<p>I was recruited as a faculty member by both Wisconsin and UVA and found both schools very attractive. My main reason for choosing UVA wasn’t very intellectual: I prefer the more temperate weather here, and the beautiful mountain scenery. Wisconsin is quite scenic too, with campus buildings overlooking lakes, but the lakes were frozen solid when I visited and the snow was coming down so hard it was hard to see out the windows. In fact my trip to the campus had to be postponed twice because winter weather closed the airport. I grew up in the snow belt of upstate NY and I just didn’t want to be dealing with that any more. Summers can be hot and humnid in Charlottesville, but school isn’t in session then so students and faculty are not required to be around. If you like cross-country skiing and suchlike, however, UW could be your place!</p>
<p>Both universities are located in sophisticated, cosmopolitan towns. Madison is bigger than Charlottesville and is the state capital. OTOH, as others have noted, Charlottesville is closer to the big East Coast cities, esp. DC.</p>
<p>Both UVA and Wisconsin have been affected by the recession but my sense is that UW has been hit harder, and is more dependent on the whims of the state legislature because a larger proportion of their funding comes from the state. In my field, they’ve recently lost quite a number of faculty because of noncompetitive pay, and they are poised to lose more.</p>
<p>Congratulations on two great choices!</p>