The University of Wisconsin at Madison was established in 1848 and is the largest of the 13 universities that make up the University of Wisconsin System. The nearly 1000 acre campus is located on the shore of Lake Mendota within one mile of the center of the City of Madison and the State Capitol Building. This public, land-grant college has an undergraduate enrollment of over 30,000 and also serves nearly 10,000 graduate and professional students, for a total enrollment of about 40,000 students. The University is consistently rated as one of the top 10 universities in the nation in overall teaching and research excellence and in the ability to attract federal research funding.

The Medical School, the School of Veterinary Medicine, and a basic science-oriented College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are located on the Madison campus, resulting in a strength in the biological sciences that is unsurpassed anywhere. Research scientists on the campus are located in over 125 academic departments and may also participate in a number of interdisciplinary programs

The attractive physical location of the campus, the diversity of the student population, and the wide range of social, athletic, and cultural events available on a large campus make the UW-Madison a very pleasant place to carry out graduate studies.