William & Mary vs Wisconsin Madison

MYOS1634
Thu, 10 Apr 2014 16:39:40 +0000

tsdad: you’re talking about graduate rankings, right? Because those greatly correlate with research output, not with undergraduate experience ( for undergraduates, what matters most is: contact with professors, size of classes, quality of advising, personal attention, level at which the average class outside your major is directed, undergraduate focus, etc. as well as research availability. Research output really isn’t among the criteria, those are important only to grad students.)
UWi is a very good university, no doubt about it, but graduate needs and undergraduate needs are different.
I have no doubt however that a bright, motivated student at UWI will get research opportunities in biology.
What about the 2/3 of the academic experience? (Major = about 1/3 of your classes).
Comparing college towns, Madison is likely to be better unless one likes historical towns. Colonial Williamsburg is lively and the campus doesn’t lack things to do but Madison is well-known as an excellent college town, probably one of the best in the US. The weather in Madison is a bit tough, cold/snow, but that’s a matter of preference. Sports are also better at UWI. For breaks: more hiking, lakes, and snowshoeing opportunities from Madison, more historical visits and beaches from Williamsburg. Possible visits within a roughly 240 mile radius (~4 1/2hours drive) to Twin Cities and Chicago from Madison during big breaks; to DC, Richmond, Philadelphia, Greensboro, Virginia Beach from Williamsburg.
Some aspects of W&M can also be pretty intense (all kids are extremely bright and focused - it’s a highly selective state school. At UWi it’s the flagship but there will be a broader band of drives and preparations, which can be appealing. Overall it’ll be more laid back.)
Also, as was mentioned above, there’s the matter of preferring a very large university or smaller one (although W&M is not small - it’s considered medium-sized, being well over 3,000 - 3,000 is the upper limit for “small”).

Some numbers to compare both, with their +/-:
WM Top 25% 720iM, 740CR 740 W; top 10% ; 25%threshold: 630M, 620CR, 630W
UWI Top 25% 750M, 650CR 670W; top 10% ; 25% threshold: 630M, 530CR, 670W

Class sizes: 20 and under 48% W&M, 46% UWI
40 and more: 16% W&M (including 3% at 100 and over); 25% at UWI (including 9% at 100 and over)

Residential life: W&M: 100% freshmen live on campus, 72% all students; UWI : 90% freshmen live on campus, 25% all students

In my opinion, but ymmv, W&M would be better for an undergraduate who has research specifically as a goal. Not because research isn’t available at UWI, but because the “norm” at W&M will be undergrads focused on research and PHD programs, which is not the case at UWI. In addition, I would prefer the location. But really there are very good reasons to support either choice.