The OP’s student sounds great and it is surprising that he wasn’t accepted to UW but I’ve never heard of a state flagship practicing yield protection. Lots of brilliant students only apply in state.
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So so happy to read this post and update as I scrolled through this topic. I’m very happy for you and your kiddo! All the best next year-
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My daughter had similar results from UW.
In state. 3.8 unweighted and 4.5+ weighted. Every single class from freshman to senior was honors or AP. (Not counting art or PE) 1500 SAT. Strong enough extracurricular to be accepted at two mid tier UC schools.
Waitlisted. Not CS or engineering. Close friend of hers with similar numbers and class president… Waitlisted.
One thing not mentioned from OP was the race of his son.
We are Asian and I hate to say it but I think my daughter’s race and possibly yield protection played a role.
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That, of course, would be illegal.
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I’m wondering if your son/daughter ever got off the wait list? 
heard from friends in WA, that U wash was brutal this year, waitlisting a lot of their in-state kids. CA kinda started out that way with bizzare acceptances and waitlists. My S25 was waitlisted by UCI/UCSD and got into Berkeley.
Uwash seems to have take more CA kids this year, probably more tuition:)
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My daughter was waitlisted as well from UW. In state, Eastside/Seattle area High School. 3.9 unweighted GPA, is doing Running Start and will have an AA when she graduates High School next week. Mid ECs. Biochem major.
She has her heart set on UW, so even though she was accepted at other schools, decided that if she does not get in off the waitlist, will take another quarter at Bellevue College and transfer in.
She’s so frustrated seeing her classmates with much lower GPAs get in and her get waitlisted…
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I’m really sorry for your daughter. 
I remember the UCs explaining that in part some decisions were due to most applicants choosing just a handful of majors (biological sciences, CS, engineering, economics orbusiness) and creating a bottleneck.
Biochemistry is a bit less obvious than plain biology at least.. but may there be similar majors of interest?
Probably in one of these colleges
Ha. I am sure the faltering Seattle Police Department will get all over that. Yes, it is illegal but they still do it. Seattle isn’t exactly known for being law abiding.
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Still waiting but she was accepted to both UCSB and UCI. She is committed to UCI. Waiting on waitlist at NYU.
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How did your child do regarding the UW wait list, @PNWNB?
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One thing that might be worth saying:
I understand that highly ranked public universities have very competitive admissions and might not be a safety for anyone. I am not sure that this is a good thing.
I grew up in an area where the local public university (which was McGill) was very good, and was essentially a safety if you were academically a strong enough student. This took a lot of stress off the college admissions game. If you were reasonably close to the top of your high school class you really could, if you wanted to, just apply to one university and go there and get a great education.
I think that this is a good model for academically strong students. This doesn’t mean that every student needs to do this, but it should be available as an option.
I would hope that for any in-state student who is academically excellent (which an unweighted 3.98 GPA certainly is), there would be a very good in-state public university which is a safety. The parents have been paying in-state taxes for years (18 years in many cases) to support the public universities. Taking the stress out of university admissions for the academically strongest students who want to stay in-state I think is not too much to ask.
The University of Washington has 35,000 undergraduate students. I would have hoped that they could find a spot for any in-state student with a 3.98 unweighted GPA and reasonable references.
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Your idea sounds good. But for Washington, Washington state is the school you are referring to. For CA, it would be UC Merced.
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UCs do it with their ELC. UW and Washington state should adopt something similar.
Most states have that, it’s just not necessarily the flagship.
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The same model is available in states where the flagship university’s capacity is large relative to the number of high-achieving, highly accomplished high school graduates. Washington isn’t one of those states.
As others have noted, it’s sufficient for each state to provide a strong in-state option for any student seeking one. That option doesn’t need to be the highly ranked, selective flagship.
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And it is not feasible in many states for the flagship to continue expanding (geographically, headcount, etc.) when there are viable opportunities at the branches. In my own state, I think the taxpayers would have a hissy fit at the idea of empty seats/dorm rooms at the branches but mandatory triples/new dorm construction at the main campus.
Look at the closings in PA for example… way too much capacity in the regional campuses… what voter is going to get excited about a bond issue at Penn State for more capacity when there is excess real estate all over the place already functioning as a higher ed institution?
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In Washington, UW Bothell is also an excellent option.
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Same situation with UCLA and Berkeley, while Riverside, Merced, Santa Cruz are probably under enrolled.
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