This is the official discussion thread for University of Washington Class of 2029 RD applicants. Ask your questions and connect with fellow applicants.
For those counting down the days, here’s the decision timing for the past several years. This would put the best guess for this year at Thursday March 6th or 13th just after 8pm. Maybe a lean to March 13th. Portals were updated first, then emails followed by maybe 30 minutes. UW refers to releasing in batches, but in practice just about everyone heard the same evening. Very few exceptions. No guarantees it will be the same this year of course!
2020: Friday 3/6 after 8pm
2021: Thurs 3/11 after 8pm
2022: Thurs 3/3 after 8pm
2023: Thurs 3/9 after 8pm
2024: Thurs 3/14 after 8pm
Applications have trended up the last few years, and acceptance rates have trended down (after UW joined the common app). Here’s a link to an article with some more details about the make up of the most recent incoming UW class. Best of luck to all!
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4 Months last year. One of the schools that take a long time to release decisions.
This timing is not uncommon for the competitive schools. Many of the other northwest schools just aren’t all that competitive, so decisions are very quick. Many of the UC schools and other competitive big sate schools (some call the “flagships”) have similar timing as well. Even late March. So, early to mid-March isn’t all that bad.
A big HELLO to our fellow UW Seattle applicants.
We’re done with all other OOS decisions.. barring a couple deferrals 
Now, all eyes on our state flagship.
Any business/ Econ applicants here?
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What are the chances for CS if oos. DS is going to a early college program with all college courses, decent EC.
Here! Our kids have applied to similar schools as I have seen you on other oos pages. This is among first choices for mine so fingers crossed.
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OOS CS for out of state applicants is in the single digits - very, very competitive.
2% mentioned in the link below.
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Yes, same here, hoping to hear positive outcome on our in-state.
We’ve applied to Foster as 1st choice and Econ as 2nd choice.
Honestly, it took me a lot of time to figure the major selection nuances for UW Seattle, and I’m still unsure if I’ve understood it well.. lol..
Best of luck to you, based on last year thread, we should hear back in 1st or 2nd week of March.. can’t wait.
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All the recent timing is summarized at the top of the thread. Only a ~month left now.
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Hoping we get in..may be a miracle
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For UW, is applying to an open major considered “easier” to get into than a competitive major like CS for in state? Or does it not matter as UW. applies first to the school then the major?
Not an expert on this, but my understanding is that except for direct admit majors like Comp Science, Business etc, every major is either open/constrained.
So, while selectivity to the direct majors will vary, for the rest, you are admitted as a pre-major. After admission to your UW college, then depending on if your major is open or constrained, it will competitive to declare your intended major or apply for a transfer to one of the more competitive major.
Also, the direct admit major can only be applied as a first choice. If you’re not admitted to it, you will be considered for your second choice.
What I am not 100% certain is if the selectivity varies among non direct majors as well. For example is it harder/easier to be admitted to Psycology Vs Econ as your intended pre-major.
Agree. UW does a great job (imho) of spelling out that applicants should choose the majors that most closely aligns with their interests. Presumably the rest of the app demonstrates those interests through essays etc. They recognize students may change majors, but they want your honest answer. The struggle is when you hear of peers getting in for lesser competitive majors who eventually transfer to a competitive major. We too chose as honestly as we could and really hope it works out.
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I hope it works out for you, Most of the kids we know are gaming the system by choosing Enviromental Studies, Gender Studies, French, Geography and Journalism and then applying to Econ or Foster or Real Estate once they are admitted. UW’s admittance policy is a joke, I hope the new president fixes it and starts letting in the most qualified students not the ones who choose the least competitive majors with no intention of studying said majors. Our honesty on our application is now costing us $60K a year to send him to a UC !
But if most of the people are gaming the system by picking less competitive majors, wouldn’t those majors become more competitive to get admitted?
Also, my understanding is that barring direct-admit majors, UW does not admit by major choice. I could be totally wrong about it, and in which case I’m really worried now.
Ugh this is honestly my biggest fear. Heard recently private schools know to do this. We went with honesty but the numbers coming out of all of these state schools are historic. Davis posted yesterday their highest apps ever by a huge margin. UW ask me series over the summer was clear to go with what you know you want to study. We shall see I guess, but worried.
They definitely admit by major or they have the past 2 admissions cycles. Many students at my son’s high school with 3.5-3.7 GPAs and very few or ZERO AP classes got into UW last year by selecting those majors while a lot of 3.9 and 4.0 students with 10-12 APs, AP scholar awards, leadership etc got denied. I wouldn’t believed it if I hadn’t have experienced it first hand.
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