Expand your experience
The University Honors Program serves undergraduate students on the Seattle campus of the UW with several different pathways. Honors 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, Departmental and College Honors.
- Honors courses fulfill the UW general education requirements.
- The Interdisciplinary Honors curriculum integrates learning across subjects, research, leadership, community service and reflection.
- There are resident and nonresident scholarships for incoming and current students.
- There are Honors floors in the residence halls.
- Students take about 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
First-year admission
Second-year admission
Transfer admission
Departmental Honors
Interdisciplinary Honors first-year admission
If applying to the UW as a first-year student, you will find the Honors application — consisting of an additional Honors-specific essay — within the UW application.
The 2027 Honors application essay prompt
Respond to the prompt using no more than 450 words.
We want to know why you are excited to push your education outside the areas of academic learning with which you are most comfortable.
To help us understand your enthusiasm for exploring different ways of thinking and learning, tell us: What do you pay attention to? What is a unique lens through which you see the world? How does that connect to your current interests and future curiosities?
First-year 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 10,000 applications per year, admitted approximately 1,200 applicants and enrolled approximately 240 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.