University of Washington Celebrates Record Diversity with Most Varied Freshman Class in 164 Years
The University of Washington’s newest freshman class is the most diverse in the school’s 164-year history, and the incoming class at UW Bothell is the largest since the school first welcomed students in 1990, while UW Tacoma’s enrollment increased 4% over last year.
Each year, university officials conduct an enrollment count on the second Friday after classes begin: The total number of new students across all three campuses, including first-year students and transfer students, totals 11,941, of which 8,831 — 74.0% — are Washington residents.
The Seattle campus enrolled 8,774 new undergraduates, including 7,195 freshmen and 1,579 transfer students. Of the 8,774 new undergraduates at the Seattle campus, a record 1,774, or 20.2%, are historically underserved students who identify with at least one of the following groups: African American; Native American or Alaska Native; Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; and Hispanic or Latino.
The number of Washington community college transfer students enrolled at the UW across all three campuses this fall was 2,375 — 1,318 in Seattle, 490 in Bothell and 567 in Tacoma. Of these, 86.2% are Washington residents.
Overall, the number of undergraduate applicants to the Seattle campus increased this year by 10.6% to 74,603 with an admissions rate of 39.5%. The Seattle campus’ admission rate for Washington residents was 47.9%.
Total enrollment across all three campuses increased, from 60,692 to 62,752 — 51,719 in Seattle, 6,064 at UW Bothell and 4,980 at UW Tacoma (11 students are enrolled at more than one UW campus).
Of the 62,752 enrolled students across all three campuses, 45,097 are undergraduate and 17,655 are pursuing graduate or professional degrees. The number of international students enrolled across all three campuses is 8,470 (13.5%) – 7,965 in Seattle, 298 at UW Bothell and 208 at UW Tacoma.
The enrollment count — a snapshot in time — will later be presented to the UW Board of Regents.