Expand your experience
The UW Honors Program is a curriculum, a community, and much more! Our students are enthusiastic learners from all backgrounds and majors seeking to expand and deepen their education.
Honors options
Learn more about UW Honors
Who are Honors students?
Quick facts
- There are three Honors options to choose from: Interdisciplinary, College, and Departmental Honors.
- Honors courses fulfill the UW general education requirements.
- The Honors curriculum integrates research, leadership, community service and reflection.
- $1.2 million annually in resident and non-resident scholarships.
- Honors floors in the residence halls.
- Students take ~one Honors class per quarter.
- There is no one type of Honors student. Honors student majors range from English to computer science, psychology to biochemistry, engineering to public health.
How to join Honors
Freshman Admission
Second Year Admission
Transfer Admission
Departmental Honors
Interdisciplinary Honors Freshman admissions
If applying to the UW as a freshman, you will find the Honors application — consisting of an additional Honors-specific essay — within the UW application.
The 2025 Honors application essay prompt
Respond to the prompt using no more than 450 words.
We want to understand your for learning unfamiliar things and exploring different ways of thinking. Tell us why you are excited to push your education outside the areas of learning you are most comfortable with.
Freshman admissions process and timeline:
- Apply via the UW application by the UW application deadline.
- The Honors Program reviews applications separately from UW Admissions.
- You must be admitted to UW to be admitted to the Honors Program.
- In recent years Honors has received 5,000-10,000 applications per year, admitted approximately 1,100 applicants and enrolled approximately 230 students.
- Honors holistically evaluates applications.
- The Honors admission decision has no bearing on the UW decision.
- The Honors Program sends a separate decision email after you are officially admitted to the UW. Expect to receive a decision email from Honors between March 15 and April 15.