They have their own “institutional priorities” which does not always equate with merit as defined by choosing the hardest curriculum with the highest grades.
People on Reddit are talking about the waitlist thing again, does anyone know if that actually indicates anything? It looks like everyone can access it but I’m not sure.
I don’t think it means anything at all. But let the portal astrology begin!
Anxious for grandson in state, IB classes but school doesn’t weight grades. Active in robotics, applied for civil engineering. Already accepted to Portland State as backup school. No other applications submitted.
So being first gen and OOS has no advantage?
Bring first gen is always an advantage. The point is if you’re not first gen, and you’re in-state, you’re double screwed.
not in our experience, they got in with lower grades because they selected obscure majors
Listen, I think there is never anything ‘fair’ about college admissions. If it was just a mathematical equation then you would take the kid’s GPA and their SAT and you would look on a list to see which schools take that and just apply there. But we don’t do that. Because its holistic we try what we try and we hope for the best. The AO’s see what they see. And we hope we’ve done a good enough job on the application that they see us the way we want them to see us. But we can make ourselves nuts trying to make any of it ‘fair’. I’ve quit trying.
I wish everyone the best of luck with UW. Crossing my fingers for everyone.
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I can not agree more with you, and really appreciate this perspective—it’s the only way to avoid going crazy trying to rationalize the admissions process.
The only counter point I’d add is that except for a couple schools, we’ve not have any surprises so far on the admissions cycle (and our is first kid going in college, without any private counselor to help).
We were realistic of the academic expectations considering no-hooks, and competitive major, so despite the subjectivity of admissions process, it’s largely gone fine.
The challenge with UW sounds like it’s way too random; in fairness, I have no personal experience with UW yet, just listening to other parents is making it sound like far more random than other schools.
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I agree. However, UW admissions had several videos this summer specifically telling applicants to pick the major that most closely aligns with their interests. Students following those guidelines, only to hear that peers getting in with lesser stats by using the back door of an obscure major, feels disingenuous.
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Exactly! It’s one thing to have priorities of your own, quite another to be obscure.
Anybody remember when the instagram message dropped last year? Evening? I’m guessing if it doesn’t drop today it’ll be next week?
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Each party has somewhat different incentives in the process. With some overlap. I just think you’re probably better off evaluating actions than words. Presentations to university leadership generally make the goals of admissions abundantly clear.
Anyone seen this? It is from Welcome New Huskies – University of Washington
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We see that. However, when we follow the steps to confirm acceptance, it says there are no offers. Are you able to confirm acceptance?
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where do you see this?
I also see no decision. But I think this means we are getting it this week.
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I agree with your premise. The rate of first-gen and even the rate of in-state applications hasn’t really changed in a number of years. The OOS apps have massively increased. For In-State what we’ve seen, the unweighted GPA means a lot, the rigor means a lot, AB Calc means a lot, 4 years of Science means a lot, foreign language means a lot. What does not seem to matter a lot are ECs other than elite ECs, AP tests, scores or numerical number of classes vs relative to your high school offerings. SAT/ACT matter zero. The closer you are in mileage to UW from your high school it does appear the more your intended major or maybe other factors do matter. Spokane, Tri’s, Vancouver it did not seem to have that kind of impact as it did in the Bellevue, Inglemoor, MI, Prep, Blanchet…
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UW is minimalistic in its admissions. This page may mean something it may not. You won’t know until someone actually sees a decision in the portal and posts about it - there will be no check your portal email or anything else. And then the portal will crash and you won’t be able to check for another 24 hours anyway. Patience, it will be in 10 days or fewer. It’s an exciting time. It will come.