Direct admission to CSSE at UW Bothell vs Pre-Science Major Admission at UW Seattle

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Washington
1

I would love to hear some opinions/experiences from you to help me make a decision. A little background about myself: I’m a student from CC, and I applied as a transfer student (Fall quarter) for CS major (1st) and Informatics major(2nd) at UW Seattle and for CS major at UW Bothell.

I got an offer from UWB to the CSSE major on July 5th. I paid $100 to secure my spot (accepted the offer) at UWB on Jul 18th while I was still waiting for the admission decision from UWS. The next day, I found out that I was offered the pre-science major at UWS. However, I can’t find out comments on my application (what are my chances if I re-apply to those major? Why didn’t they accept me?) until after I enroll into UWS and that’s the only way I can talk to the academic advisors about this; in other words, I will need to withdraw my admission to UWB to be able to be admitted to UWS.

Most of my friends said I should just stick with UWB, because CS major at UW is SO SUPER HARD to get into for one thing; second, informatics major only takes students once per year (in Fall). I have a couple reasons why I would risk my chance and take the UWS offer:

  1. I live very close to UWS, and my husband also works at UWS. Our lives would be much easier if I go to UWS. It takes me at least 2 hours to commute to UWB from home (taking buses).
  2. I know that UWS has a lot more research opportunities including those being offered at UWB. At this moment, I don’t know what specific research areas I’d like to pursue.
  3. I think Informatics or even AMCS may be a better fit for me than CS as it’s more about applicable concepts instead of theoretical ones.
  4. I personally don’t get that “university feel” when I’m at UWB. The campus environment at UWS is just more vibrant.
  5. I also talked to an informatics advisor, she said that it’s hard for non-major student to get into the info core classes as informatics major students get priority; so pre-major students usually will take more pre-reqs for back-up majors.

Now, it boils down to whether or not I’m ready to risk my chance and spend another year to re-apply to those majors. If I do take the pre-science offer at UWS, I plan to take the info 200, and some high-level math classes such as linear algebra and differential equations, and find a lab to do some research.

Sorry for such a long post. Thank you very much for your help.

2

With the exception of physics, all STEM majors at Udub are competitive. Are you okay with majoring in physics or a non-STEM major? If you are, I’d assume the risk as you’ve relatively little downside. If you aren’t, choose Bothell as you’ve got a guaranteed admit in hand.

3

If you really want to do CS, go with Bothell. Most research opportunities are for graduate students so you could always apply to grad school at UWS after you get your BS.

That’s a long commute! If you aren’t stuck on CS/Info, go with UWS. UWS has great applied math and physics programs if you don’t mind trying something else. ACMS is definitely a good option and you might not need to wait a year, they open up applications during Fall for UWS.

4

It’s my understanding that ACMS is almost as competitive as CS for admissions now. You are only allowed to apply for one concentration in ACMS and a ton of people who get admitted to CS also do a double major in ACMS.

5

@TinyToast It is recommended to check with an advisor if reapplying makes sense, and they offer an insight to your situation. There are 30 credits free electives in UWS CS, if you really want UWS, I think it would worth the risk while you take those 30 credits electives till the Spring 2017 and if accepted to the department, You will not necessarily have wasted 2 quarters because the free electives would count towards CS bachelor’s degree.

On the other hand, there are some cross campus thing. You can take classes at UWS while you are enrolled at UWB CS department (not sure how this works but was an option UWS advisor told my brother who studies at UWB).

Wish You Luck!

6

Thank you for all the responses, I have decided to take the direct admission offer at UWB as it seems to be in the best interest of my circumstances despite the long commute. But I know I will be graduating in 2 years, I can deal with that :slight_smile: Thanks again!

7

@aabdin03 Yes we can do cross campus thing, but I won’t count on it too much as Seattle campus students have the priority to take those classes. Does your brother like studying at UWB?

8

@TinyToast He does like it alot and enjoys studying there. He has been advising me to join UWB incase I get a direct admit to CS.