Direct to College Admission FAQs

With Direct to College admission, first-year applicants may be admitted directly to the College of Engineering as “Engineering Undeclared” (ENGRUD).

A robust first-year experience allows ENGRUD students to explore 10 engineering major options before requesting placement. ENGRUD students who complete the placement requirements are assured placement into one of the following engineering majors:

• Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
• Bioengineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Environmental Engineering
• Human Centered Design and Engineering
• Industrial Engineering
• Materials Science and Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering

Admission to DTC is only available in autumn quarter.

Transfer students and current UW students who would like to switch into an engineering major should use the capacity-constrained application instead of the first-year DTC application. 

Being admitted as an Engineering Undeclared (ENGRUD) student means you will join the College of Engineering community immediately upon confirming your admission to the UW. Your first-year experience in the College will provide you with opportunities to explore your interests, build community and develop your engineering skills.

Starting in their first quarter, ENGRUD students participate in undergraduate research, learn about study abroad opportunities and get involved with student communities, clubs and competition teams.

ENGRUD students should expect to take a math, science, and general education or seminar course each quarter during their first year.

1. The UW part of the Common App opens each year on September 1 with a deadline of November 15 for admission for the following autumn quarter.
2. Select engineering undeclared or an engineering major (other than computer engineering or Sustainable Bioresource Systems Engineering) as your first-choice major to be considered for Direct to College admission.
3. The UW Office of Admissions will make decisions regarding direct-to-college admission via its holistic review process. Applicants will be notified of admission decisions to the UW and the College of Engineering in March.

For more detailed application instructions, see the UW Admissions page.

The Office of Admissions makes admissions decisions using a holistic review process that focuses on academic preparation, personal qualities and characteristics. The Office of Admissions sends direct-to-college decisions with the UW admission decision.

There are no specific prerequisites or special requirements to be considered for Direct to College admissions.

To be best prepared for engineering at the University of Washington, we recommend students take the most rigorous math and science courses available to them.

Congratulations! The UW is a good fit for you if you are open to exploring and learning about multiple engineering majors. An immersive first-year experience offers you many resources and opportunities; There are many pathways to explore your interests and meet your goals. It is important that you are genuinely interested in exploring multiple engineering majors because we cannot guarantee placement into a specific major. The UW is not a good fit for you if you are highly focused on only one major and not open to additional major pathways.

Selecting any College of Engineering major as your first choice will assure that you are considered for Direct to College admission. If you’re open to pursuing a major outside of the College of Engineering at the UW, select a second-choice major on your application. Your second-choice major has no impact on whether you are admitted to your first choice. Also, you are allowed to change your mind and pursue a different major after being admitted. Review the UW’s list of available majors to identify a major that aligns with your interests.

We are unable to guarantee admission to the College of Engineering or to a specific engineering major at a later time.

However, students can still apply to an engineering major through the capacity-constrained pathway once enrolled at the UW. Currently, the most capacity exists in chemical engineering, civil engineering, environmental engineering, industrial engineering, and materials science and engineering. In recent years the vast majority of qualified applicants have been offered admission to these majors. For up-to-date statistics, check out our current UW student admissions data.

If you want to apply to an engineering major once enrolled, we encourage you to connect with a departmental adviser during the autumn quarter.

Placement is the way most first-year students get into their specific engineering major. The major placement process occurs at the end of your first academic year. During your first year, you’ll have the chance to explore majors through your Engineering First-year Interest Group (E-FIG), relevant events and experiences, academic advising, participation in clubs and organizations, etc.

The College of Engineering publishes placement data each summer. Historically, the majority of students have placed in their first-choice major. While we cannot predict what a specific student’s chances are, we are committed to prioritizing student choice as a central part of the placement process.

Yes! All students admitted directly to the College of Engineering will be given the status of Engineering Undeclared (ENGRUD) regardless of the engineering major selected on their application. You will not be expected to pursue the specific engineering major you indicated on the UW application, nor will your major of interest be used to evaluate you for Direct to College admission. If you select an engineering major (other than computer engineering or Sustainable Bioresource Systems Engineering) as your first-choice on your application, you will be considered for Direct to College admission.

As a student admitted via the Direct to College pathway, you will explore all of the engineering disciplines in your first year. This will help you make an informed decision about what you want to study when you request placement into a major at the end of your first year.

There is only one placement cycle at the end of a student’s first year in the UW College of Engineering. Students cannot get into a major early using the placement process.

Students who have completed the application requirements and are on track to complete the enrollment requirements for their majors of interest may apply to engineering majors via the capacity-constrained application. This process is different from placement and there is no guarantee of admission to an engineering major via this pathway.

Learn how AP, IB, A-level, and Running Start are evaluated at UW. Learn more detailed information about Running Start pathways.

As a student admitted via the Direct to College pathway, you will explore all of the engineering disciplines in your first year. This will help you make an informed decision about what you want to study when you request placement into a major at the end of your first year.

Applicants who select computer science or computer engineering as their first-choice major on their UW first-year application will be considered for Direct to Major admission to the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering rather than Direct to College admission to the College of Engineering. Learn more about the Direct to Major admission process at the Allen School.

All of these majors offer capacity-constrained admissions, which are open to all transfer and current UW students who have satisfied application requirements.

The BSECE degree is conferred by the College of Engineering. It is highly adaptable to technological advances in popular research areas such as neural engineering, sustainable energy, quantum computing, data science, photonics and nanotechnology. Students pursuing a BSECE degree through the ECE major will focus on the physical side of computing, including hardware, circuits, signal processing and the physics underlying computation.

Students enrolled in computer engineering (CE) and computer science (CS) degrees conferred by the Allen School engage more deeply with the software, algorithms and data that drive various computing applications, as well as topics such as artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction.

In summary, ECE is focused mainly on the physical side of computing, while CS is focused more on software, algorithms and data. CE tends to straddle the middle between these disciplines.

ContThe University of Washington does not consider an applicant's second-choice major for admission into direct-entry majors or colleges. Applicants will only be considered for Direct to College or Direct to Major if a DTC or DTM major is their first-choice major.