Many students who have not yet decided on a major decide to spend their first two years of college fulfilling general education requirements, planning to decide on a major and complete it after they transfer to the UW. This is a mistake. Each quarter, one or two of your courses should be a requirement of your major (if you have decided) or a course that will help you choose a major. For more information about the importance of starting your major, and some ideas about how to decide on one, see Your UW Major.
| At some universities, students who enter with an associate degree have automatically satisfied the university's general education requirements. This is not the case at the UW. After you transfer to the UW, you will meet with an adviser who will determine how the courses you have already completed count toward UW's graduation requirements. Almost all transfer students will have some requirements yet to be completed. This is entirely acceptable. Students who start at the UW as freshmen are not expected, nor even encouraged, to complete their general education requirements in their first two years. It is more important in your freshmen and sophomore years to decide on a major and begin completing its requirements, while taking some general education courses. |
MYTH: If you've completed an associate degree, you've satisfied the UW's general education requirements. FACT: Many courses required by a transfer associate degree will count toward UW's general education requirements, but the degree does not automatically satisfy our requirements. |
| UW's general education requirements are similar to those of many community colleges and other four-year colleges and universities. NOTE that these are graduation requirements, not UW admission requirements. Whether or not you have completed UW's graduation requirements has no effect on your application for admission. |
MYTH: You'll have a better chance of admission to the UW if you complete all the general education requirements before you transfer. FACT: Your progress toward completing graduation requirements is not a factor in admission to the UW. |
By the time you graduate from the UW, you must complete:
Quantitative skills
The UW's math graduation requirement is one course in "quantitative and symbolic reasoning." A wide range of courses can be taken to satisfy this requirement, including not only math and statistics courses but also some courses in logic, economics, astronomy, chemistry, and linguistics. Many UW majors require at least one course from UW's Q/SR list, so many students don't have to take a course just to satisfy the requirement.
Although UW does not require a math course for graduation, for admission to the UW we do require Intermediate Algebra (usually numbered MATH 098) with a grade of at least 2.0, or a higher-level college math course such as precalculus or calculus.
Foreign language
Although the UW admission requirement is just two high school years of a foreign language, many UW students must take more foreign language in college to meet the UW's graduation requirements.
UW's College of Arts and Sciences requires completion of a foreign language through the third quarter with at least a 2.0 grade. If your major requires the third quarter of a foreign language, try to complete this requirement before you transfer, as part of your academic associate degree.
For more information about the College of Arts and Sciences foreign language requirement, see Foreign Language.
Because the organization of the material can vary from college to college, you may have trouble if you transfer in the middle of a sequence. Try to complete any sequences before you transfer.
