopian place on State Street), and with the new Overture Center, there's a huge push to bring top tier shows and concerts to Madison.
Although I didn't go to UW for undergrad (I went to school out on the East Coast), I grew up in Madison and have a lot of friends at medical school there. Regarding the program, the UW is really pushing hard to break into the top top tier of medical schools in the country. They just founded a school of public health and changed the name of the medical school to the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Also, as I'm sure you know, they are also really one of, if not the front-runner in the field of human embryonic stem-cell research. James Thompson, who pioneered the field, is on faculty there in the Anatomy Department and really brought a lot of money to the school. Moreover, because of all the stem cell research there, the NIH picked the UW (over Harvard) to open the first national stem cell bank. The hospital is also pretty top notch, and apparently does the most transplants in the US (that's what they told us on interview day). The patient population isn't as diverse as what you'd find in a larger city, but is pretty solid.
In my mind, there are only two major draw backs to the place. First, the cold. It gets ridiculously cold there in the winter. During middle and high school, we'd get a few days off each winter, because it was too cold to spend extended periods outside. So get ready. Second, like someone else mentioned, real estate in Madison isn't cheap. Because the city is on an isthmus (which incidentally makes for many great recreational opportunities), space downtown is limited, and you'll end up paying more than you'd expect for an apartment. Apartments on Langdon Street (where many of the undergrads live) can run as much as $800/month, however I think most med students pay probably between $500-$600.
I want one of those!
