Every year, faculty, staff, and students gather in various dorms, classrooms, and on zoom to host a variety of events for the UW’s transfer student celebration week.
These events include career fairs for transfer students, meet and greets with transfer academic advisors and counselors, and speeches by UW leadership regarding the importance of transfers to the UW community.
Here, at these events, a few documents will be passed around. This includes a transfer advocate card, a transfer financial aid worksheet, and a roadmap for transfer success.
This week, and these affordances for transfer students, exist for a reason. Transferring to a new school is hard, let alone a school as large and active as UW, and the University of Washington wants to take time to make transfer students feel like the welcomed and integral part of the UW community that they are.
And as such, when it comes to what school a transfer student might be deciding between, it is only natural UW might come to mind.
After all, they have an abundance of resources throughout campus to ensure their transfer students’ experience is unparalleled across large public universities in the US.
Part of how they show their dedication to providing a high-quality transfer student experience is through their transfer admissions policy.
In fact, in the year 2018, the University of Washington enrolled more transfer students than any other university in the nation.
As such, when a transfer student arrives at UW, they will be a part of one of the largest communities of transfer students anywhere in the nation.
Couple this with UW’s status as the #7 public university in the US according to The Times, and the #8 university in the world by UniRank, and one quickly finds an incredibly compelling college choice for transfer students.
However, before one becomes a UW Husky, they will have to be admitted. As such, this article breaks down everything a hopeful transfer student might need to know to begin their journey toward receiving that acceptance letter in the mail.
By breaking down transfer acceptance rates, admissions requirements, deadlines, and more, this article provides the necessary information transfer students will need to take that first step towards becoming a Husky.
University of Washington Transfer Acceptance Rate
The acceptance rate for UW transfers sits around 47% each year.
In the year 2019, this meant 3,852 transfer students applied, and 1,847 were admitted.
In comparison, the general acceptance rate for students applying to UW is 56%. Although the transfer acceptance rate is noticeably lower, the UW does still use the same holistic review process for admissions decisions that they use with first-year applicants.
Importantly, in making these admissions decisions, the University of Washington assures that at least 13% of each graduating class is composed of transfer students.
Therefore, coming from a Washington community college will likely help a candidate stand out from the competition in some circumstances.
Related to general admissions is the rate at which transfer students receive financial aid, as financial aid is often a decisive factor for one’s college decision.
Although UW does not provide transfer student financial aid statistics specifically, about 60% of UW students generally receive some form of financial aid.
Application Requirements & GPA for University of Washington Transfers
Although there is a minimum GPA of a 2.0 in order to be considered at the University of Washington, competitive candidates will have received a GPA closer to 3.5.
This figure was determined by looking at the admissions data for transfer students in the year 2019.
More specifically, the average GPA for University of Washington transfer students was 3.53.
Besides standard application components such as submitting high school and college transcripts and filling out the Coalition Application, the University of Washington will have various additional requirements depending on one’s degree program.
Although one will have to use the MyMajor tool to determine one’s specific major requirements, it is likely that engineering, computer science, and computer engineering in particular will have more stringent application materials and criteria, considering these majors are of limited capacity at the University of Washington.
University of Washington Transfer Deadline
The application deadline for fall admission is February 15th. Then, fall applicants will hear an admissions decision by June 30th.
Those hoping for their first semester to be in the spring will have to submit their application by December 15th. However, the spring quarter is only open to specific engineering and computer science majors.
Transfer students are the only students who can apply for the winter quarter to be their first at UW. For the winter, the application deadline is September 1st and decisions will be posted by December 15th.
Finally, students can also apply for their first semester to be the summer quarter. The application for summer quarter is also due February 15th, with decisions being posted by May 31st.
What is the Decision Date for UW Transfers?
For all of the above scenarios, there is no defined decision date by which students must accept their offer of admission. Instead, the University of Washington says that one will need to consult their decision letter to determine when their individual enrollment decision deadline will be.
Furthermore, they also stipulate that there are a variety of departmental deadlines, which students are advised to look over via the MyMajor tool.
An example that the University of Washington gives regards its nursing major, which requires a separate application that is due January 15th.
As such, the date of the specific decision, and the specific deadlines one will need to look out for, will be dependent on one’s department and area of study. Therefore, using the MyMajor tool will be the simplest way to get the most accurate information possible for one’s own individual circumstances.
Deciding Whether You Should Transfer to University of Washington
But even after the application has been completed, and the coveted acceptance letter has arrived in an admitted student’s inbox, there is still one task left to do for a hopeful UW transfer student: deciding whether the University of Washington is the right fit for them.
And even though the answer to this question will vary depending on a student’s major or what in particular they are looking for out of their college experience, there are nevertheless important considerations most students will mull over during their deciding process.
For one thing, if one is a Washington community college student, few universities across the state have a network of affordances as robust as UW’s.
In fact, there are even three scholarships, with the largest providing roughly $12,000 in aid each year, specifically for Washington community college transfers.
Furthermore, regardless of the school from which one might be transferring or one’s specific major, all transfer students are invited to attend Transfer Thursday events hosted by the University of Washington.
According to the Office of Admissions, Transfer Thursday afternoons include “an admission presentation, followed by information sessions or drop-in advising by different academic programs and departments.”
These events occur just about every Thursday, and are intended for transfer students who have not yet applied to the University of Washington.
As such, these events are an ideal tool for aiding in the complicated process of deciding whether UW is the right choice.
And furthermore, the University of Washington has one of the best university library systems in the world. In Best Value School’s most recent ranking, the University of Washington library system took the #5 spot, but it isn’t rare for the UW library to score in the top 3 or as #1.
And if one is a Washington resident or is particularly interested in studying in the state of Washington or in Seattle, UW takes 13 #1 spots for universities in Washington according to Niche.
This includes the #1 spot for best universities in Washington, #1 in best student life, the #1 most diverse college, and the best Washington school for college athletics.
They also hold 12 more #2 spots for a variety of areas.
As such, whether it’s their unique affordances for transfer students, their nationally acclaimed affordances, or the fact UW tops the charts in the state of Washington, there are ample reasons to choose UW.
RECAP: How to Apply As a Transfer Student to University of Washington
To recap, the first thing prospective transfer students need to do is to research their major via the MyMajor tool.
Using this tool, students can learn what additional prerequisite courses, application components, and deadlines might arise for their individual major.
Historically, engineering, computer science, and computer engineering are three programs almost guaranteed to have additional application requirements.
Then, one should do what they can to achieve a 3.5 GPA, as this was the average GPA for admitted transfer students in recent years.
Those hoping to be admitted in the fall will have to turn in their application by February 15th, the spring deadline is December 15th; for winter it’s September 1st, and the summer quarter application due date is the same as for the fall: February 15th.
After submitting one’s application, the specific date by which one must accept or deny their admission offer depends on each individual student. As such, UW advises students to look at their offer of admission to learn the date by which they must accept their offer.
Finally, be sure to look into the UW’s robust network of transfer resources along the way, including their Transfer Thursday programs which seek to aid students in their decision.
And once all this is done, students should be on the right track to hopefully get that acceptance letter in their inbox and be best prepared to join the many transfer students proud to call themselves Huskies.
