School & Group Visits
Welcome Teachers, Counselors, Advisers, & Community Organizations!
The Allen School’s Student Engagement & Access team is excited to work with you! This page is designed for Washington state educators, including teachers, professors, high school counselors, community college advisers and community organizations, who want to help K-12 and community college students get excited about computing.
On this page, you can learn all about inviting us to visit your school or program or bringing students for a field trip to our campus! We also want to make sure that you feel empowered to provide accurate and up-to-date advice to students who may be applying for Computer Science or Computer Engineering at the UW’s Seattle campus, so we’ve provided a space to find recent admissions updates here too; but the best way to learn about our admissions process is to visit our Undergraduate Admissions page.
School Visit Opportunities
Interested in inviting us to a college fair, requesting a recruitment presentation or computing workshop, or hoping to bring your students to the Allen School for a field trip? You’re in the right place! You can explore our list of available visit options below. School visits are hosted by the Allen School’s Student Engagement & Access team, whose mission is to inspire and support the next generation of computer scientists and computer engineers reflecting the population of Washington state and the varying needs, backgrounds, and experiences of technology users around the world. While we will accommodate as many visit requests as we can, our priority is for schools and groups that serve students with limited access to computing education & college preparatory resources.
Note that many of these opportunities are only available during the academic year (October – May). Please reach out to outreach@cs.washington.edu with any questions!
Visit Options
This opportunity is for schools and programs that are already hosting a college or career fair. We are happy to travel to your location in Washington State or attend virtually if we are available. We have standard tabling materials but please let us know if there is any specific information you would like presented. Please note that we are unable to help with the planning of these events.
Our recruitment team offers classroom visit presentations that introduce prospective students to the UW’s Computer Science and Computer Engineering majors by highlighting the career opportunities and real-world impact of a computing degree, showcasing the student experience in the UW’s Allen School, and helping prospective students get connected with admissions counseling resources. These presentations are available for either both high school or community college students and are primarily intended for future first-generation college student audiences. We also offer “Day in the Life” presentations and student panels that will give your students a glimpse into the experiences of an Allen School student. We are happy to travel to your location in Washington state or present virtually!
The Allen School is able to welcome middle, high school, or community college students to campus for field trips. Programming may include building tours, research lab tours, computing workshops, and recruitment activities such as student panels or information sessions. You will be asked to indicate your interest in these activities in our school visit form but we cannot guarantee that all of these activities will be available during your visit. Please note that we are unable to accept field trip requests with over 90 students and that schools & community groups are responsible for providing chaperones for their field trip.
Our K-12 Outreach Student Ambassadors are available to present one of several educational activities for middle school and high school students to learn more about computing. Our computing-related lessons include a Machine Learning & Algorithmic Bias lesson, a Computing in Practice presentation covering the real-life implications in computing (a great lesson for students who are new to computing!), and a hands-on Build Your Own Website workshop. We also offer student panels that can help your students learn more about the life of a computer scientist/engineer!
This is a great option for elementary and middle school students. Our K-12 Outreach Student Ambassadors are available to come to your STEM or career-related event to run interactive tabling activities like Binary Encoding and Circuit Playground. These artistic and hands-on activities help students explore computers in a fun and easy way.
Allen School Admissions News
Students who are in high school, including students who might be dual enrolled at a community college through a Running Start program, should apply to the Allen School as Direct to Major (first-year) applicants. If a student has taken college coursework after graduating from high school (excluding the summer immediately following high school), then they should complete their minimum academic requirements and apply through our transfer admissions pathway. The Allen School Student Recruitment Representatives host a variety of programs intended for DTM & transfer applicants that may be helpful for your students!
In this section, we aim to share information about recent changes to the admissions process to help you best support students who are interested in applying to the Allen School and the UW:
Autumn 2025: A Change in the First-Year Writing Section for the UW’s Seattle Campus
The University of Washington has updated the writing prompts for first-year applicants. The new prompts can be viewed on the UW Office of Admissions website. First-year applications, including applications for Allen School Direct to Major admissions, are reviewed by the UW Office of Admissions. Students are encouraged to fully answer the writing prompts – essays do not need to be computing-related. Questions about the UW first-year application? Reach out to the UW Office of Admissions at askuwadm@uw.edu.
Summer 2025: Moving from “Freshman” to “First-Year”
The University of Washington’s Seattle campus is moving away from using the term “freshman”. Future admissions cycles will use the term “first-year” instead. For example “students can apply for Direct to Major admissions into the Allen School using the UW first-year application”. As a reminder, the UW considers a student a freshman/first-year if they can answer “yes” to at least one of the following statements:
- I have not completed nor will complete any coursework at a regionally accredited college or university after leaving high school and before enrolling at the UW (excluding the summer term immediately following high school), regardless of my age or whether I ever graduated from high school.
- I plan to enter the UW in the summer or fall after graduating from high school.
- I participate in Washington state’s Running Start Program, and I plan to enter the UW right after graduating from high school. (Note: It does not matter how many college credits you have earned or will earn.)
First-year applicants who are interested in Allen School Direct to Major admissions should visit our Direct to Major Admissions page for more information!