University of Wisconsin-Madison...thoughts

[Falco2525]

I was wondering what peoples thoughts are on the University of Wisconsin-Madison...is it a good school...are people happy there? Anything special about it? anything would be very helpful!

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[45408]

Was accepted there but I chose MCW due largely to the location, but also due to the very confusing, claustrophobic-inducing hospital and the 16 weeks of mandatory away rotations. They also have anatomy lab off-site, but that should be rectified by the class of 2011 or 2012 (the building was about to begin construction when I interviewed). Beautiful, brand-new building though, and everyone seemed friendly. Location was probably 85% of my decision - my family is all in Milwaukee.

 

[yobynaes]

i just had my interview there last weekend. i was well impressed. They have brand new facilities, very laid back study atmosphere. i think their program is reasonable, though they do seem to elogize their away rotations more than usual. i personally have no interest going into primary care, so i'm not too sure if it will be a good fit. on the other hand, they do seem to provide a lot hands-on clinical opportunities to the student which i think is perfect for my interest in becoming a clinical practicianer.
overall, i like the school a lot. to me the most important thing is the location and student life since i believe that majority of the medical school produce very qualified doctors (also depend the person, of course).

 

[maestro1625]

they're the only school to reject me so far, but damn... that campus is beautiful, and Madison easily rivals Ann Arbor.

I would have loved to go there for undergrad, but the 30k a year was hard to justify.

 

[45408]

Albion college? isn't that the little Christian school in a tiny town? My HS choir sang at a church there circa 2000.

 

[ldybugg82]

I did my undergrad at the UW and it's one of my top for med school. The Health Science Learning Center and Ebling library (where most of your classes will be) is a nice and new facility. It's a comfortable environment to spend your time in with plenty of space for studying and hanging out. A free city bus runs every 8 mins around the campus (from the hospital over to the undergrad campus), so getting around is pretty easy. As for the city, Madison is a great place to live. We have beautiful lakes and a Union Terrace to enjoy a beer on while you look out at the sailboats. The city is surrounded by great biking trails and you won't have to travel far out of the city to find some great natural areas/parks to check out when you need a break. The downtown has a new Overture center that attracts some quality culture/entertainment events. The UW has a bit of a drinking culture (ok, we binge drink) so spending a night out at the bars (and there's a lot of them!) is always crazy. Badger game days are a must as the entire city will rally downtown to cheer on the football team. Oh yeah, and if you're interested in research, the UW is at the forefront in many areas (stem cells!).

Overall a great school and a great place to live. But of course I'm biased, I was raised as a Badger. The only reason I wouldn't go here is because I've been here my whole life and am thinking a change of scenery would be nice.

p.s. Ann Arbor's got nothin' on us.

 

[owenmichael]

Madison is a GREAT, happenin city. I really think its not as well known cause its in the midwest. Theres a ton of cultural, going out, night life stuff going on. Lots of beautiful lakes, and the city itself is gorgeous.

The med school is brand new and gorgeous. The anatomy lab will be in the new med school next year. They have a great up and coming program that is very well respected amongst the medical community. Couple of downsides are the majority of the class tends to be from the University of Wisconsin, its graded which fosters quite a competitive atmosphere (regardless of what the students that go there say), and the 3rd and 4th year rotations are all over in small town wisconsin (if you don't get Madison, or milwaukee)... not bad or the best places to be learning medicine in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong... I LOVED the school and was fortunate to get in there with a scholarship. It was really hard for me to not go there and I think you would have a great... FUN experience there.

 

[maestro1625]

Albion college? isn't that the little Christian school in a tiny town? My HS choir sang at a church there circa 2000.

There's a methodist affiliation to the school, but it's pretty loose. I really wouldnt call it a "Christian school" the way I would for Hope or Calvin. And yes the town is tiny, but it's more of series of closed factories than a town... Not the type of place I'd walk around by myself at night if I were female...

 

[45408]

Couple of downsides are the majority of the class tends to be from the University of Wisconsin, its graded which fosters quite a competitive atmosphere (regardless of what the students that go there say)

Heh, MCW has 38 students from the UW undergrad. I've also heard the competitive comments, but they downplayed that when I interviewed there.

 

[MollyMalone]

Madison's fabulous. The school is quality. The biggest reason I chose not to attend was the grading system. I just felt that pass/fail had too many advantages over the traditional A/B/C. But I think I would have been happy there had I gone.

 

[Badger4Life]

Madison's fabulous. The school is quality. The biggest reason I chose not to attend was the grading system. I just felt that pass/fail had too many advantages over the traditional A/B/C. But I think I would have been happy there had I gone.

Riiiiiiight, because pass/fail schools just dont rank their students at all....and then they match for residencies based on board scores multiplied by their height in cm.

 

[owenmichael]

Actually Mollymalone is right... pass/fail really does mean pass fail at most schools that have their system. I know Yale, Mayo, Stanford, U Chicago DEFINATELY don't have an internal ranking system. So getting into residency is based on boards, your rotation grades your 3rd and 4th years, and hopefully getting great letters of rec from big time doctors at these academic institutions.

 

[pike1]

I am a current M1 at UW and I was afraid that it would be overly competitive when I came here. However, I found this to not be the case. Everyone is very supportive of one another. Yes we do have letter grades, but the classes are not graded on a curve. The percentage required to get an A is preset by the course directors, so that anyone that achieves that overall percentage in the course will get an A. However, keep in mind that they do set the bar pretty high The faculty here are outstanding and love to teach! I have been very impressed with them.

 

[YupGypsy]

I have an interview here but will probably give it up. Cheap Texan tuition is way too attractive.

 

[PosterY]

Madison is a GREAT, happenin city. I really think its not as well known cause its in the midwest. Theres a ton of cultural, going out, night life stuff going on. Lots of beautiful lakes, and the city itself is gorgeous.
...
I think you would have a great... FUN experience there.

Madison, often confused with a city, is more of an urban sprawl around a campus, a capitol and two shopping malls. There is little to nothing to do and the weather is amongst the worst and most depressing that I have ever experienced.... and I have traveled a LOT. Only one of the lakes is pretty, but to compensate, there are no decent beaches.
For those appealed by the "party culture" or whatever, there are exactly 4 clubs, which are progressively getting worse
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/spectrum/index.php?ntid=95139&ntpid=1
My contention is, if you want to get drunk, binge drink, whatever - fine, do it, but do it in style. Having great places to go out to at night could be a great release. Madison will never throw a vigorous and interesting life at you. The college bars are loud and obnoxious and full of aggressive townies. So, yeah, there are many, many bars... if you want to throw darts, eat a bratwurst, or get a fatty burger, but there are very few classy places.
My advice is very biased, however. After all, I am mostly applying to schools located in Boston, NYC, Philly, and maybe Chicago and some selected places in CA... so you get the picture.


Having said all that, I must admit that I love UW. A great school.

 

[leahmaria]

UW Students--is there parking for students at the medical school?

 

[pike1]

UW Students--is there parking for students at the medical school?

My only complaint about being a med student at UW is the parking. There are parking lots around the med school, but it is difficult to obtain a permit to park in any of these lots. As far as I know the only exceptions would be if you had some sort of physical disability that required you to park near the school. However, you can park in many of the lots near the med school after 4:30pm M-F. Weekend parking is wide open as well. My advice would be to live close to a bus line with a route that runs by the med school.

P.S. You can park in the hospital ramp at anytime, but you would have to pay everyday.

 

[owenmichael]

I am a current M1 at UW and I was afraid that it would be overly competitive when I came here. However, I found this to not be the case. Everyone is very supportive of one another. Yes we do have letter grades, but the classes are not graded on a curve. The percentage required to get an A is preset by the course directors, so that anyone that achieves that overall percentage in the course will get an A. However, keep in mind that they do set the bar pretty high The faculty here are outstanding and love to teach! I have been very impressed with them.

You are completely right (about classes not being graded on a curve). However, people are still ranked. So despite the fact that their may be 20 kids with 4.0's at Madison after their first year, they are still ranked based on how many points they lost total (after looking at GPA's first). I know alot of students there and I agree that people are helpful and what not... but there is always going to be some form of competitiveness (whether or not its overt is another thing) that occurs when you know your being ranked.. and you know residency directors are going to see your rank.

 

[pike1]

You are completely right (about classes not being graded on a curve). However, people are still ranked. So despite the fact that their may be 20 kids with 4.0's at Madison after their first year, they are still ranked based on how many points they lost total (after looking at GPA's first). I know alot of students there and I agree that people are helpful and what not... but there is always going to be some form of competitiveness (whether or not its overt is another thing) that occurs when you know your being ranked.. and you know residency directors are going to see your rank.

True, ranking does exist here, but from what I understand your actual numerical rank is not reported on your Dean's letter. Categories are used instead (ie top 1/4, middle 1/3 etc..). Even if you attend a school that does not "rank" its students you will experience competition when it comes to the residency process. Personally, I think worrying about class rank and how it relates to every test you take is enough drive a person insane. A person will be a very unhappy medical student if they think that every test they take (or point they miss) will make or break whether or not they get into the residency they want. I think that doing your best and working on being the best team player that you can be are more important than a couple of points on an exam.

 

[owenmichael]

True, ranking does exist here, but from what I understand your actual numerical rank is not reported on your Dean's letter. Categories are used instead (ie top 1/4, middle 1/3 etc..). Even if you attend a school that does not "rank" its students you will experience competition when it comes to the residency process. Personally, I think worrying about class rank and how it relates to every test you take is enough drive a person insane. A person will be a very unhappy medical student if they think that every test they take (or point they miss) will make or break whether or not they get into the residency they want. I think that doing your best and working on being the best team player that you can be are more important than a couple of points on an exam.

Yeh thats true... a couple of points though:
1) At UW you are ranked in sixths.. so you are either the top 1/6th (top 16 percent) or the next sixth (16-32 percent) etc..
2) Although residencies dont see rank, they DO see what sixth you fell into. And I think it is fair to say that Deans letters are influenced by what your numerical rank is (i.e. #32 in the class vs. #50).
3) I disagree with the pass fail schools experiencing competition as far as residency?? Maybe if two students are applying to the exact same programs in the exact same specialty. I would say this is rare though.
4) Although I can appreciate your attitude and approach to med school, I am sure there are alot of people that don't share your holistic perspective of learning medicine for real vs worrying about every little detail for tests; especially when they know they are being ranked and that their residency placement depends on this rank to some degree. I know people in the class who definatley "gun" whether they show it or not. That could be eliminated if it was pass/fail.

Personally, I loved the school but that (the lack of pass fail) was a HUGE problem to me. I just don't buy that everyone helps each other out as much as possible, and everyone shares ALL resources. I'm sure there are people that do help... but that there are alot more that will do as much as possible to make sure they can finish med school (rank wise) in a position to pick their residency.

 

[pike1]

Yeh thats true... a couple of points though:
1) At UW you are ranked in sixths.. so you are either the top 1/6th (top 16 percent) or the next sixth (16-32 percent) etc..
2) Although residencies dont see rank, they DO see what sixth you fell into. And I think it is fair to say that Deans letters are influenced by what your numerical rank is (i.e. #32 in the class vs. #50).
3) I disagree with the pass fail schools experiencing competition as far as residency?? Maybe if two students are applying to the exact same programs in the exact same specialty. I would say this is rare though.
4) Although I can appreciate your attitude and approach to med school, I am sure there are alot of people that don't share your holistic perspective of learning medicine for real vs worrying about every little detail for tests; especially when they know they are being ranked and that their residency placement depends on this rank to some degree. I know people in the class who definatley "gun" whether they show it or not. That could be eliminated if it was pass/fail.

Personally, I loved the school but that (the lack of pass fail) was a HUGE problem to me. I just don't buy that everyone helps each other out as much as possible, and everyone shares ALL resources. I'm sure there are people that do help... but that there are alot more that will do as much as possible to make sure they can finish med school (rank wise) in a position to pick their residency.

In regards to point #3, I meant that students attending pass/fail schools will eventually have to face competition from med students all over the country when it comes time to apply for a residency. I was trying to suggest that you can never really escape the idea of "competition", even if you do go to a pass/fail school.

Not to get completely off topic, but how do you like it so far over at Mayo? One of these days I would like to take a little field trip out there to see the Mayo clinic first hand. I know that sounds dorky, but I think that I would get a kick out of it.