University of Washington-Seattle Campus Top Questions

Honestly, every school has it's pros and cons and making them shouldn't be something that you take lightly. Something to be aware of is that this campus is enormous. There are almost 30,000 undergraduates and over 10,000 graduates, not to mention professors and non-matriculates students. That means that at any given moment, there could be at least 20,000 people. The key is to be out-going, if you have an invisible personality, you will remain invisible. If you join clubs and talk to people, you will surely make friends. Also, with such a large enrollment, classroom sizes can be huge, i'm talking in the hundreds. As in there will be hundreds of people in your giant lectures. I can spout the age old adage: office hours and study groups. A million people can tell you these simple things, but it's up to you to take them to heart. Do know that while UW is in Seattle, it's at the northern end, so the "cool" places, downtown, Capitol Hill, ect are either a REALLY long walk or a medium bus ride away. It is beautiful in the spring/summer and awful in the fall/winter. There are some really historic and breathtaking buildings, and there are some butt-ugly ones. Also, people bleed purple and gold here and they just won't understand if you don't as well, so save up so you can buy those student tickets because they sell out fast!

The first thing most people say when I tell them I go to the UW is, "big school huh?" It is a very large school, with a teeming student body. This population pool leads to some amazing positives, as well as negatives. In my time at the UW, I found myself able to meet interesting new people any day of the week, at any time of the school year. I had the option to spend time with a close group of friends if I chose to, and keep the opportunity to make more. It's a colorful and diverse campus, and it doesn't take much to strike up a friendship. The downside to the thousands and thousands of students, however, was an occasional feeling of being lost at sea. The swarms of people on campus make you have to work harder to distinguish yourself as a person and not just a number. In my case, it led to me being more proactive, seeking out help independently, and growing out of any hand-holding I had come to expect in high school. Because of it's large size, you'll find a uniquely high amount of complaining - but free speech, however, is an important part of any thriving society! No one is afraid to speak their mind, and yet everyone is capable of just going with the flow. It's a phenomenon I feel comes from attending a giant public school: there will always be those who speak out on issues, but when it comes to acting on them, most students just want to get through their day of classes with a limited amount of kerfuffle. The school's administration is multi-leveled, sometimes apathetic, and can sometimes come across as overly involved in things that seem removed from the problems of everyday students. However, certain staff and professors I have found to be caring, sensitive and attentive, and eager to speak on a personal level with all students. Again, like a big city, you'll find all types - even among the administration. Seattle at large is an incredibly active city, and the UW's placement within it feels natural. You feel like the city is as much your school as the campus is, and exploring other neighborhoods is easy. If you chose, you can live the classic "college town" lifestyle at UW. Football games, plenty of school spirit, and masses of school sponsored activities make that easy. You can also chose alternate lifestyles just as simply. Living off campus and more integrated into the city can lead to the quintessential coffee-shop frequenting habits of a true arty Seattleite.

Because our school is so large, I can't say that one stereotype exists for the student body. However, people say that we are a party school, which is generally true.

Since I lived in Seattle most of my life, UW was considered as my safety school. However, after my first year at UW - meeting new people in the dorms, spending my nights studying in the beautiful Suzallo Library, running around in Drumheller Fountain, this place became my second home. Even though the campus is enormous, confusing, and filled with thousands of students everyday, I've created a small family within a large community. Sure, the rain does get to me sometimes. But once spring and summer comes along, UW is the most beautiful place to be.

I love the UW because it's so big and has endless opportunities for students that I didn't even know existed until I got here. A student can literally study anything he or she wants, get involved in the community in countless ways, and find valuable support from other students and faculty with the same interests. The school is located right in the heart of Seattle and is about a five minute car ride to downtown which is great you're a city-lover. From what I've observed throughout my time here, the biggest complaint from my peers has been that the school is actually too big for them. More popular classes such as general chemistry or psychology can have hundreds of students in them where grading is curved which can make it difficult achieve higher grades. Yet every class is not like this and each person's opinion should be taken into account. I don't feel overwhelmed by the university's size at all and actually enjoy seeing thousands of people everyday.

The campus is wonderful - the architecture and the landscaping. There is something for absolutely everyone, and if there isn't, it's really easy to make a new group! It's in Seattle, which is a big city, so you kind of don't get that "college town" feeling, but the U-district area is definitely very fun and unique. It's a very research oriented school, so anyone interested in science related majors, this is the place for you! The humanities and arts programs are very strong as well, but we are mainly known for our research.

I thought I would hate being in a large school where it would be easy to get lost in the crowd. However, I have branched out in many different ways, so that I have enough friends to make the campus seem much smaller. One thing that I don't like is that tuition keeps increasing. It is still much more expensive as an out-of-state student, but in-state students are paying increasingly more, and are finding that the university's quota of "in-staters" is shrinking. However, I am very happy with my experience here. The education you receive is fantastic. If you say you're going to UW, people acknowledge that you are going to a great school. School pride is very evident (except when the sports teams are struggling). I make it a point to attend sports events, and they are one of my biggest highlights of coming to school here.

The typical stereotype at UW is that a majority of our student body is Asian. Although we have a large Asian population (some people estimate about 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}), we have a very diverse population of students and interests to meet everyone's needs. Another stereotype is that everyone at UW is a "typical Seattleite" - organic, environmentally-conscious, "granola". Once again, this is just an overrepresentation of one section of our student body. UW is, however, one of the leading "green" campuses in the nation and places an institutional emphasis on sustainability and promotion of the environment.

It's basically a very cliquey school, people walk around and ignore strangers, greeks hang with greeks, Asians hang with Asians. I know that is a huge stereotype and I try to prove it wrong whenever possible, but I seldom do. For me, that sucks, it basically feels right off the bat, I won't be able to relate or make friends with 50-70{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the class...Coming from traveling abroad for a while, that was very hard to get used to... But...you do get used to it and generally start to ignore the greeks and the frats. Most people at the UW seem like they're there just to do the college thing and get out, do not expect it to be some thriving intellectual scene. This all combined with the Seattle freeze makes it very hard to feel connected to the school... But...you do find a way to make it cool, you will find the occasional engaged person in your class or a teacher who makes the class fun and you'll walk away with great friends from that. If you get involved with the right clubs, you'll meet even more interesting engaged people. It's a huge school but you get used to that quickly, it's just depressing to be around so many drones... All that said, I find that getting involved in clubs, talking a lot in class, checking out a lot of great books from the library, getting into the house party scene, sailing, kayaking, there are ways to make the place more engaging and fun, you are responsible for your experience ultimately, and you'll need to bust your ass for a bit to get into the UW life.

I never care about the big picture. Well, I'm a grad student, so you get the gist (grad students only care about their research projects and what their advisors think of their productivity). However, I can as much say that regular UW students seem to care a lot about the UW American football team. To the contrary, I hate it whenever our American football team plays at home, mostly because of the resulting traffic jam. I hate it when I have to suffer a consequence of something that I don't care about. Call me selfist, but that's just who I am.