UW Tacoma guarantees admission to transfer students

Getting into the University of Washington Tacoma just got easier: Qualified Washington transfer students are now guaranteed admission to the university.

UW Tacoma officials announced that students transferring directly from a Washington community college with a GPA of at least 2.75 and a transferable associate's degree are assured a seat at UW Tacoma. The program means that a transferable degree generally satisfies UW Tacoma's general education requirements and allows transfer students to enter as juniors.

"This will allow students who are just beginning their community college careers to see a clear pathway to a four-year degree," says Wanda Curtis, director of admissions at UW Tacoma. "We want to eliminate some of the confusion and make transferring as easy as possible for students."

Students who enter UW Tacoma through the guaranteed admissions program are not automatically accepted to specific majors or academic programs. Admission to a particular major may still require completion of additional prerequisites or other requirements. But with more than 30 majors and concentrations to choose from and new majors being developed, students admitted to UW Tacoma through this policy have many options to consider.

"This will be welcome news to our students," said Siew Lai Lilley, director of the Transfer Center at Highline Community College. "Students are learning that transferring to a four-year university can be very competitive, so it's nice to hear that UW Tacoma is making this kind of commitment to community college students."

While the UW campus in Seattle is nearing capacity, UW Tacoma has room to grow. Previously, UW Tacoma was an upper-division university where transfer students were accepted directly into their majors. Now that the campus has become a four-year university with freshmen and sophomores, it has expanded its admissions policy to include guaranteed admission for transfer students.

UW Tacoma offers undergraduate and graduate degrees on a campus located in the heart of Tacoma's bustling downtown museum district. A campus of the University of Washington, one of the world's leading research universities, UW Tacoma attracts students who want to earn a UW degree in a small-campus environment. Students learn by working closely with world-class faculty and peers across disciplines, often on projects that take them out of the classroom and into the community.