The University of Wisconsin - Madison

Date: Jul 12 2008
Major: Business - Management and Administration (This Major's Salary over time)
From Alumni with Child Going now:

Don't go into SOAR without laying out a Wishlist of classes on your wisc.edu site and develop a tentative schedule first, days before SOAR..ie…spend time on website looking at your major or possible majors, and laying out a schedule under the TimeTable button. Check RATEMYPROFESSORS.com. 22,000 reviews of UW Madison professors. At SOAR you barely have time to read the class list guide after they give you the book, and really you need days to kind of figure it out. Advisors can be really bad, very helpful or only know there own area…hit or miss. New Freshman don't know they can go on-line to do a plan before arriving and it will make SOAR so much more productive and less frustrating. Advisors were a problem when I went to college and still are, even though the university promises good advising. They hestitate to let you change assigned advisors, so know you can avoid the one assigned to you, and find someone else you click with as a mentor. Thankfully 40% of students are from out of state and many from Milwaukee/Madison to make the population more diverse than a "small town WI" crowd. And Lakeshore dorms are great and provide a needed respite from campus at end of day unless you are a true urbanite who doesn't need that peace. Try not to fall into constraints imposed on you, cuz college years need to be positive, and will be your most fun in retrospect. DOn't let the "drinking house party" environment rule you (bring a beer can and fake it with soda)…do things out of the norm and you'll have great life friends. A UW degree will also be a positive in your life. And working the bureaucratic system is good preparation for the career world.