Four times as many students.

Four times as many parties.

Four times as liberal . OK, way more than four.

We're all familiar with the University of Wisconsin-Madison stereotype: vast crowds of students who attend class between partying and attending liberal protests. So The Marquette Tribune decided to find out if the university lived up to the rumors. Two reporters drove to Badger Country to investigate how different the two schools really are. The Daily Cardinal, a UW-Madison paper, decided to play along and sent its own reporter to find out what Marquette is really about (see story at right).

On Monday we began our investigation, with some guidance from Madison freshman Will Boesen, reporter Joe Boesen's cousin. We were ready to prove our theory about the Badgers, but our investigation turned up unexpected results.

Academics

Madison has been getting harder to get into, and we decided this is because students need to be smart enough to figure out where their classes are.

The academic buildings weren't nearly as spread out as we expected and they were pretty easy to find. It was the actual classrooms that we had difficulty locating.

The Humanities Building is one of the most interesting on campus, and by interesting we mean poorly designed. You actually have to enter the building through one door, then exit the building through another door, then re-enter the building through a third door to find your classroom. This is a really bad idea. Hey, Madison, did you know it gets cold in Wisconsin?

Lectures seem to be pretty typical at Madison, assuming you found yours. Except, that is, for entry-level classes, where you'll be joined by about 300 to 600 other classmates – UW-Madison has 41,430 students, startling when compared to Marquette's 10,898.

But higher-level courses could have as few as 12 students and are mostly discussion-based. Students aren't allowed to take these classes until after they declare their majors during their junior year, which is different from Marquette, where students start taking classes in their majors as early as their freshman year.

The students we met at Madison also seemed more likely to change their majors than Marquette students. Tim Rasmussen, a senior, entered UW as an engineering major and five majors later, he hopes to graduate with a degree in sociology.

Once they pick a major, it seems Madison students hit the books just as hard as they're rumored to hit the bars.

"I don't know when I'm not studying," said Madeline Barger, a sophomore.

Barger said she spends about 25 hours a week on course work and usually studies at Memorial Library, one of most popular of the 40-plus libraries on the UW campus.

Of course, not all students can be the brightest crayons in the box. The weather was warm on Monday, but the lake was still frozen, or so people thought. While walking along the shore, we spotted a couple of rescue scuba divers who had received a call claiming that someone had fallen through the ice. But they couldn't find anyone, so they assumed it was a false alarm. An officer on the scene said this sort of thing isn't uncommon at Madison and they receive similar calls daily this time of year.

Student life

Ask a Madison student what he or she thinks of Marquette, and you're likely to get a blank stare in response.

"Isn't it in a bad neighborhood?" asked Jenny Raasch, a Madison freshman. "Like, I don't really know but that's just what I've heard."

Although Marquette students might think they have a better idea of what Madison students are like, there is no typical Madison student.

Junior Amr Alshihabi, a junior and transfer student from Colorado State University, is originally from Kuwait.

"At Madison you can be whoever you want and still belong," he said. "You can be a nerd, stoner, jock, whatever and you will still find people like you."

But students agree there's certainly some truth to the Madison stereotype. When asked what students do on the weekends for fun, Amber Paar, a senior, quickly responded, "They party."

Alshihabi and his friend Nadia Al-Ghadiri, visiting from Syracuse University, agreed.

"I feel like a lot of people here have a good time and enjoy the college life," Alshihabi said, as he finished his Spotted Cow Monday afternoon at State Street Brats, 603 State St.

The partying begins early on game day at Madison, where sports are a big part of student life. The Kohl Center and Camp Randall Stadium, where the basketball and football teams play, are prominent campus landmarks. Purely by accident, our trans-Wisconsin voyage happened to fall on the day after the Badgers were upset by UNLV.

The second-round upset undeniably hit a nerve with the Madison population.

"I don't want to talk about it," Will Boesen said.

Unfortunately, as Marquette students, we really had no room to press the issue. However, he was more than willing to talk about Wisconsin athletics in general.

"You know when there's a game going on," Boesen said.

Boesen said he attended almost every football game last fall, but he only made it to one basketball game. While Marquette students can easily buy Fanatics tickets, Badger fans may camp out overnight just to get tickets.

After the games, most students head to bars on State Street but most underage students don't feel pressure to get a fake ID because there are plenty of house parties.

Marquette and Madison both have their fair share of bars. However, the smoky stench that sticks to your clothes after a late night out is unique to Milwaukee. Yep, Madison bars are smoke-free and have been since summer 2005.

According to Paul Meixner, a bartender at State Street Brats, the on-campus bars haven't lost any business as a result and there have been some unforeseen side effects too.

"The smoke used to mask all other smells, but after the ban people who didn't shower or would (pass) gas started to smell," Meixner said. "Now everyone showers before they go out."

But not all Madison students drink. We can actually vouch for this: We met two. Rasmussen and his friend Marc Netton said on the weekends they hang out at friends' apartments, attend concerts or venture off campus. Because Madison is such a big school, it attracts all types of students, and there's always something going on.

Denying yet another Madison stereotype, Netton said the liberal or political aspect of student life at the school is overplayed.

"A lot of people could care less about politics," said Netton, who is a political science and religious studies major.

However, we did spot one person protesting the war in Iraq and plenty of political signs posted on bulletin boards designated for the purpose.

Students said the liberal outlook extends from the student's open-minded attitudes.

However, there are some students who aren't quite as readily accepted. Boesen said there is a notable amount of animosity between students from the Midwest (Wisconsin and Minnesota; thank you, reciprocity) and students from the East Coast, aka "Coasties."

Coasties can be spotted wearing Ugg boots, oversized sunglasses, polos and pearls or sideways, purposely-tattered Abercrombie baseball hats, plus North Face jackets. (So, the typical Marquette student?) They inhabit the most coveted housing on campus: the school-sponsored apartments the University House Towers on State Street, where class is only a short walk away, the bars are within stumbling distance and Urban Outfitters, the perfect outlet for Daddy's credit card, is right next door.

Campus

The students work and play just blocks away from the Capitol, and the campus is both urban and scenic. Tall buildings, busy streets and the wooded shore of Lake Mendota border campus.

Boesen explained the campus has two parts: the lakeshore campus and the urban campus. Most classes are in the urban campus, so students who live near the lake shore have a much longer walk to class, but it rarely takes more than 15 minutes.

To ensure they're never tardy a lot of students invest in mopeds or take the free buses.

Boesen said the dorms located along the lake shore are typically nicer, but are overall less popular because of their faraway location. They appeal to more diligent students who are looking for a quiet place to study or a peaceful view.

Like Marquette, Madison has both same-sex and coed dorms, but the rules certainly aren't as strict here. We felt a rush of rebelliousness as we entered the dorm without swiping our IDs. Also unlike Marquette, Madison students are only required to live in dorms freshman year, so it's common for students to move into apartments sophomore year and then houses junior and senior year.

After we explored the dorms, Boesen treated us to lunch at Pop's Club cafeteria. It looked more like a Perkins than a cafeteria. The cafeteria also has a webcam so students can check to see how crowded it is.

Pop's Club has a larger variety of dishes than Marquette dining halls and displays each one's calorie content. Students pay for their meals through a system like MarquetteCash, so it usually ends up saving them money in the long run.

Public vs. private

While many Marquette students are Catholic, about 1,500 Madison students attend weekly Mass at St. Paul's Catholic University Center.

"There's a strong and distinctive Christian presence on campus," said Monica Grant, a dorm missionary.

There are plenty of outlets for religious students, Grant said, but it's in the classroom in which students may have to leave their faith at the door.

"It's a struggle in the classroom to defend the faith," Grant said.

But Netton said most professors are open-minded like students.

"It's inaccurate to say that Wisconsin is a bunch of godless professors," he said.

Netton attributes the attitudes toward religion to the fact that it's a state-sponsored school.

This seems to be the major difference between the two universities, a bigger change for us than the football team or the size of the campus.

As we drove back to Milwaukee, we debated whether the school lived up to the stereotype. We weren't lost in a mass protest against the war in Iraq. We didn't see students rushing to the hospital for alcohol poisoning, although it was Monday afternoon. And Madison isn't the liberal haven it's made out to be. The truth is the school is so big, there's something for everyone.