Campus and city
Madison defines the college town experience with Lake Mendota forming the northern campus boundary, offering sailing, ice skating, and iconic sunset views from Memorial Union Terrace where students gather with pitchers of beer and live music on summer evenings. Bascom Hill serves as the geographic and symbolic heart of campus, while State Street connects campus to the Wisconsin State Capitol with independent shops, restaurants, and nightlife. Camp Randall Stadium hosts 80,000 fans for football Saturdays featuring Jump Around between the third and fourth quarters. Greek life involves roughly 10 percent of students across 60+ chapters, while over 900 registered student organizations cover every interest imaginable. The beloved Babcock Hall Dairy Store sells ice cream made by food science students using Wisconsin dairy. Winters are genuinely cold with temperatures regularly below minus 15 Celsius in January, but fall colors along the lakeshore and spring thaw create memorable seasonal transitions. Frank Lloyd Wright architecture dots the surrounding area, and the Dane County Farmers Market on the Capitol Square is the largest producer-only market in the US.