“When you’ve said Wisconsin, you’ve said it all.”

There’s something about going to our school that makes you instantly connect with others — be it that they previously graduated 10 years before you or lived right across the street, yet you never knew them. Looking through the Sunday Style section of the NYT, my friends and I peruse the engagements/wedding sections to see if anyone has graduated from Wisconsin, and where they work, etc., and share this information as if we know them well. Not to mention that it’s a great networking tool for jobs as well.

And even if you weren’t lucky enough to attend this institution, other people seem to be so fascinated by it. As if it’s an anomaly of some sort. Going through the interviewing process for the fall, I’ve been asked a number of questions by employers who have attended University of Michigan, Tufts and the like, that skip the important, job-related issues and ask “so how do you like Wisconsin? What’s Halloween really like there?” While a million and one answers are running through my head, it’s hard to simplify that response into one clear and concise sentence.

I guess there are no words to describe it. And, if you are a student or alumni reading this, more likely than not you can agree with me. There just aren’t words to convey exactly how I feel about this school, because you’re supposed to fall in love with people, not places. So what is so enchanting about this place? Here are a few of my own reasons I can come up with: Madison is a campus that you can come to completely by yourself, like I did, and make your own group and network of friends. But, if you need to lose yourself for a few minutes or a couple of hours, there’s a new place, coffee shop or store around every corner. You can choose from an abundance of majors, which range in competitiveness and challenge your intelligence. Any night of the week you can venture out, be it to a bar on State Street or the library, and it’s packed with all different types of people to fraternize with. (However, if you really need to study — stay away from the 2nd floor of Helen C. White Library.) And if 24 hours of studying isn’t your forte, there are tons of different ways to get involved on campus, be it academically or politically, and actually make yourself feel as if you are a part of the university, not just a nameless student.

Cheese. Beer. Babcock Hall Ice Cream. Badger Football and our schools’ camaraderie. There’s simply nothing like the above, especially if you consume them all in one football Saturday. I’ve never been that inclined to one sports team, but since becoming a Badger, I will continue to be one forever.

Graduating in two weeks, while it is disheartening, will leave me with four great years of memories that I will be able to share with people I meet and converse with over the years. I look forward to coming back to campus with my friends and re-visiting, yet not trying to re-live, what we have made of our college experience. I consider myself lucky to have spent my last four years living on this campus, experiencing major world events while residing in Madison and taking in my surroundings along with my education.

So my answer to the employers’ question: what is so great about Madison? Here’s my answer: when you’ve said Wisconsin, you’ve said it all.