The admission season is about to begin soon for the fall session starting in July. Everyone is worried about which college to choose and which will be the best for them. Although there are many famous public & private universities in the USA, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has some unique charm in its name & fame. Being the oldest and largest public land-grant university in the state of Wisconsin, it was founded in 1848. It is mainly a research university and classified as an R1 University, which means a very high level of research activities. It comprises 20 schools and colleges in its vicinity. It plays a significant role in the economy as it is the largest employer in the state hiring more than 24000 staff & faculties. Here we will see about Why should I go to the University of Wisconsin-Madison?
You should attend it for its academic excellence, wide range of courses with world-class facilities, beautiful and giant campus on the shores of the lakes & its scenic beauty, many libraries, museums, and many more. Usually, there’s only one library & one museum in the college or university but, that’s not the case with this university. With around 40 libraries and many museums, it has a huge collection of volumes and art pieces in them, respectively. Not even in academics, it has excelled in everything from sports and athletics to creative writers. It gives the world many renowned scientists and celebrities as they are alumni of this university like Laurel Clark ( an astronaut who was a part of Space Shuttle Columbia), John Bardeen (the only person who won the Nobel prize in Physics two times), Dick Cheney (46th Vice president of the USA), and many more. Let’s have a look at some of its popular schools: –
- College of Letters & Science – It is the largest among the 20 schools. It has 38 departments and around 50% of undergraduate students are enrolled here. It also has 5 professional schools in its domain, carrying out research in the field of astronomy, economics, geology, history, linguistics, and zoology.
- University Research Park – It was founded in 1984 for the sharing of technology with businesses and the outside world.
- Science Hall – founded in 1888, it is the world’s first building to use I-beams.
- College of Agriculture & Life Sciences – Practical and deep studies related to crop & livestock production, farm life, management of natural resources, health and nutrition, and community development are conducted here. It has 19 departments & 12 associated research centers.
- WISCIENCE – Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing provides a postgraduate program for the creative writers of the future. It gives 9-month fellowships to writers of fiction & poetry. Another fellowship named Halls Emerging Artist Fellowship is provided to meritorious students in the 2nd year so that they can afford the 3rd year of study. The minimum amount of these fellowships should be $38000 plus health insurance.
What makes it so prominent in the field of research compared to other research institutes?
It has the record of the most advanced research & inventions made in the human history. Its alumni have included 26 Nobel laureates, 2 field medalists, and 1 Turing Award winner. Some of the notable ones are mentioned here: –
- Discovery of Vitamin A and B
- Single-grain experiment
- Development of “Warfarin”, an anticoagulant medicine
- The first chemical synthesis of a gene by an Indian scientist
- Discovery of retroviral enzyme reverse transcriptase
- The first synthesis of human embryonic stem cells in 1998 by James Thomson was the historic invention of that time and proved to be a turning point in the success of the university. It got respect and is counted in as one of the top research centers in the USA.
What does it offer apart from academics?
- Sports & Athletics – The university participates in the NCAA’s Division I-A in 25 intercollegiate sports, and has won 31 national championships and 50 Olympic medals (including 13 Gold) to date. Rowing is the oldest and main sport of it. It has a wide variety of sports for men & women like football, basketball, ice hockey, and many more.
- Campus Radio – It is the specialty of this university that for the first time students are allowed to run the radio station WSUM 91.7 FM named “The snake on the lake”. Around 200 volunteer student DJs are running it.
- Libraries – Usually, colleges & universities have one big library that caters to all the needs of students but, this university has more than 40 professional & special purpose libraries, one for each field of study like Kurt F. Wendt library for engineering & tech, Steenbock Memorial library for agriculture & life sciences, and veterinary medicines, Memorial Library is the largest library of the state, having more than 3.5 million volumes related to Humanities & Social Sciences, College library for undergraduate students which has audiovisual materials, workstations, DVDs, maps, music scores, and many more.
- Museums – The first dinosaur skeleton, a shark, and floating sea lilies are sited here. Many paintings & sculptures date back over 700 years. There are 5,00,000 zoological specimens in the museum on which research & experiments are being carried out. The huge collection of specimens, historical instruments, and pictures is what makes it special.
Is it worth choosing as your dream college as your whole future & career depend on it?
It is worth choosing if you want to be an all-rounder. It helps in your overall personality development by providing you with many recreational activities besides academics. It has its own police forces, hospital, food service, botanical gardens, dairy plant, and whatnot. In 2021, it was ranked 65th in the world by QS World University Rankings and 58th by Times Higher Education. It became the 3rd largest in the nation to provide the highest no. of doctorates in the year 2008. The achievements are unending but, it’s not possible to mention all of them here. Approximately 48000 students, coming from 34 different countries, are enrolled in different courses at the university. So, you will get a chance to share & gain knowledge from others as well.
Conclusion –
It might not be the dream of everybody to get admission to this university as many other big and famous universities like Stanford & Harvard are also in the race but, you will not regret it after being inducted into it too. It has a specialty in innovation & research and has around 100 research centers & programs. Maybe research doesn’t mean much to you during your undergraduate program but, being taught by research scholars & scientists comes with unlimited benefits.
