pre-business to business in UW(Seattle)

My daughter got in UW(Seattle) in pre-business (honors) in foster school of business. How hard/competitive it is to get a business major once admitted. Please provide your thoughts. She also hot in UIUC (business) confirmed. We are debating which one to pick as rankings for both are similar. Please advise or any inputs will be helpful in making decisions.

just from what i heard from other people, Foster is pretty competitive to get into, but it’s not impossible. Compared to Engineering or Computer Science, it is not as hard, but it is still up there. I’m sure if she keeps up a good GPA and gets volunteer work/extracurriculars done that has a connection to Business, she’ll be fine but she may need to have a back-up major.
Personally, I would go to UIUC because she is already admitted into their business program and she does not have to worry about her major. UIUC is such a great school too!

Foster is extremely competitive for Standard Admission. Business is a capacity constrained major, same as Comp Sci and Engineering.
Here are the April cycle averages (median):

  • Combined GPA 3.65/3.78 (Applied/Accepted) - overall GPA
  • Pre-Application GPA 3.71/3.85 - calc, econ, acctg, stats
  • WSA Score 4/4.5
    My son was accepted this cycle after being denied in the Winter with a 3.9 overall GPA. It is not a healthy process and it definitely changes your college experience.
    The other thing to be aware of is that until you’re admitted to Foster, you don’t have access to the advisers and related services. Once you’re in the services are outstanding (career services, in particular) but being pre-business doesn’t get you much. FWIW, son #2 chose a university that offered him direct admission.

It takes around a 3.7 GPA to get into Foster. S started freshman year at UW thinking engineering. In terms of GPA, engineering is just as competitive as Foster. However, the engineering curriculum is much more difficult than business. S was admitted into Foster a few years ago, after spending a year taking engineering prerequisites. As a Foster student, he worked in a few summer internships including at Amazon and a Big 4. S graduated and now has been working at a Big 4 for over a year. Going to Foster, many opportunities have opened to him.

If you decide on UW and do not get into Foster, you should have a backup plan. For many, economics is the backup plan, which I think Foster might suggests. Business school at another school is another option.