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Postbaccalaureate application

Select a major

As a postbaccalaureate applicant, you must indicate your intended major or goal for postbaccalaureate study on the application for admission (examples: Marine Biology to prepare for new career in wildlife conservation, Cinema & Media Studies in preparation for graduate school and a career as a film professor and archivist). Your application will not be considered if you do not indicate your intended major or goal.

  • On the online application, choose “Postbaccalaureate Study (Undeclared),” the very last item in the list of majors, if you are preparing for graduate or professional school.
  • If your intended postbaccalaureate coursework is in a capacity-constrained major, we recommend you carefully consider alternative educational options. The UW’s primary commitment is to undergraduates who are completing their first bachelor’s degree. Consequently, the admission rate into capacity-constrained majors for postbaccalaureate students is very low.
  • If you are applying to the School of Nursing, please refer to their website for key information.

Note: Once admitted as a postbaccalaureate student, you must declare a major by the time you have accumulated 30 credits. You may consult an adviser about a possible extension. Extensions are usually granted if you have a reasonable chance of being admitted to your major of choice or if you are making reasonable progress toward a non-degree goal, such as application to a professional program. If you have neither declared a major nor arranged for an extension by the time you have completed 30 credits past your first bachelor’s degree, you will be unable to register for the following quarter until you have clarified your degree plans with an adviser.

Statement of purpose

The statement of purpose, along with your academic record, is a very important part of the application for postbaccalaureate admission. It is your opportunity to provide context to your application.

Maximum length: 750 words

Postbaccalaureate applicants are expected to answer the following questions in their statement of purpose:

  1. Why are you pursuing further studies? How did you reach the decision to go into your particular field? What are your long-term academic and professional goals? Be as specific as possible.
  2. For how many academic quarters do you plan to enroll? What courses do you intend to take? If you are ready to begin work in your major immediately, you do not need to list all of the courses comprising the major.
  3. Why is it necessary for you to enroll at the UW? Do other four-year universities or community colleges offer what you need at this time? Can you meet your goal through alternative educational options, including as a nonmatriculated student?
  4. Have you met with an adviser in the program you are interested in before applying for admission to the UW? If you are seeking admission to an undergraduate program with selective admission criteria, are you assured departmental admission? Applicants preparing for graduate school must meet with an adviser in the department for an assessment of their chances for future admission. It is your responsibility to contact directly the program(s) you are interested in well before applying for admission to the UW. Please be aware that postbaccalaureate applicants who are not accepted to their major of choice will not be admitted to the UW.
  5. If you feel your undergraduate GPA is low, why might it be an unreliable indicator of your academic potential? If you have postbaccalaureate coursework on record, whether from a community college, four-year school or graduate program, you may use this opportunity to point out subsequent high performance if it is relevant to your academic plans at the UW.

We recommend you use a word processing program or a text editor to write your statement, then copy the entire document and paste it into the window in your application. Don’t worry if formatting, such as bold, italic, line spacing or font choice, is eliminated when you paste. This will in no way affect the evaluation of your application.

All writing in the application, including your essay/personal statement and short responses, must be your own work.  Do not use another writer’s work and do not use artificial intelligence software (ChatGPT, Bard, etc.) to assist or write your statement.

Application fee

The application fee cannot be transferred to another quarter, to another campus of the UW, or to another student.

U.S. students

The $80 application fee is nonrefundable, and must be submitted each time you apply.

International students

The $90 application fee is nonrefundable, and must be submitted each time you apply.

Sending transcripts

Official transcripts are required from every college you have attended, even if you didn’t receive credit. Read more about sending transcripts.

English proficiency (international students only)

International students are required to submit an official TOEFL, IELTS or Duolingo score that meets the UW’s minimum English proficiency requirement.

International students who received a Bachelor’s Degree in Australia, Canada (English-speaking provinces), the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand or the U.S. may be exempt from this requirement. Learn more about English proficiency.

Apply now

The Autumn 2024 application for postbaccalaureate admission is now closed.