University of Wisconsin Stout | Wisconsin's Polytechnic University

What We're About.

Speaker 1 (Greg Slupe)
I'd say my overall experiences have been wonderful here at Stout.  I really enjoy the students and instructors as well.  Everyone's really pleasant and easy to get along and work with. 

Speaker 2
I've loved it so far.  I was really sad at the end of last semester that it was 25% done already.  It's a quick program, but it's been really fantastic:  really friendly people, great program.  I'm really happy with it. 

Speaker 3
Some universities are almost what I would consider "stuffy." You can generally call those your research schools.  But people get experience here.  The professors all have a ton of experience in the field, so to speak.  It's just a really good atmosphere to go to school in.  And then, from a social standpoint, it's just the same.  I mean, people are just really nice, friendly and open—open to discussion, which is good.  So, it's just a great atmosphere.  It's a good school here.  That's the reason I chose to leave one of the most beautiful places in the country to come back to school for. 

Speaker 4
My overall experience has been wonderful.  One of the things that brought me back was feeling comfortable on the campus and knowing that it is just as friendly as it was before.  The program has been set up so that some of us students who are non-traditional have the ability to go full-time and still keep jobs as necessary.  The staff have always been very warm and welcoming, open to questions, and there when we need them.  If we're not on campus and we're emailing, we get very prompt responses, and they've just been great to work with.  It's been a great learning experience. 

Speaker 5
It's been fun.  The professors in the program, for Marriage and Family Therapy, are brilliant.  They've made it fun being in the program here.  Menomonie is a great place:  a great small town feel, really friendly people everywhere. 

Speaker 6
I enjoyed it.  I think that the grad program definitely gives you a good base knowledge for going out to be a school counselor.  I'm in my practicum right now, so I feel well-prepared.  I think you learn the most on the job, but they do prepare you very well.  I feel that the professors are all open-minded—pretty much, all of them that I've had an interaction with anyways—and want to get to know who you are as well as making sure that you have a good time.

You'll be at Home Here.   

Speaker 7
I have found it very comfortable here.  I like that it's small.  I like that the people here are very friendly, willing to say "hi," and give you directions, even though it's a small campus.  When I came for my interview here and for my first few days, people were very willing to help me find my way around, and I find that very similar to the small town that I'm from.  I really like that. 

Speaker 8
The people are always friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable about what I need to find out. 

Speaker 5
The staff are easy to get a hold of.  No matter what it is that I need from them, I'm able to talk to them and they're able to help me out.  It's kind of different from the bigger universities, such as where I did my undergrad, where it's almost impossible to get some kind of attention from someone and be able to get answers to questions.  They're very willing to be there for the students.

Awesome Professors With Field Experience.
You'll Love What You Study!

Speaker 5
My program director is also my thesis advisor, and it's really great working with him.  Bruce Kuehl, he's brilliant, and he makes sure that I do good work.  Anytime I need to talk to him, he's more than willing to be there for me.  I can call him up—he lives here in town—when I need his help.  Even on days when he's not in school, he's more than willing to have me come over and talk through some things.  So my thesis is really easy because of him.  The other professors in the program—Dale Hawley, Terri Karis—are there for the students.  They're not just here to get a paycheck or to get themselves known; they're here for the students. 

Speaker 2
The program director is fabulous.  He's really close to all of us.  We actually have him for a class, so we get spend a given three hours a week with him.  He's really accessible outside of that, very helpful, really prompt with emails and things like that—just friendly beyond that.  He seems to have a compassion for people; he's not just a stale program director.  He's really interested and cares about us and what we're working on. 

Speaker 9
If I was to not understand something, then I can always go and ask a professor, and they're very nice and willing to help me.  Actually, I can call one of my professors, even though it's on the weekends - and we're not in school and she's not teaching - anytime and she will return my phone call. 

Speaker 8
Working with them, seeing they're professionalism, and learning from them about our career—what I'll be doing in life—is excellent. 

Speaker 3
My particular program director is amazing, has a very great background, and has been very open and honest with me.  My research advisor is just an awesome lady who very much pushes me to do a great job.  Many of the other professors I've run into are just really great as well, and a lot of that has to do—within my particular program—with them having the industry experience, which really makes a difference.  It's not just all theoretical, which I think is important, but it's also important to have some experience as well.  They all have it.  It's been great.

Affordable Education.  Great Jobs!   

Speaker 3
For me, in particular, I have over ten years of experience out in the field in quality management, operations, manufacturing and service.  The rewards that I will get, once I graduate, will be huge.  I should be able to command a salary anywhere from $40,000 to $60,000, more than what I was making coming in; maybe not so much in this area, but if I based it on my previous salary, I should be able to do that.  It's an awesome cost-benefit right now, for me anyway. 

Speaker 4
Much to my surprise, what I found is that I have already been hired as an In-Home Family Therapist.  I will keep the job after I graduate.  In the end, the benefit to me was already having been hired in my position.  I'm not someone who's going to graduate in May without a job and wondering where I'm going to go next. 

Speaker 10
One thing that surprises me is that I think that this is a very reasonable program, cost-wise.  I'm working right now, and I'm paying my cost as I go.  I don't feel like I'm going to fall into debt or anything like that.  So I think I'm going to come out of here with a Master's that's basically paid for, which was something I didn't think I would be able to do. 

Speaker 7
Actually, I found it to be very affordable to go to grad school here.  It's actually pretty comparable to my undergrad education cost.  I got reciprocity when I went to Minnesota from Wisconsin, and now the tuition is almost exactly the same here in Wisconsin.  As for the future, I'm getting exactly the training that I need here.  The lucky thing is that I'm able to use my training here with contacts in Minnesota.  They give me the resources to make contacts where I am, which is still living in the Twin Cities; I'm able to use that so that not only right now but also after I graduate I'll still have those contacts.

We'll Exceed Your Expectations.    

Speaker 2
It's been very, very nice, very helpful.  My previous experiences in other universities have been good as well, but coming here now, I'm just shocked at how great it can be.  People that were here seemed to actually want to be here and help students, which is a little bit of a change.  So that's nice. 

Speaker 5
I came here because I knew that University of Wisconsin-Stout had a great Marriage and Family Therapy program at the Master's level, and I had always planned on getting a doctorate degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.  Through the studies here, I've already been accepted into two different doctoral programs in Marriage and Family Therapy.  That's a pretty great thing coming from here, knowing that when I go into a room to interview for a doctoral program, the professors there all know that Stout's a great program.  So it's very beneficial for me in the future because I'm able to do what I want to right out of here and be able to get into a doctoral program without any trouble. 

Speaker 8
I've learned more here in my graduate program than I ever really dreamt I would.  I currently intern, and everything I've learned in my classes is applicable to that internship.  I feel that what I'm getting here at Stout is what I need for my future career. 

Speaker 1
I'd say that I came back to Stout because, basically, I was sold on the university, the first go-around.  As far as where I'm aimed at, where my future career goals are concerned, I'm looking at pursuing a doctoral degree right now.