Things I wish I knew about by a UW student

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Washington
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<p>I am currently a sophomore at UW and this thread is for the things I wish I knew about when I was first applying.</p>

<p>Primarily, I wish I knew about freshman direct admission majors. If you don't know what that is, it basically means that you are eligible to be directly admitted into a competitive major (meaning you must apply to get into it) if you put it down as your main intended major on your application. You don't have to do anything beyond that; if you're in (based off your high school stats/application), you'll get an e-mail.</p>

<p>To find out which of these majors are competitive, go to this page:</p>

<p>UW</a> Advising - List of Majors</p>

<p>And I think most of the majors that are marked "competitive admission" have freshman direct admission.</p>

<p>Anyways, this is important because if you ARE admitted as a freshman into your major, it saves you a ton of stress and time when you eventually do declare a major, because you won't have to worry about getting certain prerequisite classes done before you apply. For really popular majors like business and engineering/CS, I guarantee this will make your life at UW a lot easier. Because of prerequisite classes and certain classes only being offered during specific quarters, there is a chance that you may simply not be able to apply to a major until much later than you intended.</p>

<p>Even if you don't know exactly what you what to do, if there's something you MIGHT want to do, definitely consider putting it down as your main intended major. If you happen to get into freshman direct and eventually decide to major in it, you're golden. If you decide to do something else later, you can just change your major without any repercussions. There is no reason to not try to get into freshman direct. Thing of it as "reserving a spot" in a major you might like, except you aren't obligated to it at all. If you're stuck between two majors and one is competitive and the other isn't, put down the competitive major on your application and see if you get in. You can still change later on to the non-competitive major very easily, but you'll have peace of mind if you decide to choose the competitive major.</p>

<p>Hopefully this helps someone. If anyone has any other questions, feel free to ask.</p>

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<p>This thread is great, thanks so much!
Might you have any advice for students who are working on their application? That’s the boat I’m in at the moment.</p>

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<p>Yes, I agree with diskotime, do you have any advice for the admissions process? Thanks.</p>

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<p>With the recent budget changes, I think my advice might be a little bit outdated due to the fact that UW seems to be admitting more out-of-state students.</p>

<p>This is purely anecdotal, but I honestly believe one of the most important factors in your application is the personal statement. Having read some of my friends’ personal statements who did not get admitted, I felt as though the essay was one of their main issues. Absolutely do not submit anything that seems “generic.” Since the admission rate is slowly decreasing every year, you want to do your best to stand out. Spend a lot of time on your essay and really try to give a clear picture of the type of person you are in your essay. I think the essay is your golden ticket.</p>