 He attended college at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he was a member of Chi Psi fraternity and played on the University of Wisconsin football team for three years.Ambrose originally wanted to major in pre-medicine, but changed his major to history after hearing the first lecture in a U.S. history class entitled "Representative Americans" in his sophomore year.The course was taught by William B. Hesseltine, whom Ambrose credits with fundamentally shaping his writing and igniting his interest in history.