Application Materials

Application

In order to apply to the program, applicants who are current UW students or transfer students must complete an application and provide the information and materials listed below.

The Informatics program has two admissions cycles per year, spring and autumn.

The application to start the program in autumn has a deadline of April 5 each year.
The application to start the program in winter has a deadline of Oct. 5 each year.
If the application deadline falls on a weekend, the deadline to apply will be the following Monday at 5 p.m.
Transfer students should also complete a UW transfer application for the quarter they wish to enter the program.

Schools and transcripts

Applicants are required to provide information about all schools where they have earned academic credit and are required to provide an unofficial transcript for each. Please include all schools even if the courses appear on your UW transcript. If you have taken any UW Seattle courses, you also need to list and attach an unofficial transcript for the UW.

Prerequisite courses

Applicants will provide information about the prerequisite courses they took. They will be asked at which school they took the course, what term it was taken, and the course number. If they have taken more than one course that meets any prerequisite course requirement, it is recommended that they enter the course that has the highest grade.

Satisfactory Progress review

For students with 150 or more credits completed, including transfer credits, the Informatics advisors will run a degree audit during the application process. This audit will be used for pre-planning to ensure the students we admit are likely to successfully complete the degree within the University's Satisfactory Progress Policy.

Beginning with Autumn 2026 entry, students unable to complete the degree within the University's Satisfactory Progress Policy will not be considered for admission.

Application essay

Essay prompts for applications to start the program in autumn 2025 are below. Essay prompts are significantly changed from previous years; please read.

In addition to providing information about prerequisite grades and academic history, applicants must submit an application essay composed of three sections. The essay is evaluated based on the 3 prompts below as well as the overall writing; all prompts are weighted equally.

Writing and Formatting Requirements:

We expect students to already be capable of writing clearly and coherently in English. Your response helps us evaluate that.

What we’re looking for: Clear communication is central to thriving in our courses, as most involve writing. Be sure to check your spelling. Do your best to avoid grammar errors, but note that we will not penalize you for them unless they significantly interfere with our ability to comprehend your writing.

You may include anything you want in your application essay, as long as it satisfies the following requirements:

The structure of your responses is up to you. You will be asked to submit your response for each prompt separately.
Applicants will copy/paste their submission as plain text into a text box in the application. Be sure to test this before the deadline. This means that bold, italic, etc formatting will not be included.
Do not include links to external information or websites. Additional information cannot be considered, so such links will just use up the word count.

Prompt 1

Please tell us about yourself and why you want to study Informatics and join our community. Provide specific, concrete example(s) drawing from your lived experience, interests, and passions to convey why you want to learn with us. Please limit your response to 250 words.

What we are looking for: We are looking for students who understand and appreciate Informatics, will contribute to our community and discipline, and who will thrive in our program. Such students demonstrate many of the following characteristics:

They are interested in Informatics, the topics we investigate, and the problems we care about solving.
They are creative thinkers who consider and explore novel approaches and ideas.
They are resilient when things get challenging.
They are good communicators and can effectively convey ideas through writing.
They are effective collaborators who work well in teams and support their peers.
They are actively engaged participants in class activities and discussions.

You can’t talk about all your experiences or qualities in a short statement! As you write your application, consider what strengths you want to highlight in the limited space you have. We encourage you to pick one or two personal characteristics from the above list to highlight and give us specific, concrete experiences as examples to share with us.

Prompt 2

Information technologies and systems can have profound impacts of all kinds. Give us an example of an information technology or system that you think has been a success or a failure or both. What question(s) and/or implication(s) does this example raise for you? You may consider the context, complexity, and/or environment in which the success/failure occurred. Please limit your response to 250 words.

What we are looking for: We are looking for students who think broadly and critically about information technologies and their impacts. Such students demonstrate many of the following characteristics:

They are deep critical thinkers who can reason about and find connections between disparate ideas
They are curious and able to ask insightful questions
They are enthusiastic problem solvers who embrace solving complex challenges
They are aware of and interested in the social impacts of information
They are good communicators and can effectively convey ideas through writing.

Prompt 3

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, and Sovereignty are core values and foundational concepts in the Information School. The iSchool makes a commitment to IDEAS in all that we do.

Tell us what experiences you have with inclusion, diversity, equity, access, and/or sovereignty in relation to information or information technology. These experiences might include learning, volunteering, activism, community organizing, mentoring, teaching, or personal experiences with exclusion or oppression. We are especially interested in experiences in which you took action to address issues of fairness, bias, or exclusion, whether advocacy or self-advocacy, social or technical. You may want to consider the iSchool diversity statement when composing your response. Please limit your response to 200 words.

What we are looking for: It’s important that Informatics majors are attentive to ways that people can be excluded and oppressed by information and information technology and in general. We’re seeking students who are committed to making information technology more just, equitable, and inclusive. Such students demonstrate many of the following characteristics:

They are aware of and interested in the social impacts of information.
They share the iSchool beliefs in social justice, the importance of the quality of life for all people, embracing diversity, and making a difference in the world.
They are enthusiastic problem solvers who embrace solving complex challenges.
They take action.
They are good communicators and can effectively convey ideas through writing.

We encourage you to pick specific, concrete experiences as examples to share with us.

Informatics AI usage — ChatGPT or generative AI usage

ChatGPT and similar tools can be valuable in making your writing better and your thinking richer. But it cannot be used to replace writing and thinking.

During the application process, you will be asked "Did you use ChatGPT and/or similar tools in writing this essay? If so, please indicate how you used the tool(s)."

Not acceptable:

Enter prompt and/or some notes into ChatGPT; submit some version of what comes out, even with some modifications. This will be considered plagiarism.

Acceptable:

Use ChatGPT to find a better word (as you would a thesaurus)
Use ChatGPT to assure your grammar is correct
Use ChatGPT to find a better way to phrase an idea, a sentence or two

Note: Two-Application Limit

Applicants will be allowed to apply to the Informatics major a maximum of two times. For this reason, applicants are encouraged to be selective and apply only when they have fulfilled all the criteria and feel that they can present a strong application.

First-year direct-to-major admission applications do not count toward the two-application limit.

Only applications that are complete and considered for admission are counted in the two attempts. Starting an application or submitting without all prerequisite courses completed will not count toward your two attempts.

What We Look for

As you write your responses, keep in mind that the admissions committee seeks a diverse range of students. We value various perspectives and backgrounds because they enrich our learning environment. Whether you’re passionate about people, technology, or information, we want to understand what makes you unique.

When reviewing your responses, the admissions committee will consider the three essay prompts. Therefore, as you share your story, aim for clarity and coherence. Remember to link your personal experiences to the Informatics major. Show us how your journey aligns with our program and why you’re a great fit for our community.

The Informatics admissions committee believes all students interested in information deserve to major in Informatics. However, meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission. Admission is capacity-constrained because we have limited teaching capacity and space; thus, we can only admit a portion of the students who apply.

Applications are evaluated based on the written essay (80% of the overall score) and a calculated average of grades in the prerequisite courses (20% of the overall score). An essay score is calculated with equal weight to the guideline for reviewers. We use statistical methods such as z-scoring to calculate the ranking of applications reviewed. All applicants are reviewed by at least two people on our admissions committee. We review the prerequisite course scores where students use AP, credit/no credit, or satisfactory/not satisfactory grades to ensure this is not disadvantaging a student's final rank.

If you have any questions while working on the application, please contact the admissions team at iask@uw.edu Do not wait until the due date to reach out to us if you do have questions!

Resources: