University of Washington
Seattle, Washington · Founded 1861
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Test-optional
UW is test-optional in an unusual way: the people who read your application do not see SAT or ACT scores even if you send them, and the university says low scores or no scores will not disadvantage you. Scores above its middle range may be looked at only for a handful of students who would not otherwise be admitted. They give no advantage for direct admission to computer science or engineering, for the Honors Program or for admission scholarships. In its own Common Data Set UW answers No to using test scores in admission decisions and rates them Not Considered; about 19% of enrolled first-year students sent an SAT score. Homeschooled applicants and students from schools without letter or number grades must still send scores. For transfer applicants scores bring no advantage or disadvantage. International applicants need TOEFL, IELTS or Duolingo. Source: admit.washington.edu - SAT/ACT scores and Transfer application; University of Washington Common Data Set 2025-26, C7, C8A and C9 (verified September 2026).
About
A public research university on the shore of Seattle's Union Bay with about 32,000 undergraduates, more than three in four of its domestic undergraduates from Washington state. Computer science is its biggest bachelor's program, with psychology, informatics, communication, biochemistry and public health close behind. Most students choose their major after they arrive, but a few - computer science and computer engineering, engineering and business among them - admit students directly from high school, and that first-year decision matters.
History
The university began classes on November 4, 1861, as the Territorial University of Washington, in a single building on ten acres of what is now downtown Seattle - eight of them given by Arthur and Mary Denny - when the town had about 250 people. For years it was a university mostly in name: it closed several times for lack of money and awarded its first bachelor's degree only in 1876. In 1895 it moved to its present site on Union Bay, and in 1909 the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition was held on the campus; the fair's long axis toward Mount Rainier is still one of the campus's defining views.
What stands out
- More than three in four domestic undergraduates are from Washington state
- More than 180 majors; most are declared after you enroll, and a few admit students directly from high school
- Test-optional in an unusual way: application readers do not see standardized test scores, and sending low scores or none cannot count against you
- One application deadline, November 15 - there is no Early Decision or Early Action
- No interviews, no letters of recommendation, and demonstrated interest plays no part in the review
- 95 percent of first-year students come back for a second year
Popular majors
Campus life
70 percent of first-year students live in university housing, and about a quarter of all undergraduates do. About 7 percent of undergraduate men join a fraternity and 9 percent of undergraduate women join a sorority. Students are the Huskies.