Grades alone are never enough when acceptance rates are so low. What are your extracurriculars, awards, etc.?
@AroundHere
$50.00 award in freshman year; school bought one of my artworks.
Academic award in seventh grade math.
Academic award in freshman Physics/Science.
Volunteered over the summer at a senior center (last summer).
Volunteered for forest restoration (also last summer).
Completed Java course in Codecademy.com.
@headbang_thrasher if it’s before hs, college admissions don’t really care. Also, they won’t care about the codeacademy course. You need to get involved with your school during the school year, like in a club or organization. Volunteer heavily (or get a job) during the summer between junior and senior year. You’re gonna need to get a lot done to put on your application. They want to see you’re active in your school and they want to see that you’re well-rounded, so an art or a sport would be helpful.
@headbang_thrasher You will need very good extracurricular activities to have a chance with a 3.8 or a 3.9. A friend of mine had over 90 transferable credits as a running start student, including CS142/143 credit (4.0 in both), with an unweighted GPA of 3.98 (I think 2 A- in 4 years, but might have been 1). They did not get DA, but did get acceptance on their first try after entering UW as pre-science.
DA is insanely competitive, but this might let up a bit as the CSE programs expands in the next few years.
@headbang_thrasher with an average GPA of direct admits reported as 3.97, you will certainly be within range with a 3.9 at the end of junior year. At this point, that’s probably not the limiting factor to direct admission. I agree with @Psoriasis , you now need to distinguish yourself from the pack in other ways. You need to show you are more than just a GPA, because everybody in the running for direct admit will have a terrific GPA. You need to let UW know what makes you different.
My son was admitted direct to the engineering college for this fall with a 3.9 GPA (I realize that’s not the computer science department, but it’s quite competitive). He made his application stand out 3 ways: a unique essay, strong letters of recommendation…and ECs.
You can get started now on writing your essay and asking teachers for LORs. But looking at your post, you’re very light on ECs and community involvement. However, you have some achievements in art and science from freshman year. Could you start volunteering now tutoring younger students in math or science? Could you volunteer teaching art at an elementary school’s after-school program? You could repeat last year’s summer volunteer work this year to show some more commitment.
(And remember…your AO will google your name. Be sure everything found online, including images, represents you well!)
@LolliCoomassie
Does Youtube count?
This is my YouTube… :
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFbWkbPmAjRPi2R4fGzFXwg?view_as=subscriber
I don’t post much stuff, but when I do, it’s metal… I don’t want to appear too sketchy.
Admissions officers at UW will not google you nor read unrequested supplemental materials like letters or YouTube channels. They don’t have time for that. It’s really about your application and essays.
@LolliCoomassie , UW admissions do not read any recommendation letters. They have a photo showing a full room of unopened recommendation letters (back in the paper letter days.) They don’t even need your transcript until you enroll. I don’t know how much they look at essays and ECs. In one of the Admission Info sessions, the AO said if you don’t have the grade, ECs and essays won’t help you; they only come into play if you are on the edge.
@LolliCoomassie
Would a 3.9 suffice?
@bogeyorpar While it is true that a great essay won’t get you in to a college you don’t have the grades/scores for, that doesn’t mean that the essays and activity lists aren’t read.
Even if your grades are extremely high, I hope you change your attitude about CC students even though it’s unrelated to this forum here. But I’m really gonna put my opinion on here. First of all, it isn’t embarrassing to go to a CC, there’s a lot of reasons why students go to CC. True, there’s that chunk that doesn’t really care about school but hey who are you to judge at least they’re still going, people usually drop out or don’t even go to college. I went to SFSU for a year and didn’t like it and I made the choice to move to Washington and go to a CC to get in state residency, and transfer my way to UW. I really can’t stand egotistical people who obviously look down on CCs, and quite frankly i’m a much better student at my CC than at SFSU. You seem like a high shooter and good for you but you’re also going to set yourself up for failure if you close out so many options like open admission and CC. So maybe you should hop off this forum and set yourself apart from others and stop asking if a 3.9 will suffice.
@headbang_thrasher Yes, you can get UW CS direct admitted with 3.9 GPA. My son got in this year with 3.9 GPA,. He did very well in SAT with score of 1580, plus 800 in SAT Math 2, and 800 in SAT Physics subject test. He self-studied and passed AP Computer Science, and has been in multiple top 8 finished in WA State math competitions. Keep up the good work.
@yonglu, is your son coming to UW? That stats should have gotten him a few acceptance from the HYPSM, right?
@headbang_thrasher in response to your question, “Would a 3.9 suffice?” the answer is, on its own, it wouldn’t be sufficient. UW makes very clear that it conducts a holistic review of all applications. You have terrific grades, but UW will have an abundance of applicants with stellar grades and top test scores. You need to communicate to them, through your essay and the details on your application, the personal achievements & characteristics that will make you an asset to the UW community.
Your posts here seem to be focused on your GPA to earn you a DA. Since your GPA puts you in the right ballpark, my advice, since your GPA is on track, is to also pay close attention to the other areas that UW’s holistic review will consider. Figure out what makes you stand out. Find ways to put your talents to use. And make sure to highlight all this on your application.
Good luck to you as you navigate the college admissions process!
@bogeyorpar Yes, my son is going to UW. We live in Seattle, and I am a Husky (second Computer Engineering class graduated back in the 90s) so I am happy that he stays. Saw that your son got admitted this year too, is he going to UW?
No, he didn’t get any acceptance from HYPSM. Wait list from CMU, and rejected by MIT and Cal Tech.
How many community colleges have you attended? The majority of cc students I’ve known attended them because their families couldn’t afford the universities that accepted them. People who don’t care about school generally don’t pay to continue their education beyond high school, so I don’t think you’ll find them at a cc. Nobody is going to prevent you from succeeding academically but you.
@headbang_thrasher I have 3.98 gpa finishing AS degree. Nobody prevent me from succeeding academically. It depends on individual, not all CC students who don’t care about their grades.
@headbang_thrasher See post #3 here http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-washington/2083772-why-is-university-of-washington-cs-so-competitive.html
It looks like CSE is going the way of College of Engineering and trying to give more freshmen a definite decision for the next admissions cycle. This makes your high school record more important as there will be fewer slots will be available for those applying after admission.
If your C’s are in history, it may be OK, but definitely aim for a 4.0 in tough STEM classes.
Not to be a downer, but it’s going to be incredibly difficult for you to get in. Just go on their website. There’s a lot of good information for UW Seattle. I haven’t looked at Bothell’s site.
https://www.cs.washington.edu/academics/ugrad/admissions/direct
It says it’s 3.85-4.0 and strong test scores. They are looking for students who excel in math, science and English. If you want a good shot, you surely will need to have taken Calculus in high school and done extremely well. Here’s the kicker…
https://www.cs.washington.edu/academics/ugrad/admissions/freshmen
“If you were not offered Direct Admission, it is not an indication of your ability to excel in this discipline. Instead, it is an indication of the small number of students to whom we currently are able to offer Direct Admission. For 2018, fewer than 5% of UW freshman applicants who listed Computer Science as their first-choice major were offered Direct Admission. These students had incredibly high grades, took the most rigorous curricula offered in their schools, showed meaningful extracurricular experiences, and submitted strong personal statements. There were many highly qualified students to whom we were unable to offer Direct Admission. (We make a small number of DA offers to out-of-state students, but the vast majority of DA offers go to Washington residents.)”
Don’t look down on CC. Many of those students are highly competitive. UW is a hotbed for computer science, and the local CCs are well equipped with rigorous curriculum to put talented students in positions to be admitted over freshmen applicants who have no Calc/Physics/Stats etc. CC students who have completed the Calc sequence with high grades have a much, much better shot of being admitted than freshman.
I cam currently doing my AA at Bellevue college in computer engineering and will be applying this later this year for transfer to UW Seattle for 2019 fall. my gpa is 3.87. What was your gpa when you transferred or got directly admitted to UW for computer Engineering?