UW-Madison or Northwestern... Which is more worthwhile?

ClassicRockerDad
Sun, 05 Apr 2015 21:52:07 +0000

I think Wisconsin is actually pretty academically solid and both of my kids applied there even though we’re from Boston.

This is a no brainer to me.

If you go on Phds.org and rank PhD programs in economics, which really ranks the quality of their faculty, you’ll see that the survey score for the economics department at Northwestern was ranked between 12-19 whereas the survey score for the same department at Wisconsin was ranked 12-23. Hardly a significant difference.

In terms of employers or graduate schools, it hard for me to see it mattering. So to answer your question if it’s worth a $60K-120K debt load to attend Northwestern, it’s hard for me to see how it is.

Also, the lakeshore dorms are quieter, so I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find a social niche that you’d be happy with. It’s hard to characterize such a large class at either school as narrowly as you appear to be doing. You are you and you’ll find people you like at either place.