University of Washington

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have experience with applications to UW? It's on my DC's radar, so we checkout our school's Naviance admissions. DC is outside the GPA and SAT lines surrounded by green checks. However, there have been few than 75 applications over the past 3 years. We aren't going to be able to visit, so we have watched some campus tour videos. How's the student life?

[Anonymous]

My DS was admitted three years ago from FCPS. Did not attend but did visit. I’d highly encourage a visit before attending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS was admitted three years ago from FCPS. Did not attend but did visit. I’d highly encourage a visit before attending.

Was there something about the visit that turned your DS off?

[Anonymous]

I’ve heard that the culture is horribly competitive because of how major declaration works, so check into that

[Anonymous]

No personal experience but when we looked into UW for DC, I read about difficulty in getting into some majors after enrolling so I suggest looking into that.

[Anonymous]

My HS class of 2021 kid was accepted but ultimately went elsewhere. The three major issues were cost, distance and the intended major not being direct admit.

[Anonymous]

UW's CS program is extremely strong and ludicrously competitive, particularly OOS. Other programs offer much easier admission.

I didn't go there, but I think UW is awesome. It has the attractions of Seattle, school spirit, outdoorsy opportunities, and access to major companies. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Seattle rentals are very expensive . Low cost areas have high crime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seattle rentals are very expensive . Low cost areas have high crime.

If you can afford UW oos, you can afford Seattle rentals. Many students also get rentals together for pretty cheap.

[Anonymous]

We toured. The campus is gorgeous and you can take the tram/train easily from the airport to the campus. The train also is a stop or two away from downtown Seattle, the Mariners games and the NHL Kraken stop. The football team is top notch and the school has a a lot of spirit. Naviance/Scoir is to be relied on somewhat but OOS acceptance is much more difficult than in-state and some majors are very impacted so that 50% acceptance rate and GPA figures are highly misleading. The school is sort of an island away from downtown Seattle so any downtown crime/homelessness doesn’t really impact the students. Huge internship and job pipeline to many Seattle companies like Amazon and Microsoft. Lots of direct flights from Seattle as well. Ultimately, my DC decided on a smaller school but I would highly recommend considering UW. In my opinion it is superior to many of the other large publics ..Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, UT Austin and even Michigan. For example, you can’t beat it for data science as a public school unless you got to Cal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We toured. The campus is gorgeous and you can take the tram/train easily from the airport to the campus. The train also is a stop or two away from downtown Seattle, the Mariners games and the NHL Kraken stop. The football team is top notch and the school has a a lot of spirit. Naviance/Scoir is to be relied on somewhat but OOS acceptance is much more difficult than in-state and some majors are very impacted so that 50% acceptance rate and GPA figures are highly misleading. The school is sort of an island away from downtown Seattle so any downtown crime/homelessness doesn’t really impact the students. Huge internship and job pipeline to many Seattle companies like Amazon and Microsoft. Lots of direct flights from Seattle as well. Ultimately, my DC decided on a smaller school but I would highly recommend considering UW. In my opinion it is superior to many of the other large publics ..Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, UT Austin and even Michigan. For example, you can’t beat it for data science as a public school unless you got to Cal.

Heavily disagree on UT and Michigan. They’re just as good, and better in many aspects

[Anonymous]

I would visit if you're serious about it. I grew up near Seattle. Western Washington (state) is a different universe from NOVA and DC. The homeless problem in West Coast cities is no joke.

I once lived very near the campus and it has both nice and sketchy parts to it. It felt dangerous just walking down certain streets. I can imagine it's worse now.

Your kid would need a car.

[Anonymous]

Google "Seattle freeze". It is very real dealing with the natives. It can be a very hard place to make friends. Good school, hard social life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS was admitted three years ago from FCPS. Did not attend but did visit. I’d highly encourage a visit before attending.

Was there something about the visit that turned your DS off?

PP here. It is very difficult to get into UW from OOS so if you do get in, you should be proud. My family member is a guidance counselor there so she told me before it was a difficult admission for STEM OOS. My DS loved the campus and especially the library. It actually poured rain while we were there but it’s beautiful there.

He eventually opted not to go there despite the amazing opportunities and companies there for post grad because the size of the school and the more competitive it is to get the opportunities the school has to offer. A lot of the kids that went there went home a lot and parents lived within 40 min. The distance was a factor but ultimately my DS decided the city vibe wasn’t for him. My DS ended up at a smaller medium sized school and it has been the right decision and a better fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS was admitted three years ago from FCPS. Did not attend but did visit. I’d highly encourage a visit before attending.

Was there something about the visit that turned your DS off?

PP here. It is very difficult to get into UW from OOS so if you do get in, you should be proud. My family member is a guidance counselor there so she told me before it was a difficult admission for STEM OOS. My DS loved the campus and especially the library. It actually poured rain while we were there but it’s beautiful there.

He eventually opted not to go there despite the amazing opportunities and companies there for post grad because the size of the school and the more competitive it is to get the opportunities the school has to offer. A lot of the kids that went there went home a lot and parents lived within 40 min. The distance was a factor but ultimately my DS decided the city vibe wasn’t for him. My DS ended up at a smaller medium sized school and it has been the right decision and a better fit.

Certain majors are difficult (CS in particular since they only take 5% OOS so like 50 kids)…but overall it isn’t difficult to get accepted.