How to Succeed as a University of Washington Premed
/Everything you need to know to plot your course as a UW premed, including UW premed requirements and extracurriculars, the best premed major, and the UW premed acceptance rate
Learn how to get into medical school as a University of washington Premed
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Part 1: Introduction
Located in the center of a dynamic and progressive city known for being home to some of the world’s most innovative and valuable companies, the University of Washington is an equally dynamic institution of higher learning with a remarkable reputation for research.
Ranked 55th nationally and 19th for public colleges by US News and World Report, UW is known for consistently producing novel solutions to pressing problems. With ideas such as Medic One, a collaborative response to the problem of delivering treatment as quickly as possible to victims of cardiac arrest and crowd-sourced microbiology having sprung forth from its unique research environment, it’s no wonder that ambitious premeds imagine their chances of entering med school to be much greater with a such a valuable pedigree.
However, the path to medical school acceptance can be a long and arduous one, by no means guaranteed simply by impressive credentials. As a University of Washington premed, you’ll have to navigate a list of prerequisites for med school, seek out shadowing and clinical volunteering experiences, maintain a high GPA and achieve a top-notch MCAT score. All of this must be done while satisfying the demands of your major.
If all that seems intimidating and like you have no idea where to begin, you’re not alone. We’ve put together this guide to help you see your way through to entry into the school of your dreams and, ultimately, a white coat.
One important note: the University of Washington comprises three campuses with its main campus in Seattle and the other two in the cities of Tacoma and Bothell. While all three exist under the same umbrella system, the degrees and facilities offered vary between them. For the purposes of this guide, we will focus primarily on the main Seattle campus.
That said, we’ll cover everything you need to know and provide actionable advice for success as a University of Washington premed. From how to keep your grades up to when to take the MCAT and scheduling how to tick off those premedical course requirements, the information we’ve provided here will make your premed journey that much smoother.
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Part 2: University of Washington premed requirements
Many undergraduates enter college hoping their ideas for what they want to do for a career will crystallize during their time studying. This can work for the majority of students who don’t yet know what they want to do beyond college—whether to go out into the workforce or attend graduate school.
However, their experience is altogether different from that of premed students set on going straight into medical school after graduation. With all of the prerequisites and extracurriculars necessary to put forth a compelling application, premeds need to start planning their route early. The first order of business is making sure all the requirements are met for you to apply and graduate on time.
At UW, students interested in careers in medicine take a seminar entitled Pre-Health 101 offered each fall quarter that helps clear up exactly what you need to do and how to manage your time as a University of Washington premed.
The UW follows a quarter-term model rather than a semester model like many other schools. For schools that follow a semester-based academic calendar, the fall and spring semesters usually make up an academic “year” (with summer sometimes thrown in at the end). However, when schools follow a quarter-based academic calendar, it generally takes three quarters to complete the academic year. It’s important to keep this in mind as you consider the number of “semesters” vs. “quarters” for which you’ll need to take a prerequisite course.
We’ve listed the premed requirements for most medical schools along with which courses will satisfy those requirements at the University of Washington in the table below.
| Biology: One year with lab
UW recommends taking biology sophomore year |
Depending on your exposure to biological concepts,
you may want to start with the introductory course BIOL 106
Note: CHEM 152 or CHEM 220 must be taken before or concurrently with BIOL 200 BIOL 180 BIOL 200 BIOL 220 | |||||
| General Chemistry: One year with lab |
Note: All students are required to take an
online chemistry placement test
before registering for chemistry.
For students with no chemistry background: CHEM 110 Most premed students take this sequence. These courses include labs: CHEM 142 CHEM 152 CHEM 162 |
The following courses are the honors
versions of CHEM 142, CHEM 152, and CHEM 162:
CHEM 145 CHEM 155 CHEM 165 The following courses are an intensive offering for students with knowledge of stoichiometry and gas laws taking only two quarters to complete: CHEM 143 CHEM 153 |
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| Organic Chemistry:
One year with lab |
CHEM 237
CHEM 238 CHEM 239 Associated Labs: CHEM 241 CHEM 242 |
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| Biochemistry:
One semester/Two quarters |
BIOC 405
BIOC 406 |
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| Calculus: One semester/Two quarters |
Most premed students take this sequence:
MATH 120 (a prerequisite to Calculus) Precalculus MATH 124 Calculus with Analytic Geometry I |
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| Statistics: One semester/Two quarters |
STAT 100 Numbers and Reason
STAT 111 Lectures In Applied Statistics |
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| Physics: One year with lab |
Premed students usually take this sequence:
PHYS 114 + 117 (General Physics + lab) PHYS 115 + 118 (General Physics + lab) PHYS 116 + 119 (General Physics + lab) |
For engineering, computer science, or physical science majors:
PHYS 121 PHYS 122 PHYS 123 For advanced students: PHYS 121 (honors) |
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| College-level English/writing: One year |
ENGL 109 Critical Composition I: Inquiry
ENGL 110 Critical Composition II: Research ENGL 111 Composition: Literature |
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| Psychology: One semester/Two quarters |
PSYCH 101 Introduction to Psychology
PSYCH 202 Biopsychology |
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| Sociology: One course | SOC 110 Survey of Sociology | |||||
Even a cursory glance at the table above will tell you that you’ll have your hands full making sure the requirements are met. Keep in mind that depending on your major, at least a few of these courses will satisfy both your major and premed requirements.
It’s worth noting that the UW lists courses such as sociology, statistics, biochemistry, and psychology as optional courses that can help with your MCAT prep. However, we’ve found that many medical schools want to see that you’ve taken these courses, so we’ve included them here.
With that said, let’s look at a sample three-year plan for meeting these requirements and how you might plan to do so. The following table assumes this student is not planning to take a gap year before going to medical school, so to be adequately prepared for the MCAT and graduate on time, the schedule might be a little more intense.
| Freshman Fall |
CHEM 142
MATH 120 (a prerequisite to Calculus) Precalculus ENGL 109 Critical Composition I: Inquiry |
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| Freshman Winter |
CHEM 152
MATH 124 Calculus with Analytic Geometry I ENGL 110 Critical Composition II: Research |
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| Freshman Spring |
CHEM 162
ENGL 111 Composition: Literature |
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| Freshman Summer | PSYCH 101 Introduction to Psychology | |||||
| Sophomore Fall | BIOL 180 | |||||
| Sophomore Winter | BIOL 200
BIOC 405 Introduction to Biochemistry |
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| Sophomore Spring |
BIOL 220
BIOC 406 Introduction to Biochemistry |
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| Sophomore Summer |
PSYCH 202 Biopsychology
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| Junior Fall |
CHEM 237 (Organic Chemistry)
SOC 110 Survey of Sociology |
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| Junior Winter |
CHEM 238 (Organic Chemistry)
CHEM 241 (Organic Chemistry Lab) |
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| Junior Spring |
CHEM 239 (Organic Chemistry)
CHEM 242 (Organic Chemistry Lab) |
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How to maintain a high GPA as a University of Washington premed
Transitioning to college life can be tough as new academic and social demands are placed upon you. Your coursework will be more rigorous than in high school, you’ll meet new people, confront new challenges, and experience greater independence.
When combing through your academic record, most med schools won’t take this major life transition into account and will be looking for a top-tier GPA maintained from your freshman to senior years. How you adjust to your new life and keep your grades up will be paramount to your success as a UW premed.
Organize your time wisely, and don’t take on more than you can handle at one time. It’s perfectly natural for premeds to want to get the necessary work out of the way as quickly as possible so they can move on to the application process and get where they really want to be; medical school. When it comes to keeping your GPA up, however, slow and steady wins the race.
Remember, there’s always the option of completing your premed courses in the UW post-bacc program as this strategy can help you more easily balance your commitments which can lead to a higher GPA overall. In the end, that extra year or two after undergrad, if spent well, can actually improve your chances of admissions success if you keep your grades up.
We’ve put together some general tips for keeping your GPA as high as possible during your undergraduate years.
Don’t overload yourself. Pay close attention to how many classes you’re taking each semester and don’t forget to factor in time for extracurriculars. You’re sure to have a busy schedule as a UW premed, but too much can lead to burnout, which means falling grades. Consider taking classes in the summer to lighten the load.
Get assistance when you need it. No one’s an island and we all need help sometimes. You may find some classes a breeze but struggle with others. Make sure you don’t struggle alone and reach out for help when you need it. The UW operates academic support programs where you can receive one-on-one coaching sessions, learn about study strategies, and even take advantage of drop-in online tutoring in premed subjects at CLUE.
Modify your plan if necessary. You may begin your freshman year full of ambition and drive, ready to take on all challenges and get accepted into medical school as soon as possible, but experiencing your workload first-hand can cause you to rethink your plans. Taking a gap year can help you keep your GPA up while giving you more time to gain the clinical and/or research experience you’ll need for medical school. According to AAMC, this is actually the norm.
What is the best University of Washington premed major?
Many students considering medical school initially look for a premed major among the options at universities that interest them only to discover quickly, there is no such thing as a premed major.
When you’re premed, or ‘pre-health’ as many schools call it, you’re merely intending to go to medical school and are working through the required courses to get there. This means that your major will be something entirely different to ‘pre-health’ or premed.
So, do medical schools look at your major as much as your GPA? Not necessarily. In fact, the acceptance rate for humanities majors vs. biology majors is 10% higher in favor of the humanities, which may come as a surprise. GPA and MCAT scores are generally weighted more heavily than your major and keeping that GPA up is easier if you’re studying something you're passionate about.
How should you go about choosing your major at UW? Meeting with an advisor to talk through your options is recommended and with different options at the three different campuses, this can certainly help narrow your choices.
At the UW-Seattle campus, you can choose to major in such diverse subjects as ethnomusicology, biochemistry, chemical engineering, and marine biology. In all, there are 180 majors to choose from. At UW-Bothell, you’ve got the standard STEM majors as well as options such as media and communication studies and law, economics and public policy. At UW-Tacoma, your choices are a bit fewer but still include interesting options such as computer engineering, urban design, and writing studies.
According to US News and World Report, among the most popular majors at UW are the social sciences, computer and information sciences and support services, and biological and biomedical sciences. If you’re science-minded, you’ll be in good company at UW, regardless of your campus.
Nailing down the best path to medical school through your major is a difficult thing to do, but having a thorough understanding of how your major’s classes will affect your timeline and goals as well as what you’re passionate about will help you make the best choice.
When should you take the MCAT?
The MCAT is the most important test you will take on your journey to medical school. Your score on this test will determine if you get into the school of your dreams or have to apply again next year. With all the pressure surrounding your performance on the MCAT, you’ll want to be sure you’re as prepared as possible before taking the test.
The conventional timeframe for students going straight into medical school is to take the MCAT during junior year, but ultimately, this will come down to personal preference. You’ll need to consider your current courseload, extracurriculars, and any volunteer or research opportunities you may have when planning. It’s crucial that you set aside enough time to properly study for the MCAT.
As long as you have a solid plan that takes time for a possible retake into account, you should be able to achieve a score you’re happy with without delaying your matriculation into med school too much.
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Part 3: University of Washington premed extracurriculars
No one gets into medical school based on stellar GPA and MCAT scores alone. Adcoms are looking for a robust extracurricular profile that gives them a complete picture of an applicant. They want to know what your interests are and how you prepare yourself for a career in medicine outside of your classes.
Medical school is notoriously difficult to get into in part because the gatekeepers to entry want to be absolutely positive that you’ll make an undeniable contribution to the field. Your commitment should be apparent before you even apply.
From this perspective, understanding how important extracurriculars are and what they say about you as a candidate takes on new meaning. You’ll want to be sure you get enough volunteering, clinical experience, and shadowing hours to really stand out on your application.
Suggested Reading: (How to Choose the Right Extracurricular Activities for Medical School)
Student groups at the University of Washington
In addition to your passion for medicine, adcoms want to see who you are as an individual. What interests and motivates you? Membership in student groups can be an important part of the extracurricular package and at UW, you’ll find no shortage of opportunities.
With more than 1,000 student organizations at UW, it can be hard to narrow down your choices, but the Student Activities Office is a great place to start. From here, you can search through the list of active student organizations, find events happening around campus, and even make use of a handy activities tracker so you can organize and keep track of how you’ve participated in the UW community.
Organizations that may be of particular interest to premeds are the Phi Delta Epsilon International Medical Fraternity and the American Medical Student Association at the University of Washington, or Beta Beta Beta (Tribeta) Biological Honor Society.
If exploring an artistic or creative interest is where you’d like to put your time, UW has interesting options such as the Chinese Theater Club and Humanities and Arts at UW, which mentions community outreach as part of its mission—something that adcoms are certainly keen to see on an application.
Volunteering at the University of Washington
The importance of volunteering can’t be overstated. Volunteering not only serves to showcase your commitment to medicine, but it displays your humanity, a crucial trait in any medical professional. Not to mention, many volunteer experiences provide valuable material for those all-important secondary essays.
As a UW premed, you’ll have plenty of support finding places to give of your time. The Pre-Health Advising office provides a great starting point on their volunteering page with opportunities at hospitals, clinics, and even general volunteering which could have you helping out at a youth center, or even distributing food to needy families. In addition, there are even more opportunities searchable through VolunteerMatch’s database.
Research at the University of Washington
A career in medicine is often as much an academic endeavor as it is a humanistic one and adcoms are intimately aware of the discipline and rigor required to succeed in medical school. For this reason, any research credentials you can add to your application will grant you a much needed boost—especially necessary if you’re considering an MD-PhD path.
The University of Washington has connections to various undergraduate research programs for students. In fact, UW operates its own Undergraduate Research Program (URP) providing students the chance to hone their skills in preparation for further education. They even have a searchable database of undergraduate research opportunities for current students.
In fact, there are few better places a research-minded premed could study when it comes to opportunities. The Levinson Emerging Scholars program is specifically focused on bioscience research and other summer and academic term time programs are available. Additionally, the Mary Gates Research Scholarship is another way students can carve out a niche for themselves while being guided by an experienced faculty member.
If you’re looking for inspiration for your own undergraduate research project, check out UW’s undergraduate researcher profiles and see what other students have gotten involved in.
Shadowing at the University of Washington
Many premeds want clear-cut answers and paths to their desired goal. They want to know exactly what they need to do, and they’re ambitious and determined enough to get it done.
However, some aspects of the journey into medical school are not so cut and dry. The process of finding shadowing opportunities is just one of these aspects.
It’s recommended that any aspiring medical student have at least 50-100 shadowing hours that they can put on an application. This lets adcoms know that you have a good idea about what you’re signing up for. Unfortunately, shadowing opportunities are rarely, if ever, advertised so you will have to reach out to individuals and organizations to find them.
Make sure you work with your pre-health advisor at UW as they can assist you. It’s also a good idea to search alumni networks on sites such as LinkedIn and reach out to doctors directly. Using the shared connection to UW as an icebreaker, it can be easier to ask for their help. Remember, they were in your shoes at one time, too!
Suggested Reading: (How to Ask to Shadow a Doctor)
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Part 4: Getting into medical school from the University of Washington
As you near the end of your time as a UW undergrad, you’ll naturally begin thinking about what comes next, and for premeds, this means putting all the pieces together to gain entry into medical school.
On a practical level, applying to medical school is a time-consuming process involving the gathering of letters of recommendation, filling out application forms, and writing, revising, and rewriting essays. On a personal level, preparing for interviews and conquering nagging thoughts about being good enough is incredibly anxiety-inducing.
However, as a University of Washington premed, you will have plenty of support throughout this process. The health channel of the Career and Internship Center at UW is an invaluable resource where you’ll find student stories and advice, links to academic advisors, how to make appointments with career coaches, and even an online course covering applying to medical school as UW student.
While these resources may answer most of your questions, you’ll still need to be disciplined and focused to put together all the components of an application to ensure everything is submitted on time. We find that procrastination and the lack of a clearly defined plan are often the killers of otherwise excellent applications and essays.
Suggested Reading: (The Ideal Medical School Application Timeline)
University of Washington premed acceptance rate and admissions statistics
Whichever stage of the premed path you’re on, you may be wondering exactly what are your chances of acceptance into med school as a University of Washington premed. In 2022, UW was ranked 15th in the nation among schools that had the most undergraduates apply to medical school with a total of 464 applicants. With so many interested undergrads, UW clearly has a lot of practice helping students through the process!
However, that doesn’t say much about exactly how many of those students got accepted to medical schools with a UW degree. Unfortunately, they don’t publish this information, but we can look at acceptance rates for the University of Washington School of Medicine to get an idea of what UW SOM expects and how you might prepare for acceptance there or elsewhere.
You may think that being a UW premed would give you an advantage over other applicants applying to UW SOM, and while this is not strictly the case, we can surmise there is some anecdotal truth to this. According to AAMC, 13.2% of total applications came from in-state students in 2022, but of those that matriculated, 52.6% were in-state.
Furthermore, UW focuses on the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) region, stating that while they do accept students from outside this area the process is much more competitive. In fact, about 96% of their students come from one of these states in the average class.
Over the last few years, about 17% of each entering MD class has come from Washington, a rather high percentage for such a populous state. So, if you’re a Washington resident and UW premed that has taken advantage of the facilities on campus to grow your network with a view toward med school, your chances are certainly higher than applicants from most other states.
Final thoughts
Premed life can take many twists and turns at the University of Washington, but with a solid plan, dedication, and focused effort even the most challenging obstacles can be overcome. By working with your advisors and connecting with opportunities available to you at UW SOM for research and shadowing, you’ll make concrete progress on your way to medical school acceptance.
About the Author
Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on medical school admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into medical school using his exclusive approach.
