I am studying in a high school in Seattle now but I am an international student. Does it mean the chances of getting in direct admission in either of these very hard or even impossible?
Thanks in Advance.
Not impossible, but very hard for every applicant. Highly selective. Make sure to apply to several schools.
What you are really inquiring about is whether or not your status as an international student will negatively impact your chances of admission to these two highly selective majors. I cannot answer that question. Best to contact the University of Washington school/dept./major to which you are applying.
As a State sponsored university, yes, UW says that they prioritize in-state students. However, compare to UC, UW admits a much larger OOS student population, because there are not that many in-state students.
Agree with @Publisher that the two majors you mentioned are hard to get in for anyone. You’ll need top notch GPA and test scores to compete. That said, we know quite a few OOS CS direct admit students. So it is possible.
@bogeyorpar Would a uw gpa of 3.97 and ACT composite of 33 with 10 AP courses taken over the years be defined as “top notch gpa and test scores”?
Should be enough for Engineering, if you write decent essays and have good ECs. A little bit below average for CS, but since the CS will further expand direct admission program next year, may have a chance.
Choose carefully though, since UW only consider your first choice. If you choose CS and not get direct admitted, then you will not get into Engineering either.
@bogeyorpar Will this be a sufficient EC list?
- Internship next two years related to environmental engineering
- Robotics team (probably will not win much competitions)
- Computer science team (probably a few medals)
- Over 300 volunteer hours almost all related toYouth Orchestra for 2 years
- Grade 9 in violin and piano
- Teaching piano for 2 years and violin for a year
- Grade 8 in Music Theory
That’s a good list. Emphasize your major related ECs. Do you have leadership positions in any of the ECs? Those are important too. I’m not sure how much music helps Engineering or CS, but no harm, every college wants well-rounded students, although I think Elite Private schools are more touchy feely.
Again, I can’t emphasize enough – pick your intended major carefully. Both Engineering and CS will close the door to Junior applicants (except transfers) starting next year. So, if you don’t get into Engineering or CS as Freshman, you probably have to attend another college. If you think you are a stronger applicant to Engineering, you should choose that. In your Junior year, you’ll have an opportunity to apply to Computer Engineering, if that’s what you want. CE has essentially the same curriculum as CS, just adds a few hardware courses.
But Computer Engineering in second year is not guaranteed. they have 90 seats only.