What’s my application type?
Learn more about the two admissions pathways into UW Engineering and get started on your application process.
First-year admissions
This application is for: High school seniors
The Direct to College (DTC) admission process guarantees incoming first-year students access to an engineering major and provides a robust experience that facilitates exploration of our engineering disciplines.
The majority of students in the College are admitted through this pathway.
Explore this pathway
Capacity-constrained admissions
This application is for:
- Transfer students
- Current UW non-engineering students
- Engineering Undeclared (ENGRUD) students with significant college credits
- High school seniors with significant college credits
- Postbaccalaureate students
How can I check if I'm eligible to apply through the capacity-constrained application?
- Open the relevant equivalency guide and if needed, find the college where credit was earned: AP equivalency, IB equivalency and Washington community and technical college equivalency (Running Start).
- One by one, locate the courses taken in the guide. Note the UW course equivalents.
- Compare the list of courses to the application and enrollment requirements for desired majors.
Alternatively, students may be able to run a Degree Audit utilizing MyPlan. MyPlan can be accessed with a personal Google account or a UW NetID.
Eligibility and your next steps in the application process
High school seniors
High school seniors who meet all eligibility requirements can apply for both first-year and capacity-constrained admission for engineering majors that admit in autumn quarter.
If you dual apply to the admissions processes, your application is reviewed separately in each process. This means that if you do not get accepted into your preferred major, you may still get accepted Direct to College. In that case, you would go through the first-year experience with other Engineering Undeclared (ENGRUD) students. At the end of that year, you go through the placement process to enter a major.
Transfer students and current UW students
If you are a transfer student or current UW student who has fulfilled all of the application requirements and you’re on track to fulfill the enrollment requirements before the quarter starts, you can apply through the capacity-constrained application.
Transfer students will need to apply to the UW and to the departments that offer the majors that they are interested in pursuing. Engineering departments accept applications and admit students to the majors at different times. Keep these different deadlines in mind as you prepare to apply to both the UW and the majors.
Keep exploring this pathwayHigh school seniors and Engineering Undeclared students
If you are a high school student, you can still apply through the first-year application. If you are accepted, you will become an ENGRUD student and participate in the placement process at the end of your first year. This is the most common point of major entry for engineering students.
If you are a current ENGRUD student, you will participate in the placement process to enter a major.
Even if you do not get admitted into a major through the capacity-constrained application, your advanced credits are still a useful tool in your educational journey. They can create flexibility in your academic plan to lighten your courseload, complete a minor, study abroad, and more. Your engineering adviser can help you plan how to make the most of your time at UW.
In fact, most students with advanced credit choose to complete four years at the UW. We encourage students to consider their post-graduation goals while deciding how to get the most out of their UW education.
- Interested in working for an international company after graduation? Consider studying a foreign language and/or participating in a study abroad.
- Interested in attending graduate school? Explore an extended research opportunity and/or taking preparatory coursework for that program.
- Other opportunities could include completing an additional undergraduate degree outside of the College of Engineering, completing a minor, or completing an internship.
Transfer students and current UW students
If you are a transfer student or a current UW student studying something other than engineering, you can continue to complete your missing application requirements and apply in a later cycle.
For current UW students, we recommend developing an educational plan for a non-engineering major in parallel with your engineering plan. Physical sciences majors can be a good option for students who are interested in engineering topics.