Thanks, AuntAnnie. I appreciate your sharing your perspective. Our daughter goes to a school of around 1200 students. So this big school thing is a whole new ballgame for us!

Because he's such a big fan of Garrison Keillor (spelling?), I think my husband would've kind of liked our son to take a look at Minnesota. But there were already so many other schools and so little time!

As I think I may have mentioned earlier on this thread, we do still plan to look at Missouri because of their strong journalism school. And we're going to visit UCONN and Syracuse University when we take our daughter back to school in Massachusetts. But, assuming he gets in, I strongly suspect Madison will be the one.

Between the two kids, I can't believe how many college campuses I've seen in the past three or four years! But it's been fun. And, as I said either here or on my Bloomington, IN thread, if it hadn't been for these college trips, we wouldn't have done much traveling this summer! I'm always grateful for any excuse to visit somewhere I haven't been before!

Ack - well I got nothin' today at the party, CAPH52 - it was too busy and no chance to talk about school.

Well, I am sure you can figure it all out without me, LOL!

Good Luck to your son in getting into the school he decides on!

I know how that goes, HappyCheesehead! It's hard to have a serious conversation at a party. But thanks so much for trying.

It was really sweet of you to even think about trying to get the info for me. And to take the time to report back!

Thanks for your good wishes too. When this all settles out and we know where he's going to go, I'll try to remember to pull this thread back up.

Susan M - Yes, the Summer of '88 it was!! We flew into O'Hare and drove up to Madison. I still have a photo of me standing by the "Welcome to Wisconsin" sign with lots of yellow grass everywhere.

I just pulled this thread back up to print it because we're leaving for Madison tomorrow morning. Our son has to be there Sunday for his registration/orientation!

I'd forgotten that I said I'd pull it back up when he'd decided on a school. Obviously, he got in UW Madison! Had we known how little money he'd get from a state school versus a private (should have listened to the college counselor at his high school!), we might have made another choice! His sister is going to a more expensive private school in MA for less than he'll pay for out of state tuition at Madison. But, on the whole, we're very happy that he got in and decided to go there.

Congratulations to your son! Hope he will enjoy his time here and learn a little something too.

You picked a gorgeous weekend to come, but a busy one. I went to the square today for the farmers market (always busy) and Maxwell Street Days were going on too ( sidewalk sales on State Street) AND Paddle and Portage. Crazy nuts have to paddle Lake Mendota, portage their canoes over the isthmus and then paddle Lake Monona.

Summer is short in WI, we have to live hard!

CAPH - still waiting for the full trip report. I'm happy your son (and you) enjoyed his visit.
The campus is large, but the majors tend to be centered in one area. I wouldn't worry about next year and the living off campus yet. It's not really off campus. The condo DS2 lived in with 4 other kids sophomore year was closer to his classes than the dorm.

BTW - he and his girlfriend (graduated from Madison Law in May) just moved in together in Evanston. She really found a deal on an apartment.

Auntie - my youngest son goes to U of M. He does like it, and his major is rather specialized, so now that he's going into his senior year (I can't believe it) he has many of the same kids in his classes. He chose to live with his uncle the first two years (save me a ton of money) so he did had a little trouble meeting people - as I said above.

Hi, Ange! The Madison part is posted. I'm really hoping to get the rest finished soon. The night before last, when I posted the part about our first full day in Grand Marais, it was more of a struggle because I'm starting to forget things. And because my "stuff" from the trip is starting to get scattered!

But our daughter's boyfriend arrives two weeks from tomorrow, I start work again the next day, our son moves in to the dorm two days after that and daughter and boyfriend leave for her school the following day! Between trying to get the house in order, making sure all the is are dotted and ts crossed with financial stuff, insurance, etc for both of them, getting our son set up with what he needs for his dorm room, etc.....The sad thing is that three weeks from yesterday it will suddenly be very, very quiet around here. I'll go from running around like a madwoman to having nothing to do!

In a way, I wish I could leave finishing the trip report until then. But I'm afraid that 1) I will have forgotten everything. And 2) all of my receipts, guide books, brochures, etc. will have gotten "put away" somewhere in the massive house cleaning!

And, speaking of cleaning, I am now going to pull myself away from this computer!

HappyCheesehead, I'm so sorry I didn't respond to your post. Very rude of me!

Thanks for your congratulations! At this point, I feel very good about the choice. And I think my son is getting pretty excited. It's such an odd time, with friends starting to leave, all going in different directions. Being nervous about going off yourself. And yet looking forward to it too.

When my daughter started college, she was the last of her group of friends to leave. I remember being so depressed as, one by one, her friends left. My son's first friend leaves tomorrow. And I know I'm going to have the same reaction!

Anyway, you were right about us picking a good weekend. The temps were so much better than the year before! I don't know whether you saw my trip report, but we had a great time in Madison. I'm looking forward to spending several weekends there over the next four years!

I did see your report - it was great!

I have to hang my head in shame. LOL. We live right here and I have never been to any of the restaurants you visited, although I always mean to head down to State Street and check a few out. My DH travels a lot for work so it seems like we never go out to eat when he is home.

Let me know when you are coming for a weekend and have a few minutes to spare - maybe we can meet for a drink and I can see some of Madison

It's a deal, HappyCheesehead!