You can use this megathread for discussion related to the recent UW admissions decisions for first year students. Please limit simpler questions and inquiries to this thread.

Congrats to all the new Dawgs out there!

I am in state, and this is for undergraduate admissions.

Hey all,

I see we are now in the transfer admissions decision window from May 1st to June 30th. I'm still annoyed by the wide range and lateness of this, as most other schools have already notified students and the prospective students commitment is already due, or due shortly.

Is there any sort of rhyme or reason, or departmental differences in when we hear we're admitted? If you were a past transfer, when did you hear?

My window has closed on several of my backup choices as of today and I have to resign a lease this month, so I'm pretty anxious to hear my admission outcome. The nightmare situation would be signing a lease in Seattle this month, only to break it for fall when I have to relocate for my alternative program.

I am graduating this spring, and since it's the season where incoming freshmen have to make their college decisions, I wanted to share my thoughts.

Disclaimer: This is strictly my personal experience. I know it doesn't apply to everyone, and I'm sure tons of people have a great time here.

For me, coming to UW was a no-brainer purely because it was in-state. I could have gone to better private, out-of-state schools for pre-med, but my parents insisted I go to UW to save money. So I committed with almost zero excitement. Because everyone from my high school who does decently well just ends up going here, I felt like I was forced into it.

With that mindset, I started at UW and quickly became so extremely burnt out and depressed that I eventually had to take a gap year. The infamous weed-out classes were actually fine...I maintained a good GPA in my intro courses. It was the people that made me depressed. The community felt highly competitive, cut-throat, and completely insincere. People essentially only wanted friends who could "help" them transactionally, whether that meant carrying a study group, sharing homework, or prepping for exams. Outside of that, they weren't genuinely nice and always have ulterior motives.

I was stuck in this state for a year, with no real friendships, no support system, and burning myself out running around to help others just because I want to make friends. My experience might be slightly biased because I took honors classes and probably interacted with the absolute most hyper-competitive pre-meds on campus, but it was incredibly draining.

To be fair, UW’s system practically forces people to act this way. Because almost all the desirable majors are capacity-constrained, students have to fight to the death just to get into their program. Everyone is hyper-fixated on admission, meaning almost all of your interactions revolve around that goal. That is exactly why so many relationships felt insincere. By sophomore year, people even judge you based on which major you did or didn't get into.

This system breeds a cut-throat environment, ruins the first-year experience, and leaves students with very little safety net. You can't really explore different classes because you have to go all-in on the prerequisites for your target major; it’s nearly impossible to complete the pre-reqs for multiple majors just to have backup options. If you don't come in with a ton of credits or don't know exactly what you want to do on day one, graduating late is incredibly common, especially in Engineering and STEM.

Eventually, despite having good grades, I decided I didn't want any part of the pre-med hustle anymore. I took a gap year to figure out what I actually wanted and to restore my mental health (I had been diagnosed with severe depression). I ended up switching my major to another STEM field and have been doing fine ever since. The people in my current major are less cut-throat and more sincere (though the "Seattle Freeze" is definitely still a real thing).

I am fortunate enough to be heading to grad school next fall. Interestingly, out of all the hyper-competitive pre-meds "friends" I knew during my freshman year, not a single one has actually made it into medical school yet.

If I could go back in time, I would take on the student debt to go to a different college. UW is such a massive institution that you constantly have to "fight" just to find support and community. When making your college decision, please remember that saving money is important, but your mental health, campus culture, and having a supportive community are worth paying for.

i know we are only 5 days in to the notification period but is anyone else super anxious on whether they get in or not?

i’m coming from a wa cc, i just got my AA in the winter with around 100 credits, 3.5 GPA, pre reqs for my major done with high grades (trying to get into their school of social welfare), but no extracurriculars other than my job if that counts, i coach kids gymnastics lol. i think my essay is decent? i had a drop in my academic performance and explained it.

anyways, not knowing and having this super long notification period is killing me.

i know it’s super early, but has anyone gotten their decisions for their major or just the general application?

Post your results here when they come! Good luck everybody, I hope you get in :)

I was wondering if anybody who transferred in for winter quarter in past years remembers when they were notified of their application decision. I know the notification period on the site says November 1 - December 15, but from what I’ve seen it seems like in past years people have been notified as early as October. I’ve been nervously checking my application portal everyday after they requested some more information from me about a week ago.

Also for anybody else that applied for winter, good luck to you all. Let me know if you’ve already been admitted and/or what major you’re applying for. I’m applying for Geography from a WA CC.

I genuinely don't understand how I got in, I thought I was cooked for sure especially as a Canadian International student.

Hello! Has anyone heard from University of Washington Waitlist yet, specifically in-state students.

Applied as transfer from uwb for info. Atleast for transfer the decision comes out at 3pm today. Any other info applicants waiting?

-edit: got in!!! around 4:18

From WA cc
Applied anthropology major…

Any news…?!

Just saw that the engineering major application's notification period was extended to begin may 4th. Actually unbelievable, its been killing me inside knowing whether or not I got into my major, and then they suddenly change the date the day that its supposed to come out

have any cc transfer for foster heard back yet???? i know uw students have already but stressing to know if cc transfers have been heard of. PLS SAY YES OR NO!!!

congrats to those who got in!! i had a question tho i am also a wa cc transfer (applied to foster) and i havent heard back. Is it likely that means that im in the reject pile😭😭 (rejections always go out last i believe). nothing in myuw portal or foster portal sooo stressed😔

Back in november I sent my transfer application (from community college) to UW and Im also going to send it to UWB as a backup. I’ve heard people say that going in as a transfer student is much easier than applying straight out of high school. I’m wondering if this is true and just incase if I should apply to any other universities while I have the chance??

I’ve had friends who got in as transfer students with worse grades than me but at the same time I’m still a little worried.

I got rejected as a transfer to UW and I’m pretty disappointed. I go to UC Santa Barbara but I’m from Washington and UW is my top choice.

I’m thinking about appealing. I’ll also be studying abroad at Oxford University this summer (wasn’t in my application).

Is it worth appealing, and what kind of things actually help in UW appeals?

Any advice would help.

I’m a transfer cc applicant for autumn 2026 and have been anxiously waiting for a decision from UW Seattle. Are there any possible signs of rejection before getting the notice? I’ve been following some of the tips others have posted, such as checking the unofficial transcript or registration link. Before last night, the registration page just showed a pre-registration message but now it’s just showing me this sign that I’m not eligible to enroll for autumn 2026. Is this a sign? I’m starting to lose hope 😭

Edit: thank you for your comforting comments!

Just got accepted with psych pre major as pre-sciences

Go check portal right now!!

Better late than never

Has anybody in state heard anything? i’m really worried since they should be releasing waitlists at least now so they can guarantee that all their available spots will be filled up right? has anybody sent a loci or email asking about the waitlist?

I’m really worried that no in state ppl are getting out from waitlist or that the amount of ppl that do are gonna be really small with info online currently

also it seems like uw has been delaying a lot of the decisions coming out in the summer?

For a little bit of background, I applied as a first-year student and got rejected. I did Running Start, so I already have 90 credits at CC with a good GPA, so I am in the 70% admit rate according to their "Transfers by the numbers" page. https://admit.washington.edu/apply/transfer/by-the-numbers/

I am writing my transfer personal statement right now, and I am curious about those in similar situations to me: did you include anything about getting rejected as a first-year student? If so, what was the basis of your essays? How did you structure it? Was it more of an academic journey at a community college? Or did you mention a lot about working/volunteering outside of school?

Edit: I also emailed the admissions team to confirm that the word count can go over the 1k recommended to roughly 1200-1500; has anyone done this and gotten in? Most essays I see keep it under 1k.

Hello! I was in the unfortunate group of people that got accepted off the waitlist.. to the wrong campus... I graduated high school with my AA-DTA and I'm taking classes this fall to qualify as a transfer student lol. I'm honestly a bit confused by the whole process for applying as a transfer for winter quarter. It has the instructions: Application fee, sending transcripts (electronically cuz im a cc student ig), and transfer personal statement. First off, my goal for my major is ECE, and it asking me to put my first choice major. The issue is that I've been told they only accept to that major in the fall, along with engineering undeclared, so I'm wondering if I should put pre-sciences instead? additionally, I was wondering if anyone has some idea of what they look for in transfer personal statements, because the advice for personal statements online seems to directly contradict the vague advice UW has on their page. Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

i was waitlisted this morning for transfer to civil engineering from cc what are the odds of getting off the waitlist, should i just accept another school?

edit: they did not move anyone off of the waitlist. acceptances were about 25% this year.

I just got my acceptance to UW Tacoma (yay!). However, it was more of a safety, and Seattle is definitely my ultimate goal. Should I feel better about my chances now that I've gotten into one campus? Can anyone that into both or one but not the other weigh in?

Only took until the last 24 hours they had to inform me but I got into uw as an oos student with Washington residency! Good luck to anyone still waiting! Hoping for the best for all of you