University of Washington-Seattle Campus Top Questions

What are the academics like at University of Washington-Seattle Campus?

Tristan

Humanities and arts are tolerated, but the values they cultivate come in conflict the institutional momentum. If you want top-notch scientific training, and don't mind being dehumanized and used, this isn't a bad place. Be aware however, despite the diversity of academics here, the different departments and colleges function as small waring kingdoms and do little to interact with each other and provide interdisciplinary access.

Katy

Out of the 15 classes i've taken so far, i've only slightly disliked one of my teachers. They're all great!! They all really care about the students, and even if you're in a huge lecture class of like 500 (which i've been in a few of), you still learn a ton! Two of my favorite classes so far have been Psych 101 and Com 202, which were both over 450 sudents. But both of my professors were so energetic and cool that it still felt personalized and i learned a lot. On the other hand, many of my classes have been less than 30 students, which is great, too, because you really get to know the professor and get to talk to them one on one. Some of the students here are competitive, but not really. Everyone I know wants to always do well in their classes, but no one is cut-throat or mean about it. All my friends encourage me to do well! I study kind of often, but it really depends on the class. Some are reading heavy, some really require paying attention in lecture, and some are a breeze. It really depends on what you take. Whatever your style is, though, it's easy to find a bunch of classes to match it. A lot of the way people here find out what classes to take is by word of mouth. It's commonly known that the class nicknamed "Rocks for Jocks" used to be easy, but then the professors realized people took it for an easy A, and so they made it harder. Also, it's common knowledge that Astronomy 150 is much easier than Astronomy 101.

Aly

UW is competitive, plain and simple. If you're interested in anything popular, prepare to get your ass kicked. With a large student body, comes a lot of people trying to fight their way for the same spot as you and, like I said before, a lot of really intelligent people go here. So if you're interested in anything related to architecture, engineering, business, or international studies, for example, you better be able to tough it out because it's not going to be easy. However, a benefit to being so large, despite the huge class sizes, is that there are so many options that a ton of other schools will never be able to provide. I know I said that it's competitive, but it's competitive for a reason--these specialized schools are top of the line and, for the most part, you will be able to get your money's worth. Although I am a European studies major and love languages, I would definitely take a language of some sort, classes are always small and i've rarely heard a complaint about a teacher. Most language teachers (especially beginning series) are usually graduate students, they are accessible and young, making it even better : ) Plus, languages are usually required for a lot of majors. Something that does suck about UW being a public school is the damn general ed requirements. Even though I hate everything relating to science, I still HAVE to take at least 20 natural world credits, which is STUPID and I hate it. I understand they are trying to expand your knowledge or that kind of crap, but why should I pay money for a class I hate? Because they're forcing me to? LAME.

Andy

University of Washington is a wonderful school which contains a lot of great majors, especially medicine. Indeed, by working not only with their ability but also heart, UW professors, staffs, students in medical field are always ardently researching medicine and helping patients.

Gene

yea the professors I met are all really nice. They don't really know people's name since there are about 200 peoples in a lecture sometimes. Most of the students study hard and care about their academic performance. I think UW has great Science and Engineering departments~!! There are so many really really cool students there, and the professors are so energetic and nice! I love the science and engineering departments here!! Also, the Jackson School of International Study is great! Hmm...however, if you are going to study business...I really don't reconmmend here...the business school here are so of "old style", and the resources are limited...the course design are too outmoded...and from my own prospective, people work there are not as nice as those in Science and Engineering deparments...

Cameron

There are big lecture classes here. There is a lecture hall that can hold 700 people. But do not think that this is the norm. In the sciences you will normally get a lecture of 100-200 people, but you will spend much of your time in a quiz section with a class of 15-25 students. The teachers will learn your name if you take the initiative and decide to introduce yourself. I have had a class of three students. When you register, you can see how big the class is and you can choose the register for the smaller one. This is a school with lots of people wanting to do everything. There is competition, get ready for it.

Erin

The professors are great, they aren't inaccessible, most of them get to know you by name, and you can talk to them all one-on-one during office hours. I was warned that I would feel like a small fish in a big pond at UW, but that isn't the case at all.

CJ

Competition in many classes is high, especially if you'll be taking the same ones as pre-med and pre-engineering students. But once you make it past the big intro courses, you'll find your professors and TA's very helpful and engaging. And there are a lot of organizations like CLUE that are specifically taylored to helping floundering undergraduates. Your relationships with your professors will improve as you move into being an upperclassmen, since more of your classes will actually be taught by professors. Many departments have their own sophomore- or junior-year admittance processes, so once you've been accepted to the department the profs are much more open to you. I'm in a very small department (Chemical Engineering class size: 40-60), and all of the professors know us by name. They socialize with us often and most have open office hours. The faculty, and thus the classes they offer, are diverse. Student participation is encouraged, and generally you'll find plenty of people willing to step up and talk. Competition is usually high, but not overwhelmingly so. A good school should provide a good--but not impossible--challenge, and I think the UW does that very well.

Bryce

In my graduate program (in the Information School), the professors do typically know my name and I can interact with them more than I could in the undergrad lecture courses, where there are a thousand students all taught by one post-doc candidate because all professors are busy doing research and have no interest or motivation in actually teaching. I mentioned artificial grade inflation before and want to reiterate that the academics are not nearly as rigorous as many other universities. If driven, as I am, to get 4.0s, the jump is much harder than getting 3.9s. You get what you put in, but you'll pass regardless.

Ashley

Many of the profs are nice. Many are old. There is a veriety of different teachers which is nice. I have many who have accents. Some are hard to learn by but its doable.