evolution786

Madison is SUPER bike friendly. There are bike paths all through the city and around the lakes, makes it very easy to get around...in summer. The bus system is pretty good- it covers most of the city and like someone mentioned, it's free. However, on very busy days (i.e. when it's snowing and frigid) the buses tend to run late. At those times, get to your stop early. I lived in India, Bahrain and San Diego before coming to madison 14 years ago, so the temperature was a big shift for me as well. As Canator said, invest in good winterwear! And not Uggs. You'll get used to winter in about 2 months 

UCSD has a pretty good program (I'm not sure what their rank is) though they focus on different things than most schools. Since they're so close to Boeing's facility, they do a lot of structural research of composites for aviation. UCSD also has a heavy amount of research in structural design though, with a focus in earthquake engineering.

Let's liven up this thread again!
 
I've only applied to 3 schools for a masters program: UW-Madison, UIUC, and UC-San Diego.
 
Overall GPA: 3.76/4.00
GRE: 160(V), 160(Q), 4.50
 
Experiences:
2 full time summer internships, one of which lead into the school year part time for the past 2 years
1 semester as a TA in structural analysis
1 semester of research
 
I haven't heard back from any of my schools yet...I'm getting pretty nervous since UIUC has already started accepting masters students, and I didn't get invited to visit the campus :/