<p>This is more specifically aimed towards people who applied to UW Seattle. Whether you got rejected or accepted, do you feel like UW admissions is a tough one? I'm currently a Junior in high school, and so far I haven't found a college I want to go to as much as UW. I guess I just want opinions because I'm going to be starting on the essays this summer. I'm pretty nervous because I'm from OOS, and the things I've heard about the UW admission difficulty varied a lot. </p>
<p>It would be nice if anyone was willing to share their basic stats (GPA, standardized testing) and what kind of volunteer activities they did to get accepted... or if anyone was willing to share why they think they got rejected. Something like that. Thank you!</p>
<p>I got rejected as a freshman because I had a dip in my grades (junior year, how convenient) that had no explanation. I scored a 1780 on my SAT and took no AP/IB classes because there were only a few at my private Catholic school. I graduated with about a 3.5 GPA but I didn’t stand out because, let’s be honest, I’m not a diverse person. Despite achievements and extra-curriculars, I was rejected, most likely because of my grades. I’m currently working to get into UW as a transfer.</p>
<p>Biggest advice-- write a good essay. I’m pretty sure I’d have had a better shot getting in if I wrote a good essay. The essay is very important because it shows your words coming from you, not stats on a paper. The UW looks at applications as a whole to determine if you as a person will be a good fit for UW. For example, bad grades might not count you out completely-- your essay/achievements might show them why you got bad grades and tell them you’re not a slacker, but rather a great person. Same goes for how great grades might not be a ticket in to the school either, because if your outside work sucks, you won’t have much else to go off of. </p>
<p>When it comes time next year (it’s never too early to start, either), you can always call on me to help you with the essay, because I know how to write one that the admissions people will like. I learned it from writing a poor essay on my first application, and then subsequently getting help from a writing center staff member on the one I wrote this year. </p>
<p>I got in OOS this year, and will be attending. I had a 3.6 cumulative GPA by the end of junior year (but had a 3.8 all throughout junior year), 2030 SAT, and participated heavily in choir and theatre at my school. I’ve heard that colleges like to see that you’ve committed to something for all four years, instead of just doing a million different activities. I don’t know if that true, but I certainly just put all of my energy into theatre and choir and it seems to have worked out for me. As for essays, I would generally say to pick something meaningful in your life (it doesn’t have to be an event, maybe it’s something ongoing or just anything else), and then try to kind of mold it to fit whatever prompt you’re given. For the prompt about how you can contribute to UW’s diverse cultural background and stuff, I wrote about how I’ve lived in different places and learned from different kinds of people, as well as what I’ve learned from my brother (who has special needs). I believe I wrote the other essay on the time I went to comic con and felt at home there. So really, it can be anything, as long as it has meaning to you.
Anyway, at admitted students day they said that the OOS aceptance rate this year was in the 50s, maybe like 56%. I don’t quite remember, but somewhere around there. I hope this helps a little bit! </p>
<p>It’s not too hard, haha. Even if you’re OOS, you should be fine as long as you have a 1900 SAT or above and an unweighted GPA around 3.5 or so. Most people I know who met these benchmarks were admitted, but unfortunately the opposite was true as well. On the topic of essays, I think the prompts are vague enough that you can recycle one of your Common App responses for them. The diversity one can be spun a little and doesn’t <em>have</em> to be about culture, so if you’ve had any interesting life experiences you can go ahead and put that down. But honestly, as long as your numbers are within range and can demonstrate commitment to a couple of extracurriculars, I’m sure you’ll be fine! </p>
<p>At the time of applying, I had a 3.88 UW and 2320 SAT. I’ll be spending my freshman year here, and I’m pretty excited. It’s a great school Best of luck! </p>
<p>I was rejected (3.8 GPA, 1900 SAT) with an IB Diploma (International), lots of leadership positions and somebody from an education fair told me I was a strong candidate. Though this was not my first choice college, I still feel sorta bummed. I hope this helps :)</p>
<p>Got in with a 3.9 weigted gpa (3.8 unweighted) and a 1940 SAT / 29 ACT. I’m from out of state. I had a ton of volunteer work and extracurriculars. And a good essay. I feel it’s considerably easier to be admitted out of state though.</p>
<p>Well I got in to udub too.
I got in with 3.45 uw and a 3.79 w and a 32 ACT. I had little to no extracurricular and no sports. In fact, I’m suprised I got in considering I made the decision to apply 3 hours before the deadline and I recycled my uc essays and had to cut them down for the word limit. I applied for business and got premajor. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>I got into UW as an OOS. 30 ACT 3.4 uw with a sizable amount of ECs. I applied to the earth science major so I think that’s why I got in with relatively average stats.</p>
<p>The essay about diversity and the extra curricular supplement I wasn’t used to, but overall I’d say it’s not too hard unless you plan on studying engineering or some major that’s competitive. </p>
<p>I got in with a 3.64 UW and 3.77 W. 1840 SAT. In State. Schools look for growth, and since I got a 3.1 GPA in freshman year they probably saw that. I think my essay was good, but I really don’t know. I took a lot of advanced math classes and I know UW likes that,</p>
<p>Not very hard! I was accepted. 1790 SAT 3.67 unweighted GPA and lots of ECS. All of my friends who took all Ap/ honnor classes like me were accepted but some of my friends with similar stats were wait listed and accepted at the end of may. My brother went to UW so I don’t know if that made a difference.</p>
Best of luck! </p>