<p>How hard is it to get into the CS major at UW if I was not directly admitted. And what do you think about the CS program there in general (they are ranked in the top 10).</p>
<p>At UW, the CSE undergraduate program’s admission is highly competitive. Your GPAs on CSE 142 and 143 has to be high. If they are not even 3.5, you may want to consider retaking the classes. The program focuses more on skills that are often used in the current industry, so if you prefer building experiences to academics, it may be a good fit.</p>
<p>Yeah, high GPAs in 142/143 are a necessity, and generally high grades are also important (although they are not critical…in my own experience I had a meh freshman year and still got accepted sophomore year). You also need fantastic essays that really express your passion for CS and wanting to be in the department. This is really the only thing that can differentiate you from the next guy/gal with the same high grades in 142/143. I’m not going to lie, admissions is a crapshoot, but apparently 40% of applicants /eventually/ get in, so if you have good grades and are willing to keep trying, there’s an okay chance to get in.</p>
<p>The department itself is absolutely fantastic. Great classes, tons of smart people, good internship opportunities (I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have some high-paid job for the summer), and more. It’s a top 10 program for sure.</p>
<p>It is good to hear the program is good but I want to know how many transfer students get in.</p>
<p>It’s fairly competitive.</p>
<p>[Fighting</a> the odds | The Daily](<a href=“http://dailyuw.com/news/2012/jan/29/fighting-odds/]Fighting”>http://dailyuw.com/news/2012/jan/29/fighting-odds/)</p>
<p>Sumzup summed up most of what I wanted to say.</p>
<p>If you read the Seattle Times articles written in the past year, I actually disagree with them on how grades are everything when it comes to CSE admissions. Yeah, they’re really important. So are your essays. That’s why 4.0 students don’t get in … it’s not a lottery or ‘chance,’ it’s also about your passion for the field.</p>
<p>However, to add onto the perks of the department:
-There are plenty of research opportunities, especially for undergrads. From the CRA (Computing Research Association), we tied Carnegie Mellon University at the top with the most acknowledged research students.</p>
<p>-Companies come to the department during our affiliates career fair to recruit CSE students. A list of current affiliates can be found here: [Current</a> Affiliate Members | Computer Science & Engineering](<a href=“http://www.cs.washington.edu/industrial_affiliates/current]Current”>Current Affiliate Members | Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering)</p>
<p>-On the topic of companies, almost everyone who tries will get an internship. The only people I know that don’t have an internship lined up for this summer are those doing research, going back home (international), are new admits to the major, or didn’t apply to companies on time.</p>
<p>-The department has great faculty and staff (including TAs!), as well as advising team. They’re out to help you, not to just do their own research and completely disregard the students.</p>
<p>-The courses are also designed to teach you the foundations and then building blocks on top of them. Every course has material that will be used in industry.</p>
<p>-The caliber of students is amazing. The students, who you will have the most interaction with in the department, are all driven <em>and</em> diverse. I’m not sure about sumzup, but I can definitely feel some unspoken pressure from others on working hard, staying focused, and giving my all. The last time I felt this way was when I used to compete on a national (and adult) level in some competitions.</p>
<p>UW CSE is definitely one of the top CSE programs. It’s difficult to get in, but once you’re in, you have a vast amount of opportunities opened to you that non CSE majors don’t have just waiting for them.</p>
<p>I can’t wait to go to the UW for all those cool opportunities but I still have a few questions about admissions.</p>
<p>What would you say sets the admission essays apart? I have a while until I have to apply but all I can come up with for the essay are generic sentiments about enjoying problem solving and aspiring to be on the cutting/bleeding edge of technology which I imagine most, if not all, of the applicants put on their application. I want to have more specifics but I haven’t done enough in CSE to talk about. I also can’t talk about what fields I want to go into within CSE such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and natural language processing because I won’t be able to do much in them until I take higher level courses at the UW.</p>
<p>Also, any comments on other things the admissions department likes such as internships would be appreciated. I do have a really basic internship lined up dealing with WordPress but I doubt it will impress anyone. I have heard general tips such as join an open source project but I have yet to find one I am interested in. Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>On Essay: You enjoy problem solving, and there are different fields that need problem solvers. Why CS? What drew you to the field? Was it an experience (talking to someone, hearing a talk)? You don’t have to have any experience actually getting down and dirty with the technical programming besides the intro courses. </p>
<p>To be honest, experience/internships/projects help, but they don’t give you that big of an edge over others if the personal statement and grades aren’t great. I know someone who had two internships before (got job through family connections, but did have to interview) who can’t get into the department because his prereq grades are too low and his essay just didn’t stand out enough.</p>