I have attended UW as an out of state undergraduate student for 2.5 years. I am now transferring to a college back in California. I went to UW intending to major in computer science, but now I am majoring in applied mathematics. Also, I’m currently employed as a software engineer and the leader for my current project at work. So, I’m not some idiot who’s upset with UW; I’m a relatively smart and reasonable person who’s upset with UW. I am giving you my honest and straightforward advice so you can make the best decision possible.
Pros: If you like the pacific north west, Seattle is an awesome place to be. If you’re interested in a career in the tech industry, there are also many opportunities for internships and getting involved with startups. In fact, I graduated high school early in order to work for a tech company as a Jr. Software engineer at age 17, so the opportunities in Seattle are very real.
However, in my opinion the opportunities that Seattle has to offer do not even come close to justifying the absolute absurdity of UW’s undergraduate education system. If you’re pursuing a degree in any STEM field, then from my experience and the experiences of many undergraduate students I’ve spoken with, I can firmly say that the University of Washington is not a place of learning. UW is a place of competition and abused adrenal glands (as in people intake a lot of caffeine and compromise their health).
That being said, there are undergraduate students that succeed at UW. But you have to make sure that the culture of the university fits with what you believe in. If you believe in teamwork, honesty, and students helping each other learn and succeed, then don’t go to UW. UW is not like that. The computer science department is especially NOT like that. The only exception to this I’ve seen is if you want to study Informatics at UW.
Cons:
- The biggest con about UW is that the college is impacted- it accepts 55% of all applicants knowing full well that its departments (especially STEM departments) are extremely competitive and incapable of accepting most people into their desired major. Most people will not be able to study what they want to at UW because they don't have a high enough GPA to get in. GPA is basically everything to STEM departments. I personally know 7 people from my freshman year at UW that have already transferred because they weren't able to get into their desired major. After speaking with counselors, who are mostly completely UNHELPFUL and actually try to discourage you from pursuing your academic goals, it is clear that other majors which currently aren't competitive (like mathematics) will be competitive soon because the people who get rejected from their desired STEM department have no other choice but to study something else at UW.
If you’re wondering, I did get rejected from the CS department. However, I switched my major to applied mathematics after taking Computational methods of data analysis (AMATH 482) because that was the absolute best class I’ve ever taken and showed me the importance of mathematics and what it can do regarding data science. Also, I got a 3.9 in that class so I’m still not an idiot and you should take this review seriously- I am trying to warn people about UW so they know what they’re getting themselves into.
- There's a high chance you won't be able to register for the classes you need, your graduation plan will be delayed, and you'll end up paying more money to UW than you expected because you need to stay there longer. There were many quarters that I wasn't able to register for all of the classes I needed. I woke up at 5:30am every registration day to register for my classes at 6:00am. There was not a single registration day that I got into all of the classes I wanted/needed.
THE MOMENT I DECIDED I NEEDED TO TRANSFER was when I didn’t get into a core class for my major and my graduation got delayed by a full year because they only offer it once a year. I tried to crash the class and explain my situation but the fact is that no one really cares about undergraduate students at UW. That meant an extra full year of out of state tuition I wasn’t prepared to pay for. Out of state tuition is around $11,000 a quarter if you’re taking a full load. So, that severely pissed me off.
It is a large institution that’s more focused on research and graduate students. This is speculation, but from my perspective it feels like they’re using undergraduate students as income so they can finance their research programs and graduate students.
- Undergraduate class sizes are HUGE. Literally hundreds of students and massive lecture halls. For me, this was a horrible experience. And to be completely honest, the majority of people weren't friendly. The Seattle Freeze has some truth to it. I made a good amount of friends, but still the majority were not genuinely friendly.
- There are weeder classes at every university. The problem with UW's weeder classes is that they're designed so that there are a set amount of passing grades and 4.0's a professor can give and a set amount of people that will fail no matter what. This is basically saying that if everyone gets above 80% in the class, there are still going to be people who fail. Not every class is like this at UW, thank god, but a lot of the weeder classes at UW actually are. Also, you'll be competing with a lot of international students who have had a significantly better pre-college education if you're from the United States.
If you’re considering UW, please take this review seriously. I was an arrogant high school honors student who graduated in 3 years with a 4.0 when I decided to go to UW. I didn’t really do the due diligence of researching universities, I just went to UW because I had a good job in Seattle. So I suggest you do your due diligence and take what I’m saying into consideration when deciding whether or not to attend UW for your undergraduate degree.
Good luck