Applying — An Overview

The Informatics program admits majors once a year for Autumn quarter only. Follow the application process below to apply for the Informatics Major:

Application Deadline:

  • Opening date: January 25, 2010
  • Final closing date: April 15, 2010

1. Complete prerequisites.

Review the required and recommended Lower-Division Courses. Plan to complete prerequisites by Spring quarter of the year in which you apply. Prerequisites may be in progress at the time of application.

**Please note:  Due to faculty availability, slots in INFO 200 were reduced for Spring quarter 2010.  Some current UW students who were planning to take INFO 200 as a prerequisite for admission may not be able to get into the class.  If you are unable to get into INFO 200, you will still be able to apply for the program.  Please contact us at informatics@uw.edu to schedule an appointment with our adviser, Dowell Eugenio, about how to make the strongest application without INFO 200.

2. Prepare application materials.

Prepare your answers to your admissions questions and have access to your current transcript ready before applying online (an unofficial transcript is fine). The copy of the transcript is to help you fill out the online application.  If you are a transfer student, you will need to also send copies of unofficial transcripts via email (informatics@uw.edu) or mail to our main address: 

UW Informatics Program
University of Washington
Box 352840
Seattle, WA  98195.
  1. Admission Questions

    The Informatics admissions commitee has slightly revised the questions on the application form for students applying for admission in 2010. Rather than asking students to write a personal statement as we did in 2009, students are instead asked to respond to the following questions:

    1. Why do you want to be an informatics major? (250 words or less).
    2. Describe a recent project where you felt you learned something about your abilities as a person. What was the goal of the project, what was your role, and what did you learn about yourself? How has this knowledge changed your performance in other projects? (500 words or less).
    3. Optional: Upload your resume. Include your academic background and achievements, jobs or internships held (including voluntary positions), participation in clubs or social organizations, and any leadership activities you may have engaged in.
    4. Optional: If there are extenuating circumstances related to your academic transcript, resume, or other facets of your application, please describe them so we may better evaluate your application for admission.

    Again, responses to questions 1 and 2 are required, 3 and 4 are optional.

    It is recommended that you prepare your answers to these questions in advance using a word processing program of your choice. When you are ready to apply, you can cut and paste your responses to questions 1 and 2 (as well as question 4 if needed) into our online form.

    If you elect to submit a resume, again it should be prepared in advance using a word processing program of your choice. When finished please save it in Microsoft Word, RTF, ASCII Text, or PDF format before uploading it using the online form.

  2. Transcripts

    You will need access to your unofficial transcript in order to complete the online application.   Transfer students will need to provide *unofficial* transcripts from their recent colleges to the Informatics program.  These can be emailed to informatics@uw.edu, or sent in paper form to the UW Informatics Program, University of Washington Box 352840, Seattle WA 98195.

    Current UW students *do not* need to provide transcripts to the Informatics Admissions Committee as we will be able to collect these from the UW registrar directly.

3. Apply to the Informatics major

This process is different for current UW students, transfer students and Freshmen Direct Admit Program candidates. Beginning the first day of Winter quarter and ending April 15, applicants can use the online application.