College profile
University of Washington (Seattle)
Listed in federal data as “University of Washington-Seattle Campus”.
WA · Public · Large city · 62,428 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- Built for the AI economy. Top 9 in the country. About 1 in 11 degrees here is already in AI, computer science, or data fields; it offers a dedicated AI major; its AI research output ranks #9 among US universities. This campus is leaning into the shift, not waiting for it.
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Computer Science grads from here earn about $175,616 four years out; rhetoric and composition grads about $47,124 — a 3.7× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 6× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$32,446/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$78,466/yr) still runs about 6× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything. (Out-of-state costs more.)
- Almost everyone who starts here finishes. 85% graduate within six years — the standard federal measure. Nationally about a third of students who start a bachelor's never finish one, and an unfinished degree is the most expensive outcome in this decision: the debt stays, the credential doesn't.
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
Moderately selectiveSolid match for academically prepared students. Affordable — net price averages ~$14,091/yr among aid recipients. Major value play for in-state residents.
Best for
- In-state residents (tuition ~$12,973 — major value play)
- Research-oriented students (R1 — top tier of federal research funding)
- Students who thrive in a large, programmatic environment
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: unweighted GPA below 3.64 (test bands are the school's own; the 3.64 line is our estimate, not a published figure)
- Out-of-state tuition is 3.3× the in-state rate
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
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Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
High-school GPA
3.84 avg unweightedGPA on the plain 4.0 scale, no honors/AP bonus. When a college publishes an "average admitted GPA of 3.9," it's often this scale — don't compare it to a weighted 4.3. GPA, enrolled first-years
unweighted 4.0 scale. UW Seattle Common Data Set 2025-2026, section C12 (Office of Planning & Budgeting) ↗
As published by the college in its Common Data Set / admissions data (2025-26) — independently verified 2026-07-23 (source linked above). GPA basis (weighted vs. unweighted vs. 4.0-scale) varies by college and is labeled above.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What University of Washington (Seattle) actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by University of Washington (Seattle)'s own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$655K ahead at full price +$728K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance, largely in-state for publics; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at University of Washington (Seattle)
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what University of Washington (Seattle) actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — University of Washington (Seattle)'s own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer Science. | $175,616 |
| Computer Engineering. | $169,570 |
| Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions. | $150,811 |
| Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. | $116,010 |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | $114,798 |
| Management Information Systems and Services. | $113,308 |
| Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering. | $111,349 |
| Industrial Engineering. | $109,575 |
| Chemical Engineering. | $109,551 |
| Mechatronics, Robotics, and Automation Engineering. | $105,016 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
Alternatives to University of Washington (Seattle)
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Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to University of Washington (Seattle)?
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
74 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name University of Washington (Seattle) on it. Between them they printed 429 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at University of Washington (Seattle), from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.
and 64 more
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
11 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name University of Washington (Seattle) on it. Between them they printed 95 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to University of Washington (Seattle), from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
and 1 more
All 85 feeder schools, ranked →
Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantUniversity of Washington (Seattle) is a public four-year college in WA. It admitted 42% of applicants (62,428 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Average enrolled GPA 3.84 (unweighted, 2025-26, as published by the college).
Cost: about $14,091 a year on average with aid, $32,446 a year at full price for in-state students.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $78,466 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $728,296 ahead with aid, $654,876 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($175,616); Computer Engineering ($169,570); Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions ($150,811).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 5% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 46% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name University of Washington (Seattle): 74, 429 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often Eastside Preparatory School (11.0 per class year, 55 over 5 class years, 2021-2025); University Prep (10.2 per class year, 51 over 5 class years, 2022–2026); Charles Wright Academy (7.6 per class year, 38 over 5 class years, Class of 2021-2025). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/university-of-washington-seattle-campus.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming University of Washington (Seattle): 11, 95 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often Archbishop Mitty High School (64.0 per class year, 64 over 1 class year, Class of 2025); Lycée Français de San Francisco (3.7 per class year, 11 over 3 class years, Classes 2022, 2023, 2024); St Andrews School Of Boca Raton Inc (2.0 per class year, 2 over 1 class year, Class of 2026). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/university-of-washington-seattle-campus.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/university-of-washington-seattle-campus.json