Admissions

Applications will open April 4th at 9am and close April 18th at 5pm

 

The University of Washington is a great place to study Statistics.  As with many other programs at UW, the Statistics B.S. is capacity-constrained: the number of interested students exceeds the number of student places that are available.   

Possible pathways into the major include: 

  • Direct admission into the major when applying to the UW directly from high school 
  • Applying as a current UW undergraduate student 
  • Transferring from another university or community college 

Please note that the statistics major at UW is not available to post-bac students owing to the large demand among first-time degree seeking undergraduates. 

The department welcomes students who are interested in pursuing the Statistics B.S. as part of a double major.  A statistics degree can be a very good complement to many other degrees in the natural, health and social sciences. The only exception is the B.S. in Applied and Computational Mathematical Sciences (ACMS), whose content significantly overlaps with that of the Statistics major.  Thus, double majoring in Statistics and ACMS is not allowed.

With Direct to Major admission, freshmen applicants have the possibility of being admitted directly to the Statistics program as majors.  Students coming in through this pathway are assured a spot in the major as long as they satisfy the continuation and honesty policy.   

In order to take advantage of Direct to Major admissions, UW freshman applicants must list Statistics as their first-choice major. Please note that the University of Washington does not consider an applicant's second-choice major for admission into direct-entry majors or colleges. Hence, applicants will only be considered for Direct to Major admission if Statistics is their first-choice major.   

Evaluation criteria: 

Decisions are made in conjunction with the Office of Admissions and are based on a holistic review of applicants. There is no separate application for Statistics Direct to Major applicants and no additional materials are required. Applicants should follow the UW Freshman Application guidelines; you do not need to craft a statistics-focused application. Your application will be reviewed by the UW-Seattle Office of Admissions, so questions about the application should be directed to askuwadm@uw.edu. The UW-Seattle Office of Admissions prioritizes academically strong, motivated, and well-rounded students. 

Many students discover a new academic passion during their first year - they indicate preference for one major on their UW application, but an exciting introductory course in another field causes them to reconsider. This is healthy!  The Statistics Department welcomes applications to the major from current UW students who are interested in pursuing statistics.  At least half of the available spots in each cohort are available to current UW students.

Important dates  

  • Most students apply at the end of their sophomore year, though this is not a requirement and students can potentially apply in any year as long as they meet the admission’s requirements. 
  • Applications open on the first Friday of April and close on the third Friday of April at 5pm (Pacific Standard Time).  

Application requirements 

Applicants must have a minimum grade of 2.0 for each course required for admission. Successful applicants typically have a cumulative GPA higher than 3.0 in the courses that are listed below as required for admission, with no individual course grade below 2.5  

  • Mathematics: MATH 124, MATH 125, and MATH 126.  Students can substitute this sequence with the accelerated (honors) calculus sequence MATH 134, MATH 135, and MATH 136. 
  • Computing: CSE 160 (strongly recommended) or CSE 122 or CSE 142. Students who have completed CSE 123 or CSE 143 satisfy this requirement even if they did not previously take CSE 122 or CSE 142. 
  • Probability: MATH/STAT 394. 
  • Statistics: Either STAT 311 (strongly recommended) or STAT 390. 

Since admission is capacity constrained, completion of the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission.  

All tracks share the same set of admission requirements. Students do not select a particular track when applying to the program. If admitted, students must declare one of the three tracks, but switching tracks is easy and should not delay graduation. Please refer to this page to learn more about the differences between tracks.

How to Apply  

Applying is very simple. Once applications open, please click here to start your application. You will be asked to submit written responses to the following prompts: 

  • Provide one example of a good visual representation of data and one example of bad visual representation of data available online (give links to the original source). These could be graphics from a newspaper or website, or figures from a research article, or they could be from a class you took (need not be a statistics class). In a few sentences, describe why, from your perspective, they are good/bad examples of data visualization. Surprise us with your choices! (Check that the links work.) (max 200 words)
  • What was the experience or class that made you want to study Statistics? If a class, give the date, place and the course number. Describe what, how and why this contributed to your decision to study Statistics. (max 200 words)
  • For students who plan to Double-Major but do not have a declared major: Please explain what other major you plan to take, why you wish to do so and how you see Statistics furthering your current career goals. (max 300 words)
  • For students with a declared major: If statistics is your second major or you are planning to change your major to statistics, please explain why you wish to do so and how you see it furthering your current career goals. (max 300 words)
  • (Optional) Write up to 300 words: If you have overcome challenges in your educational journey that you would like the committee to be aware of, please describe them here. For example, you can use this space to tell us about:

    • Elements of your record which might misrepresent your potential as a statistics major;
    • Your experience(s) as an individual from a traditionally under-represented group in higher education; your perspective on issues related to diversity, inclusion, and equity; or any topics related to these themes;
    • How your personal history (family, educational, cultural, and economic background) has influenced you and your goals.

     

In addition to the writing prompts all applicants will be asked to:

  • answer a set of multiple-choice questions addressing experiences in Statistics and with the activities of the Department of Statistics;
  • indicate their preferred track within our major (this choice is non-binding).

Once you submit your answers, your transcripts will be pulled directly from your UW academic records, so you will not be expected to upload them. 

Students wishing to apply to the statistics major must complete the online application by the due date and time (see important dates above). 

Incomplete applications will not be considered, and extra time will not be given. Please plan ahead so you do not find yourself in this situation. 

Evaluation criteria: 

All applicants will be evaluated using the following criteria: 

  • academic ability as measured by GPA, factoring in difficulty and breadth of courses completed, frequency of incomplete courses, and number of repeated courses, 
  • relevant work and life experience, 
  • motivation. 

Admission decisions 

Decisions are made approximately within two weeks after the application deadline. Students are notified of the decision via email.  

Admitted students have 2 business days from when the offer is sent to accept our offer by email. If admitted, students have 5 business days from when the offer was sent to declare STAT as their major, 10 business days for double majors. Non-response by the deadlines is considered a decline of our offer.  Applicants are not allowed to defer admissions and they must be declared Statistics major in the Fall quarter immediately after notification of acceptance. Failure to do so can result in a withdrawal of our offer. 

Non-admitted students have the right to petition and appeal the Department’s decision within five business days from when the decision letter was sent. Please contact mhon@uw.edu to obtain a copy of the appeal form.

Transfer students need to be admitted to UW before they can apply to the Statistics major. Once admitted, they can apply to the Statistics major in Spring following the procedure outlined above. Currently, the Department of Statistics does not consider Direct to Major admissions for transfer students. 

If you are a transfer student and you are interested in the Statistics major, you are highly encouraged to contact the Statistics advisor (statugradadv@stat.uw.edu) as soon as possible. Our advising staff will help you plan the coursework in preparation for the Spring admissions cycle. When you submit the major’s admission application, please explain that you joined UW as a transfer student.