So my kid was admitted to UW, but only as a pre-sciences major, or whatever the term is. He applied for Mechanical Engineering, though, It’s highly unlikely he will take the risk of attending UW and not get accepted into the major 2 years later. He has acceptances at other schools in Canada and California, but if we’re just talking about the Pac Northwest, are Washington State and Oregon State the natural next best option for kids who dont get admitted directly into Engineering at UW? He’s been accepted to both schools and we’re trying to weigh the options now…
This article about engineering admissions at UW is not very encouraging for non direct admits.
^ That article was before UW changed to direct to College of Engineering admisssion.
Seattle Times (two months later):
https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/uw-will-let-freshmen-apply-to-engineering-school-in-2018/
From UW:
https://www.engr.washington.edu/news/direct-to-college
https://www.engr.washington.edu/admission/directtocollege/faq
Perhaps a visit to both WSU and OSU would help your child decide.
Did he apply for honors at Oregon State and get accepted? If so, OSU has the best honors program for engineers of any we encountered in all the schools my son looked at. He ended up at Cal Poly, but would have only chosen honors at one school, Oregon State.
Oregon State is in Corvallis Oregon and benefits greatly from the Hewlett Packard retirees who often teach and work with students. Also Oregon is a land grant, sea grant, space grant college. Its got a very strong program in engineering. Your son will need to get a specific GPA as EVERY STUDENT at Oregon State is in reengineering but almost all of them make it into an engineering major. All freshman engineering majors are pre-engineering by design as that lets them choose a major after considering their strengths.
Corvallis is now a small wine growing region of Oregon and very pretty.
Problem is, the OP’s kid applied for engineering but got in as pre-sciences – i.e. not Direct to College of Engineering. It is probably even more competitive now for such a student, since those who got Direct to College of Engineering admission will be placed first, with everyone else getting whatever space is left over, if there is any.
In terms of what the best option is, how do costs compare, and how much do costs matter?
@Coloradomama, Oregon State also is a Sun Grant University, making it only one of two (Penn State being the other) with all 4 designations. 
factoring in the awards my son was offered, the tuition for OSU and WSU will end up being in the same ballpark, so cost isnt an issue for either of those two. we’re out of state, so UW would end up being close to $50K/year in tuition alone–low awards to out of staters and i read that they give DIrect Admit priority to in-state students, so $200,000 for 4-year tuition seems excessively high just for UW, and way too risky without a Direct Admit guarantee. Maybe Lori Loughlin or Felicity Huffamn can foot that bill.
@Coloradomama - thanks for pointing that out. i just googled the info and found the list of minimum GPAs required for guaranteed admission to each engineering major at OSU. https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/pro-school
6 Of course it’s more competitive for a pre-sciences student to enter an engineering major under the new system. I simply noted that the article OP cited described the prior system so she would not be confused about it. The FAQ page I cited states, “Applicants with a strong interest in engineering and who are not admitted directly to the college may want to consider other institutions to pursue their goals.”
9, UW’s nonresident tuition this year is $36,587. Tuition, room and board total $49,385. Several nonresident students have posted on CC that they received merit scholarships of $6,000 to $7,500 per year.
UW offers the Purple and Gold merit award, and its about $24K to $34K over four years.
https://www.washington.edu/financialaid/types-of-aid/scholarships/undergraduate-scholarships/
Oregon State offers more OOS merit including the IB diploma award, so Oregon State will
always cost less than UW Seattle for Coloradans. (and probably OP 'state)
https://admissions.oregonstate.edu/non-resident-scholarship-opportunities
@eyemgh Thanks for that info on Sun Grant University. Does that mean solar energy type research?
I have to say that I really like Oregon State, as it supports students well, its not overwhelmingly big, 25,800 undergrads, and it does a good job for many majors including physics, biology, electrical engineering, math, oceanography and other majors. Its got a nice west coast feel, and its less overwhelming compared to the bigger more famous west coast public schools.
@coloradomama, Stolen from wikipedia, they research and develop sustainable and environmentally friendly bio-based energy alternatives.
The OSU campus is very pretty too. One has to be comfortable in the rain though. That’s a major reason why our son left OR for Cal Poly.