UW OR UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
What do you need help with?
I’m also from Washington, and chose UA. I’m glad to help with any specific or general questions.
Oh, and Go Hawks.
Just which one is better generally, its a 50/50 choice since my family has residence here and in Arizona. Born and raised in Seattle- go hawks!!
Here is a sampling of various rankings for your consideration:
University of Arizona:
National
CMUP: 52
ARWU: 46
US News: 121
Washington Monthly: 64
Global
NTUR: 73
ARWU: 86
Times: 86
US News: 64
CWUR (Americas): 70
Professional/Grad (US News)
CS: 40
MBA: 44
Law: 42
Med: 42 (primary care); 67 (research)
University of Washington:
National
CMUP: 11
ARWU: 13
US News: 48
Washington Monthly: 7
Global
NTUR: 5
ARWU: 15
Times: 26
US News: 14
CWUR (Americas): 32
Professional/Grad (US News)
CS: 6
MBA: 23
Law: 28
Med: 1 (primary care); 10 (research)
Both are excellent universities, of course.
What do you mean by “better”?
That is totally dependent on what you want to get out of school and what environment you want to experience. Both schools are the best in the world in a few particular fields - the UA is top class in optical sciences/engineering, space sciences and astronomy, entrepreneurship, MIS, mining engineering, water resources, anthropology/archeology, and more. And I’m sure you know what UW is amazing at.
Of course, UW has higher rankings, but that really doesn’t mean much for an undergraduate education. Especially since both are the flagship public universities in their respective states.
Try to narrow down a list of what you want from college, and then see which school meets your pros/cons the best.
For me UW was last on my list of schools just because I wanted to leave home and see new things, people, (and of course see sun during the winters!) while still attending a great school.