I aiming to double major in English and Communications. I’ve toured all three campuses and loved them all. I’m an out of state applicant, so all the prices are roughly similar. Does anyone with experience at any of these schools have any suggestions?
I haven’t attended any of these schools, but I live and work in Seattle, so I can give my opinion of the schools and suggestions. Is there a reason you want to go to school in WA?
UW - Very well regarded within the state and lots of people have gone here. I think it’s better for grad school than for undergrad, but the undergrad program is excellent. Probably among the best in WA - where there is little competition and no school quite like UW, though Whitman is an excellent and very rigorous teaching-focused LAC. It’s somewhat competitive to get into overall (interquartile range for SAT: 1630 - 1990; top quarter of a good high school) but it’s more competitive to get into specific majors, and I believe you have to apply to the Communications majors. The English major is open. It’s a very beautiful school and it’s very well reputed in WA, if that’s where you want to stay. The computer science, applied math, and engineering are uber-competitive.
WWU - Easier to get into, far north in Bellingham near Mt. Baker. Very picturesque location. Considerably less competitive to get into overall and into specific majors. Far gap from UW in terms of reputation, but second best public college in WA (along with WSU). It’s not a research university and is more like a liberal arts college but with fairly large classes. The English program is likely good. It’s reasonably well regarded and it’s reputation shouldn’t hold you back too much. I’m not sure whether it’s worth it to come to Washington to attend WWU.
PLU - Christian college in Tacoma. Location is not as ideal as UW or WWU. Less competitive than UW to get into (SAT interquartile range: 1450 - 1800). It’s a very small school, and I suspect it’s less rigorous than UW (its computer science program specifically). I don’t know much about it academically. T̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶a̶d̶i̶o̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶.̶ They sold it to UW.
I think you should have a good chance of getting into WWU; your GPA is very low for UW (and state schools care a lot about GPA). If you’re confident of your ability to succeed now that you’re learning disability is diagnosed, then community college with > 3.4 GPA (again, depends on your major) -> UW is a viable path.
What are your stats and what’s your budget?
What are you looking for?
In order to answer your question, we need to know what would ideally be best for you.
Sitting in on classes, staying overnight, or at least having lunch with a student would really help you narrow down the differences between the schools.
At this point, you should be applying to multiple schools and seeing where you get in and what the financial aid offers look like. If you are down to three schools you love, apply to them all.
BTW, no mater what, start by running the NPC on EACH school, then show the results to your parents and cross out the ones they can’t afford (there’s no magic financial aid money that’ll appear. NPC’s will show you the best you can expect, unless they didn’t ask about your test scores/GPA in which case some may not have included merit money).