University of Washington CS Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Washington
1

Hi!

I’m a current HS junior who is looking into applying to the University of Washington, Seattle Campus for CS direct admit. I’m wondering how much of a chance I have. I know that it is crazy competitive, but I am an in-state student.

I’ll summarize my stats and ECs here. Thank you in advance!

Stats:
GPA: 4.0/4.0 UW, 4.56 W (calculated, my school doesn’t really report)
Class Rank: 1/~200
Took toughest courses available

10th grade PSAT: 1420 – 740 Math, 680 EBRW

APs:
9th: Calc BC (5, AB sub 5)
10th: Phys C Mech (5), CSP (5), Spanish Lang (4)

Also took Calc 3, Differential Eqs, Health, Statistical Methods, Linear Algebra at a local college in 10th

Junior year (just the rigor courses):
AP Spanish Lit
AP English Comp
AP USH
Phys E&M, Optics, Cell Bio, Data Structures and Algorithms, Vector Calc at a local college

ECs:
Founder/Prez of Math Club, Junior Statesmen of America
Presented at a synthetic biology conference freshman year, cancelled this past year due to COVID
Varsity Tennis
Coded an app with 1000+ downloads
Work as a Math tutor for all math levels at my local college

I was planning on being a BioE Major, but then I had a change of heart in my Data Structure and Algs class, so I have mostly Bio related ECs.

Best,
Aryakhan81

2

I think you have a very good shot as an in-state student. Best of luck!

3

UW CS does have relatively few seats as a direct-entry program, however, so I’d still recommend that you apply widely (safeties, matches, and reaches.)

Here are some on the West Coast I’d recommend, loosely sorted by difficulty:

  1. UC Berkeley, Stanford, CalTech, USC and UCLA. Maybe UBC if you're interested in living in Canada.
  2. Cal Poly SLO and UCSD/SB/Davis.
  3. UCSantaCruz, OregonStateU, and WashingtonStateU.
4

@PikachuRocks15 thank you very much for the advice! I’m also already looking into to some of those schools, but I’ll be sure to look into more of them.

To be honest, UW is definitely my dream school (except for maybe MIT). Even if I don’t get into UW CS, I’ll likely still attend and then apply to Bioengineering (and if I don’t get that I’ll do ACMS).

Aryakhan81

5

You’re a fine candidate for UW for the CS program. It’s still hyper-selective, so there’s no guarantee, even with the best of grades and stats. A great safety school would be WSU. If you’re going into tech, prestige makes zero difference anyway.

6

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7

@coolguy40 thanks! My current plan is to go on to medical school after finishing my degree. I really enjoy computer science, which is why I’d like to major in it, but I’m totally fine majoring in something else.

Also, side note, what are my chances for UW general admission to Arts & Sciences? I think it’s going to be a high match for me, but I may be wrong.

8

UW CS direct admit isn’t hyper selective anymore. It is easier to get into now than MIT, Stanford, CMU, UC-Berkeley, etc. It is kind of ridiculous that previously it was more selective than those schools (since they all rank higher than UW CS), but it was just the way that UW did admissions previously.

Now the largest number of seats in CS are reserved for WA high school students applying for direct admittance. Your stats are solid, although nothing is guaranteed, you have more than enough to be a competitive applicant. It will come down to how well you write your essay, but overall your chances are good.