Is Madison a 'college town'? (Milwaukee, Whitewater: relocating, rent, jobs)

[lordinateur]

Is Madison a city dominated by the University of Wisconsin and the student population? Several conversations I had about relocating there were greeted with some variation of the phrase "Oh, Madison? People love it there. It's a great college town." These people had either visited the city or grown up in the Midwest.

I wouldn't, from this board, or other sources, think of Madison as only the city with the big college, but I'm curious: Is this how Madison is perceived in the region? If so, why?

[illwauk]

Madison is a college-town in every sense of the word. Along with the State government, The UW dominates the culture of the entire city.

As far as Madison being the only place with "the big college," Milwaukee has a couple of large colleges: UW-Milwaukee and Marquette University. But UW-M is nearly the same size as Madison with a fraction of the budget and reputation. Marquette has a reputation that at least rivals UW's regionally and nationall (both are ranked top 100 by US News), but it's considerably more conservative than Milwaukee at-large. In short, neither of the schools in Milwaukee have integrated themselves into the city as well as UW has in Madison.

There's a few other places in Wisconsin that literally wouldn't even be on the map without their UW institution (Whitewater, Platteville, River Falls, etc.) , but none of these schools have anywhere near the visibility of UW-Madison. They're also much smaller than Madison itself. Whereas Madison has SOME things going on while school is out, the other places I named become ghost towns.

As far as perceptions: Madison is viewed as an ultra-liberal oasis. I think that's at the very least an exaggeration. While Madison isn't conservative, it's missing a few things that I look for in a place that I'd truly consider progressive... namely, a racially and socioeconomically diverse population. It might not have the same political leanings as, say, the Milwaukee suburbs, but demographically it's not much different.

It also seems to exist in a bubble. Although it's more open-minded than most places in Wisconsin, Madison seems to think it has the market cornered on liberalism in the state. This in spite of Milwaukee's status as one of the most diverse cities in the US and its reputation as being fiercely pro-union and anti-big business. Some of the more rural areas in the western part of the state also share that "pro-union" stance seeing as how Wisconsin relies on manufacturing jobs more than almost every other state in the US. Although these small towns tend to not be as liberal when it comes to social issues, but I digress.

In short, if you're looking for a somewhat progressive "big town" with a growing population and gay-friendly environment, Madison is for you. But if you don't want to be in a collegiate environment (even if you aren't in college), avoid Madison like the plague.

[LML]

I disagree that Madison is only about the UW. While it is an important part of the community there are thousands and thousands of us who live here and enjoy the city and all it offers and yet we have nothing to do with the UW. Once you get off the isthmus you find entire neighborhoods that don't see a college student from one trip downtown to the next....and yet we manage to live full and happy lives.

[jbear182]

illwauk has no clue what she is talking about. Based info. from another thred illwauk has come to Madison once. There is a boat load of things to do that has nothing to do with UW. However, having the UW in Madison does add greatly to the quality of living in Madison. illwauk don't you have anything better to do than bash Madison?

[TipToeIn]

It's a college town. There are other things to do though.

[Drover]

You certainly can't deny that the university substantially impacts the culture of Madison. But when I think of a "college town" I think of a place where the student population makes up a third to half or more the population; places like Bloomington IN, Champaign/Urbana IL, Lafayette IN, et cetera. In these places the university student body practically dominates the economy and the culture of the city. There is also a steeper divide between the university culture and the "townie" culture in these places, and sometimes they are at odds with each other. In Madison the university culture is more seamlessly integrated into the greater cultural fabric, precisely because the city is too big for the university to dominate its culture.

Even so, it's still a great "college town" because the "college" portion of it is one of the coolest in the Midwest.

[lordinateur]

Drover, that's about my definition for a college town as well. I used to live in Albany, NY, which is also the state capital and has a large student population (albeit way uptown). However, in Albany, the student population seemed pretty segregated from the downtown, non-University life of the city. The centrality of UW-Madison sounds more like Cambridge's schools.

[MadCityKid9]

amen to that drover! and jbear182, it is about time somebody said something to illwauk

[toast12]

UW-M has 220,000+ students? news to me

[katreese]

I lived in Madison for 7 years before I began attending the UW here. It's definitely possible to live life here and not have anything to do with the campus; however, you can't avoid the campus if you ever want to go downtown (with the exception of, say, King Street) where many big community events take place. The university influence, however, adds needed diversity and interest to the area.