<p>You got 4.0s in those two classes and still nothing? How about CSE 142 and 143? I do feel for you though. They say they look at your app holistically, but then reject people for non-4.0s. Then when you get excellent grades, nothing. Did the advisers ever tell you what you should improve on? Like, I don’t think it’s your ECs, since you have something CSE-related going on. Your grades definitely improved. So, what’s up?</p>
<p>I got an A in 143 so that’s not it. The only thing my advisor told me I could do to improve would be to take PHYS 123 to see if I can improve from the 3.3 I got in 122. I personally think that’s an extremely poor idea, because I positively despise the physics courses they teach, and I was lucky to even get what I did.</p>
<p>Hell, I even aced the introductory EE 215 course and I didn’t even need to take that.</p>
<p>In my rejection letter they did say “You were a particularly strong candidate, and we would like to talk with you about your future options, including possibly re-applying to the CSE department.”</p>
<p>Evidently not strong enough.</p>
<p>Well, it wouldn’t hurt to talk to them. Although that message doesn’t really change anything. But at least they noted your application. Mine basically has the same thing the advisor told me. Other options and all that.</p>
<p>The third rejection hurts the most T_T</p>
<p>I’m still waiting on the decision from Informatics and UWB CSS, and I’m still uncertain as to which I’ll choose should both accept me. Best of luck to you Kuni, and to nbr hopefully you’ll be able to get into CSE on your next attempt.</p>
<p>Yea, hopefully. What changed after your 2nd application? If you don’t mind my asking. It feels pretty terrible to get rejected, honestly. My GPA is alright, and my pre-req GPA is good too. Kinda frustrating. I’ll try again, and then if nothing happens, I might just go to UWB.</p>
<p>@Masterkuni: Do you have any evidence of the “dubious” job opportunities for Informatics majors? You make it sound like it’s a joke major in your posts. I’ve heard many of the same companies that hire CS majors also higher info majors and many of them (info majors) become project managers for the CS majors. I was planning on taking info 200 this fall… but you are almost making me second guess…</p>
<p>Like I said on the 4th post of this thread:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14454086-post4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/14454086-post4.html</a></p>
<p>My point is that you shouldn’t be going into Informatics if you’re genuinely interested in Computer Science. You won’t do much (if any) coding, or much of anything similar to what you’d be doing in a CS major. I know for sure the major wouldn’t be a good fit for me, but it may well be what others want to do.</p>
<p>You didn’t answer my question about the supposed “dubious” job offers though :p</p>
<p>This might be best settled by someone from the Informatics department! Heh. But, I think I don’t want to go the Informatics route. [Careers</a> and Opportunities for Informatics Majors | Information School | University of Washington](<a href=“http://ischool.uw.edu/informatics/prospective/careers?quicktabs_1=0]Careers”>http://ischool.uw.edu/informatics/prospective/careers?quicktabs_1=0) - These really aren’t careers that I would like to go into.</p>
<p>I’ve been lurking in this post for a while, and finally decided to contribute. Here are my two cents; perhaps this will change some minds about reapplying to the department again.</p>
<p>I also applied for admission to the CSE program for the fall, and like many posters here, I too received my rejection e-mail on the 19th. I’m currently a student at one of Seattle’s community colleges, and though I was accepted for general admissions at UW, I will not be attending. I see no reason to take a class in a 300-person lecture hall, when I can take the same class in a setting where the teacher actually knows who I am. In any case, my grades:</p>
<p>Calc I/II/III: 4.0/4.0/4.0
CSE 142/143: 3.9/4.0
Physics I/II/III: 4.0/3.8/4.0</p>
<p>I have 55 other credits in various subjects, including the entire chem series. Every grade I have other than the two courses listed above is a 4.0 (E&M is a hard class). My cumulative is a 3.99.</p>
<p>I wrote my personal statement months in advance, and had my CS, Physics, and English professors all take a look at it. The first two both have Ph.d’s from UW, the third, an MFA, also from UW. With their feedback, I was able to refine my work into something that I was legitimately impressed with. In it, I spoke about how studying computer science, in addition to its obvious implications, also paves the way for understanding certain elements of the human condition. I know, I know, it sounds like a bunch of hippie-dippie crap, but I honestly believe this to be true; an intimate understanding of computers has much more vast potential for cross-disciplinary study than most people realize.</p>
<p>I have volunteered 4 hours a week at the same pet shelter in Seattle for five years, and have worked full-time during my entire college career. Though my ex has primary custody, I still manage to make time for my daughter, who will be 4 in December.</p>
<p>In my CSE 143 class, there were two students who got accepted. One of them got a zero on a significant assignment, and didn’t bother to show up for a quiz one day. I don’t know what his grade was at the end of the quarter, but our professor has a reputation for being notoriously stingy with grades. The other student did very well in CSE 143, but got caught cheating on our Calc III final. The teacher actually snatched the test out of his hand and made him leave the room.</p>
<p>Both of these winners are international students, and can barely speak a word of English. There is absolutely no way either of them is capable of writing a grammatically correct, page-length personal statement of any substance without significant outside assistance. When I found out a week after my rejection email that they were both accepted into the program, I nearly lost my mind.</p>
<p>But they pay a higher tuition rate.</p>
<p>Hope that helps shed some light on things.</p>
<p>Have you asked why you didn’t get in? This post really scares me. I have a 3.86 so if you didn’t get in, I don’t have much of a chance. Where are you going now?</p>
<p>Those are excellent stats, so I honestly don’t know why you didn’t get in. When I met with an advisor, she stressed the importance of grades. I think she said that the acceptance rate is ~28% right now, and that they have had to turn down applicants with stats close to yours.</p>
<p>Anyway, is this going to be your 1st BS degree? You might want to contact the CSE advisors. I really don’t think this is about the tuition rate though.</p>
<p>I’m reapplying because UW CSE is the best in the state, and I just want to give it another go. If I don’t get in, I don’t have a problem with moving on, honestly.</p>
<p>I haven’t asked them yet; I’m certain that they are being bombarded by requests right now. Mostly though, I’m waiting until I can calm down enough to ask them without sounding angry, hurt, or overly reactive.</p>
<p>I’m at South right now, but thinking about transferring to Central for a quarter or two, since my lease is up, and might be staying with a buddy on Cap Hill. </p>
<p>In any case, Depending on the answer I get from UW regarding my rejection, I may ultimately have to leave Seattle. I thought all these horror stories about flawless applicants not getting in were grossly exaggerated, but now I’m just really really confused as to what their department is looking for. I know that Washington and UW are in bad shape financially, but COME ON ALREADY.</p>
<p>I completely agree. 28% is kinda ridiculous, and I do think it’s especially hard for us transfers to get in. I’m actually still a little hurt/angry about the rejection even though I really wasn’t expecting much given what we’ve been hearing for years. Heck, I don’t even know if I’m doing the smartest thing by reapplying, but my only other choice right now is UW Bothell. It’s not really very appealing to me at the moment, but if I don’t have any other choice, I’ll go there.</p>
<p>Anyway, like I said to some people on here, I don’t believe their claim that they review applications holistically. Might be true for a very few, but the advisor I met just talked about grades. Really. And then just brought up all the other programs that I should check (Informatics, HCDE), and then UW Bothell and Seattle University.</p>
<p>But given your stats, I don’t really know anymore.</p>
<p>Each department that I applied to had accepted me, except for CSE. </p>
<p>After much consideration, pondering, and reflecting, I’ve decided to go with the Informatics major. In a few years from now I may come back and post my reflection and review regarding this decision and of the major, should this thread still exist that is.</p>
<p>It’s a real pickle isn’t it, the huge gap between CS/CE degrees and “computing” and “informatics”, etc.</p>
<p>Barely any professional programmers use advanced calculus, chemistry, physics etc. at work and those who plan to could simply take the courses as free electives or double major or something.</p>
<p>Yet even if you’re a programming prodigy who can write better software than everyone in your CS classes, if you’re behind on math & science your options are either staying in school for 2 extra years because of sequenced prereqs or doing some hokey “computing” degree which basically teaches you how to use excel and install a mouse driver.</p>
<p>At some point 4 year universities will emerge from the 1970s and offer “Software Development” degrees or something which focus less on the linear calculus/chemistry sequences and more on learning about the advanced algorithms and fringe languages that most CS departments don’t even offer classes about.</p>
<p>I know lots of “alternative” schools already teach it this way but unfortunately, many of those are crappy for-profit scams and that makes the few legitimate ones unacceptable to employers by mere association.</p>
<p>Despite having taken CSS 162 (which the degree audit and some other majors have recognized as equivalent to CSE 143), after my third attempt the admissions committee finally said that they would like to see me take CSE 143 here at Seattle. So, it looks like I’ll be taking CSE 143 this quarter and I’ll give CS another shot this Spring.</p>
<p>If you end up in the top 10%, you could be fast-tracked through the Accelerated Admissions process at the end of the quarter. So give it everything you have!</p>
<p>Here are my impressions on Informatics so far.</p>
<p>It’s rather broad and is basically a mixture of programming, web development, UX/UI, systems analysis, databases, and project management. You’ll get an introduction to each of those areas, and you’ll also get to specialize in one of three tracks: Human Computer Interaction (UX/UI design), Information Architecture (web development, databases, search engines), and the custom option. Those who have been rejected from CSE tend to choose the custom option in order to take the non-majors CSE courses (each of which contain content from one or more majors-only courses that are condensed and don’t go into as much detail). Informatics may not be the optimal choice for those interested in software development and the lower level side of technology, but the students can still get development jobs (I even know some who landed jobs/internships at Google and Microsoft) since ultimately it comes down to your abilities and what you know, though of course CSE would have been more helpful in this regard.</p>
<p>There is also an emphasis on group projects. The three INFO classes that I’ve taken so far have each had group projects; two of them were completely focused around a group project for the entire quarter. The downside is that you might get bad teammates who don’t do anything and make things harder for you, but the upside is that it forces you to expand your network and you’ll get a good grasp of the dynamics of teamwork.</p>
<p>The downside of being so broad is that every student ends up some courses required for the major that don’t benefit them (for example a prospective project manager having to take a data structures course and an aspiring developer having to take a systems analysis (aka the “learn to bs”) course. The upside is that we’re allowed at least six courses of electives, so for CSE rejects that means we can still learn some of the core CSE stuff in class, though it’ll take extra work for us to catch up on the stuff that the CSE students are learning.</p>
<p>If you’re dead-set on Computer Science, it would be better if you transferred to a different school or campus, but if you want to stay at UW Seattle and don’t mind doing extra learning on your own time, then Informatics is still a decent alternative. The major is legit, particularly for non-developments paths, but developers will still stand to benefit.</p>
<p>So far I’m still at peace with my decision, though occasionally I wonder how things would be like if I had transferred.</p>
<p>May I ask how competitive is Informatics at UW?</p>