UW CSE direct admission in fall 2013

<p>I have questions regarding direct admission CSE in fall 2013 for my daughter who is a H.S senior. Her GPA is 4.0 and SAT 2120 and she took and got credit AP score for the following classes:
AP Physic C Mechanic - 5
AP Physic C Elect.. - 5
AP chem - 4
AP calculus BC - 5
AP English Comp - 5
AP World and US history - 5
AP French - 4
She also got 4.0 in UW CSE 142 last year. Unfornately, her highschool does not offer this year because the class is cancelled.
She does a lot extra activities like key club vice president, honor society, asb and piano and viola.
-Does she any chances to get direct admission to CSE department?
-Is computer science less competitive than computer engineer? Which one is less competive in the direct admission so I can tell her to choose the intented major.
-What kind of personal statement she should provide so CSE committee is impressed in her application?</p>

<p>I know UW CSE is very competive major even UW students got 3.68 GPA.
Please advise and let me know so we can plan her future college if she cannot accept in the direct admission. Thanks.</p>

<p>Hi! I’m a CSE direct admit from two years ago.</p>

<p>Your daughter sounds like an extremely competitive applicant. Great job on keeping up the grades, 4.0ing CSE 142, and doing well in tests and extra curricular activities.</p>

<p>Yes, she has a competitive chance of getting direct admission.</p>

<p>Admissions for CS/CE are essentially the same; choosing one over the other won’t affect direct admission. I actually applied with an intention with CE and ultimately switched to CS during my freshman year.</p>

<p>For direct admit… the admissions committee is looking for students with a strong calculus/physics background (check!), optional computer science background (check!), have a sense of passion, drive, and ultimately, potential to grow and succeed in the department. The topic of her personal statement doesn’t matter as much as how it shows her character, uniqueness, and passion.</p>

<p>You should keep some back up universities/colleges for your daughter in case she doesn’t get direct admit. Other schools have great CSE programs as well! </p>

<p>Good luck! Please let me know if there are any other questions you may have about direct admit or admissions in general. There are two other cs majors who post from time to time here as well - sumzup and mlidge.</p>

<p>SpeedSolver, Thanks for quick reply. Is UW bothell or tacoma good for computer major. WSU/ UP or OSU is good for computer science? I prefer she stays in washington because she does not qualified for any financial ad and lot of scholarship requires financial need. The tution is very high for out of state… Do you have any statistic data like SAT score or GPA for direct admission that you can share?</p>

<p>SpeedOver. Should she submit AP score now so CSE commitee can verify her AP score or wait after she takes AP exam this May. Thanks.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, I can’t speak about UW Bothell or Tacoma … or WSU, UP, or OSU for computer science. I personally don’t know anyone at any of those schools studying computer science except someone who started at UW Bothell and recently transferred to UW (Seattle/main campus). </p>

<p>UW has one of the top CSE programs in the nation. The program gives students resources and has a great curriculum to prepare us for internships, post-graduation employment, research, academia, etc…</p>

<p>I don’t have any good statistical data for SAT score/GPA for direct admit, but as long as applicants have at least a 2100 SAT (or equivalent ACT) and around a ~3.9-4.0 unweighted GPA (physics/calculus a huge plus) in high school, they will be very competitive. The last part of the application the admissions committee looks at is their personal statements and extra curricular activities … again, looking for drive, passion, and potential to excel. It’s hard to say how to be the “perfect” applicant, because there really isn’t a cookie cutter template for that. I know some people who have interned at Microsoft twice in high school and still didn’t get direct admit. There’s students who have never, ever programmed before and was accepted.</p>

<p>She can submit AP scores now. I don’t know if the admissions committee takes a look at those (I know general UW does not), but it can’t hurt. :)</p>