How can I learn More?
High School students and their families
UW Freshmen and sophomores
Prospective transfer students
High School Students and Their Families
Deciding where to attend college is a difficult decision. Is the BS BIOE program right for you? Find out by reading our information, talking to us, and (if possible) visiting the department.
Begin by reading through What is Bioengineering? and Why Choose Bioengineering at UW? Think about what you hope to find in a program and note any questions you have for us.
Next, compare our requirements, our electives, and our research opportunities to the other Bioengineering programs you are considering. You’ll find the information you need in the Curriculum and Research sections of our website. As you read through our materials, note what program features stand out for you. Is there anything you expected that you don’t see? Are we doing the kind of research that you like? To enjoy our program, you should be interested in taking the majority of our required courses and a good sub-set of our electives. You should also have a strong interest in one or more areas of bioengineering research conducted by our faculty. Comparing our program with others will help you generate important questions for us. We also recommend reading through our information about Direct Freshman Admission to the major.
Now talk to us! Email bioeng@u.washington.edu to ask any questions that were left unanswered by our website. Simple questions we will answer by email. For more complex questions, we will likely ask for a phone number and a good time to call you during our office hours.
Finally, if you are able, we suggest that you visit campus during Autumn or Winter quarters. A visit offers a chance to gauge the feel and fit of our campus and our department. We recommend that you attend a bioengineering class, meet with someone in Academic Services, and have a departmental tour as well as a campus tour. The advising appointment will last 45 minutes (plus an optional 15-minute departmental tour) and should focus on the most important questions you have after reading our website.
To arrange a departmental visit, email bioeng@u.washington.edu with your possible dates of attendance; we will send you the available dates and times for class visits and appointments. Please: we request two weeks’ advance notice! We may be unable to accommodate requests made on shorter notice and we do not normally have same-day drop-in appointments available.
If you are not able to visit campus, you may arrange a phone appointment with the Academic Counselor.
Students from the Puget Sound area might also be interested in attending the College of Engineering’s Discovery Days, usually held the last Friday and Saturday of April.
Useful links for visiting families:
Transportation from the airport
King County Metro Bus
Visitor Parking at the UW
Campus Tours and on-line registration
UW Freshmen and Sophomores
- Sign up for the pre-BIOE listserve (freshmen only)
UW freshmen interested in Bioengineering should email bioeng@u.washington.edu, anytime after the start of the academic year, to request to be added to the Pre-Bioengineering email list. List members receive 2-4 messages per quarter summarizing upcoming events in the department, including invitation- only events such as lab tours. This list is only for first-year students and is purged at the end of the year.
- Attend an information session
Prospective students (UW freshmen, sophomores, and prospective transfers) are requested to attend an information session about the BS BIOE program prior to requesting an individual appointment. The schedule of info sessions is updated quarterly. Info sessions are 75 minutes in length and fall into two parts. The first part, approximately 45 minutes, covers the curriculum, pre-requisites, application, program competitiveness, and research. BIOE juniors and seniors are present to offer the student point of view and to answer your questions about the program. The second part is open time for the academic counselor to answer your scheduling questions. Students without such questions do not need to stay for the second part. Students with scheduling questions, please bring an unofficial transcript.
Please email bioeng@u.washington.edu with your questions if you absolutely cannot make one of the listed times.
- Ask questions!
You may email bioeng@u.washington.edu with your advising questions. Please read through the website (Explore Bioengineering, Apply to Bioengineering) first to avoid asking questions already answered there. This allows us to save as much time as possible for appointments.
Individual appointments for prospective students will be reserved for students who have attended an info session. Appointments are for counseling and problem-solving rather than just information-giving. The academic counselor will help you clarify your interests and goals and match them to opportunities at UW and in BIOE. The academic counselor is also here to help you solve problems (common examples are course scheduling difficulties, deciding among different academic opportunities, low grades, and so on). The counselor will also gladly answer questions you have generated by reading our website.
To schedule an appointment, email bioeng@u.washington.edu or the Academic Counselor. Your email should include your name, student i.d.#, a brief note about the subjects you want to discuss, and the days and times that are available for you to meet. Please offer several times over the following week. We will email you with an appointment time.
Please note that the Academic Counselor works by appointment only (no drop-in). The Advising Assistant takes appointments but will cover drop-in as able and can handle basic scheduling and application questions.
- Get a taste of Bioengineering.
Take a class. BIOEN 299 and BIOEN 215 are open to freshmen and sophomores.
Join a group. BMES, the BioMedical Engineering Society, is open to anyone with an interest in Bioengineering. BWB, Bioengineers without Borders, is also open and welcomes students who want to design and build low-costs instrumentation for low-resource settings.
Join a lab. Undergraduate research can be an exciting part of your education.
Prospective transfer students
Transfer is complicated. To plan a successful transfer into UW Bioengineering, please read the indicated parts of our website, contact us, and if possible visit us.
Prospective transfer students should read through the Explore Bioengineering section of the website, and then look at our Curriculum details. Finally, take a look at our faculty /research-themes.shtml">research, which will teach you a lot about the strengths of our program. All BS BIOE students complete a significant research project as part of their graduation requirements, so you want to make sure that you are interested in what we do.
If Bioengineering still looks interesting to you, please read through our section on transfer admission to Bioengineering. Remember that for questions regarding admission to the University, the Office of Admissions will be your first point of contact.
Now talk to us! Email bioeng@u.washington.edu to ask any questions that were left unanswered by our website. Simple questions we will answer by email. For more complex questions, we will likely ask for a phone number and a good time to call you during our office hours.
Transfer students might consider visiting UW as part of Undergraduate Advising’s Transfer Thursdays program. This allows you to learn about UW Admissions, financial aid, and housing, and attend information sessions for academic programs as well. Bioengineering has at least one info session per quarter (excluding Summer) that falls on a Transfer Thursday. Also please consider attending a BS Bioe information session.
Most transfer students should consider an individual advising appointment, which may be done in person or in a scheduled phone appointment. To arrange an appointment, please email bioeng@u.washington.edu. Include your name, the college you currently attend, the quarter you think you will transfer to UW, and appointment dates and times that would work for you during our standard office hours (M-F, 9-4). Please also indicate the major questions you have for us. When you come for your appointment, bring unofficial copies of all college transcripts, even if you think the credit won’t transfer to UW. For phone appointments we will ask you to FAX or send photocopies of your transcripts prior to the appointment.
Students from the Puget Sound area might also be interested in attending the College of Engineering’s Discovery Days, usually held the last Friday and Saturday of April.
