Anonymous wrote:NO DO NOT GO

This is true of any large state school, but it's easy to get in and impossible to be accepted into desirable majors. I'm from WA and had lots of friends transfer because they weren't able to get into CS, biology, business, you name it.

One thing is that for a lot of the large state schools, you need to apply to certain majors, either before you matriculate or once you get to the school. Either way, it's going to be more competitive than to the school at large. For example, the UC schools, I think have different admissions statistics for the Engineering School vs. the remainder of the school (e.g., Cal has acceptance rates of 17-18% for all students but for the College of Engineering, it's like 12-13%). Within the College of Engineering, admissions rates for specific majors may also be higher/lower (popular majors like computer engineering/electrical engineering will have lower rates of acceptance).

If you're out-of-state, it adds another layer of complexity and probably further lowers acceptance rates.

When I was at Cal way back when, I remember noticing that the average out-of-state / international student was much more accomplished/capable than the average in-state student (I myself was an in-state student ).

NO DO NOT GO

This is true of any large state school, but it's easy to get in and impossible to be accepted into desirable majors. I'm from WA and had lots of friends transfer because they weren't able to get into CS, biology, business, you name it.

Anonymous wrote:My kid wants, and I quote, "cold and rainy" and is into STEM. Doing a lot of CS in high school, but not sure he wants to major in that. So, obviously we are thinking about Pacific Northwest schools, but I also can't see spending that much on a state school on the literal other side of the country. Yes. You would have access to internships at a lot of tech companies. But there are also a lot of tech companies with big offices/presences in other areas of the country (hello new giant Amazon complex). So, I admit that while I've heard of the school, there is nothing that really makes me want to look MORE at it. Maybe that's a mistake. Honestly, it seems like most of the top STEM schools on the West Coast are in CA and not Washington or Oregon....but I admit that I'm a Northeast person, so I'm not really up on it. My kid is only a Sophomore, so I'm just kind of looking around for him right now and asking him to think about the kinds of schools he wants, location, size, etc....

Paying OOS costs will be insane for any out-of-state flagship school. Would you happily send your kid to Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, or UC Irvine? Those all have have the same high cost if he's an OOS.

Flight times:
DCA-LAX: 5h55m
DCA-SFO: 6h14m
DCA-SEA: 6h04m

I don't buy the "distance" argument. You're either cool with your kid attending school on the West Coast....or you're not. Seattle is the same distance from DC as it is from SF or LA.

My kid wants, and I quote, "cold and rainy" and is into STEM. Doing a lot of CS in high school, but not sure he wants to major in that. So, obviously we are thinking about Pacific Northwest schools, but I also can't see spending that much on a state school on the literal other side of the country. Yes. You would have access to internships at a lot of tech companies. But there are also a lot of tech companies with big offices/presences in other areas of the country (hello new giant Amazon complex). So, I admit that while I've heard of the school, there is nothing that really makes me want to look MORE at it. Maybe that's a mistake. Honestly, it seems like most of the top STEM schools on the West Coast are in CA and not Washington or Oregon....but I admit that I'm a Northeast person, so I'm not really up on it. My kid is only a Sophomore, so I'm just kind of looking around for him right now and asking him to think about the kinds of schools he wants, location, size, etc....

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both went to UW (him for both his degrees). I don't really get this. Seattle is much further away than the other schools you mentioned, and UWash isn't meaningfully better than, say, UMich. Also, if you are going out west, there are much better flight options between DC and SF or LA than there are between DC and Seattle...so most UC campuses would get a preference from a convenience perspective.

I don't really buy the weather arguments. I'm from the midwest, and Seattle weather is definitely better than Ann Arbor or Madison.

So take my perspective as a single data point, like yours is a single data point.

- Grew up in NOVA.
- Attended grad school in Boston.
- Lived in NH and MA for several years. (Used to the New England winter.)
- Transferred to Seattle for 3 years. The early sunsets in winter, gray days, and frequent rain were very difficult on me.
- Add in people freaking out about a day that was 80 degrees and sunny. I couldn't understand this reaction.

- So very happy to get back to the East Coast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to UW for graduate school. It's beautiful and full of smart people, but the U-District is (or was many years ago) kind of seedy. The weather was difficult if you like warmth and sunshine, and Seattle natives were/are very reserved. It's a very large school. Without a built-in support system or a lot of personal maturity and independence, it might be a difficult place for an eighteen year old.

How is this any different from any Big 12 flagship school? It's rare that a state flagship is as small as UVA. Most don't have built-in support systems.

Does UW not have much of a student org/social scene? Is it more of a commuter school?

No, not at all, but it’s very in state focused and most people have some connections before they get there - friends from high school, hometowns, etc. People tend to stay in Seattle and it’s an insular community.

DH and I both went to UW (him for both his degrees). I don't really get this. Seattle is much further away than the other schools you mentioned, and UWash isn't meaningfully better than, say, UMich. Also, if you are going out west, there are much better flight options between DC and SF or LA than there are between DC and Seattle...so most UC campuses would get a preference from a convenience perspective.

I don't really buy the weather arguments. I'm from the midwest, and Seattle weather is definitely better than Ann Arbor or Madison.

Anonymous wrote:I went to UW for graduate school. It's beautiful and full of smart people, but the U-District is (or was many years ago) kind of seedy. The weather was difficult if you like warmth and sunshine, and Seattle natives were/are very reserved. It's a very large school. Without a built-in support system or a lot of personal maturity and independence, it might be a difficult place for an eighteen year old.

Nailed it, says this native of the Pacific Northwest.

Yeah it was a good deal 20 years ago but the current out of state costs are really high. You're not going to get any real aid with a public school unless it's merit scholarships, which will be competitive and titled toward in-state students. And unlike many of the other schools you mention, OP, UW is in a pricy city with aggressively rising rents. You need to have a reason to go there in order to incur the out of state tuition costs, high cost of living, plus obviously the travel costs.

Also a lot of people are scared of living in Seattle because of the rain. I personally love it but a lot of people who haven't lived in a really rainy area worry about it. Especially for a college student who is also going through a big life transition and is at a heightened risk for mental health disorders.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will note - the research dollars aren’t for the undergrads obviously. And almost nobody is getting those internships, girl. Those are for the serious software engineers.

The internships are in other fields as well - not only STEM majors. My DC is at a different west coast public and landed a high-paying summer internship at a major tech company in their global marketing department.

According to DC, UW is to California students what Wisconsin is to east coast students. There are a lot of CA students at UW who couldn't get into the top UCs. UW is a solid choice for a lot of majors.

Wisconsin? This is really an odd comparison, I think, because I think verrrrry few East Coasters think about Wisconsin, unless they have other family or friends there? How did you randomly pull this out if a hat to say UW is to CA students what WI is to East Coast students. Sounds like CA students think about UW MORE (as a solid alternative for a lot of majors, as an alternative to UC schools) than East Coasters think about Wisconsin (zero, or very close to it?).

I'm the PP you're quoting. I didn't pull it out of anywhere. My DC who goes to school in CA, but grew up in DC and graduated from a DC high school, came to this conclusion after spending two years in a friend group of mostly CA born and raised kids. This is just my DC's opinion. That said, we have a lot of friends and family that live in the Bay Area, work in tech, and are Asian. Most of their kids in the past five years have been shut out of the top UCs for engineering or computer science, even with top stats. Several of them have landed at U Dub. My DC equates it with DC area kids going to Wisconsin after not getting into Michigan. Again - just an ovbservation from college students!

It's a great school, but definitely very West Coast if that is your thing. Hard to get into if out of state. It has a different vibe than East Coast schools. It has an established Greek scene(some of the homes are beautiful).

The point about it being hard school without a support system rings true especially if you are coming from the East Coast and don't know a lot of kids. There are smaller schools in the PNW like Reed, Lewis and Clark and Puget Sound that might be a good fit if you want that region of the country.

Anonymous wrote:I went to UW for graduate school. It's beautiful and full of smart people, but the U-District is (or was many years ago) kind of seedy. The weather was difficult if you like warmth and sunshine, and Seattle natives were/are very reserved. It's a very large school. Without a built-in support system or a lot of personal maturity and independence, it might be a difficult place for an eighteen year old.

It's a much seedier area now.

It's Seattle. Enough said.

This is really stupid. It's far away. It's expensive and there are better options for OOS students if you are going to pay that sort of coin.

UVA, Michigan, Cal, UCLA and UNC seem worth the expense and travel. Washington does not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will note - the research dollars aren’t for the undergrads obviously. And almost nobody is getting those internships, girl. Those are for the serious software engineers.

The internships are in other fields as well - not only STEM majors. My DC is at a different west coast public and landed a high-paying summer internship at a major tech company in their global marketing department.

According to DC, UW is to California students what Wisconsin is to east coast students. There are a lot of CA students at UW who couldn't get into the top UCs. UW is a solid choice for a lot of majors.

Wisconsin? This is really an odd comparison, I think, because I think verrrrry few East Coasters think about Wisconsin, unless they have other family or friends there? How did you randomly pull this out if a hat to say UW is to CA students what WI is to East Coast students. Sounds like CA students think about UW MORE (as a solid alternative for a lot of majors, as an alternative to UC schools) than East Coasters think about Wisconsin (zero, or very close to it?).

Wisconsin is a respectable state school that you have a chance of getting into if you are a good student who did not get into UVA/UMD. It has always drawn heavily for that type of student.

+100

My DW grew up in MoCo and went to Wisconsin. As did a bunch of kids from her "W" high school. Tons of kids from the Tristate area go there too, particularly from New Jersey.

I'm from California and I'd say the analogy is spot-on.