If you ever find yourself rethinking your decision to attend The University of Wisconsin, rethink your rethinking. Unthink your rethinking? Whatever, just stop and realize that coming here was one of the best decisions you’ve ever made.
I did not make the decision to attend UW until after my first year of college. I spent my freshman year studying at St. Norbert College, a liberal arts school in De Pere, Wis., which is the size of a large high school. My two college experiences could not have been more polar opposite.
To be frank, the biggest difference between a small, private college and U-Dub is that here, nobody knows when you fart. I know this sounds stupid, but stick with me. At Norbs, my largest class couldn’t have been more than 30 kids. If you let one fly in a classroom like that, you would obtain a nickname such as “The Gas Station” or “(insert first name) the Ripper”. If the window was left open on the day of said flatulence, one could probably smell the toot from the other side of campus.
Having small class sizes is one of the staples of small liberal arts colleges, but to be honest, they aren’t all that spectacular. Yes, you get some face time with your professor, but that doesn’t make them any better at teaching. From what I’ve experienced at Madison, professors make themselves available to any student who seeks help. Teacher’s assistants at St. Nubs were all undergraduates and sometimes they didn’t know what they were talking about. Here, the TAs are graduate school superstars with brains that rival the likes of Walter White.
This campus may be big and you may be one of 300 students in your lecture, but at least nobody knows when you fart. Okay, maybe the people within a small radius of seats around you (a radius that grows larger depending on how many tacos you scarfed down at margarita night at Diego’s) know when you fart.
Students’ social lives are also a different story at a small college. On a sunny Saturday morning in De Pere, you wake up … and just kind of sit there. There are no farmer’s markets, no Division One football games and there is no fun to be had at all. I would compare it to being at summer camp, if summer camp lasted 7 months and they didn’t let you go swimming or do fun crafty things.
On the complete opposite end of the amusement spectrum, Madison is an epicenter of excitement. Between concerts, art displays, the parties and the bar scene, this city is always buzzing.
I have also come to notice that Badgers are awesome in general. Smaller schools can tend to be very cliquey, and people can easily close themselves off to meeting new people. UW is a large group environment combining many different cultures and walks of life, which I think contributes to the friendliness of the students here. Or maybe you’re all jerks and I just haven’t found it out yet, but I’d like to believe the former.
In short, I would say that UW is like a waffle, while smaller schools are like pancakes. They’re kind of the same thing, but, like, not really at all. Pancakes are the bare minimum, just a flat piece of hardened batter. On the other hand, waffles have all those little pockets for syrup and butter, not to mention a big W in the middle if you go to Gordon. All of those pockets are meant to hold the life experiences you will acquire by attending a large school in such a culturally charged area.
I mean, in the end, waffles and pancakes accomplish the same thing — your hunger is sated, i.e. you get a degree, but wouldn’t you rather enjoy your breakfast and fill your pockets with syrup along the way?
Metaphors are hard, you guys, but you get it. Be proud that you’re a Badger and consider yourself lucky to be a Bucky, because your experience here in Madison goes unmatched by all those other pancakes.
Michael Schwanke (mschwanke
