UW

Library courtyard on UW Tacoma campus.

TACOMA, Wash. - Crushed after the University of Washington rejected her last spring, Taura Black decided to join the Army.

She was ready to sign the moment she turned 18, but just before her birthday, she got a letter from UW's Tacoma branch campus telling her she'd been accepted there, even though she had never formally applied.

"I didn't believe it," she said of her acceptance letter. "I thought, 'The one in Seattle didn't want me, so why do you guys want me? Aren't you the same school? What's going on?"'

UW's three campuses have separate admissions offices and decide which applicants to accept independently. Yet they work closely together. Some students applied to two or all three campuses. Others, such as Black, were referred to the branch campuses when the main campus rejected them.

Many solid candidates get turned away from Seattle -- a sought-after school for students from around the state and beyond -- because there's simply not enough space for them, UW Admissions Director Philip Ballinger said.

"We can't take them all at Seattle, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't take them if there was space," Ballinger told The Seattle Times. "They are space-denied students."

About 64 percent of the freshman who got accepted and signed up to start classes at UW Bothell this week had been rejected by the Seattle campus. UW Bothell Chancellor Steven Olswang acknowledged that figure "astonishes me and surprises me." In Tacoma, 38 percent of incoming freshmen were first rejected by UW Seattle.

Test scores and grade-point averages are lower for incoming freshmen at branch campuses than they are at the UW's main campus.

The average incoming freshman at UW Tacoma scored 1005 out of a possible 1600 on the SAT. At UW Seattle, the average freshman scored 1199. That puts Tacoma in the 47th percentile and Seattle in the 78th percentile, according to the College Board, which oversees the tests.

The high-school grade-point average for freshmen entering both UW Bothell and UW Tacoma is hovering just below 3.3, versus nearly 3.7 at UW Seattle.

Seattle offers dorms and the chance for a campus life that the branches can't, Ballinger said. Because of that, the branch campuses aren't expected to have the same draw.

Ballinger said he expects the academic gap between Seattle and the branch campuses will narrow over coming years as word of the branches spreads. He said the main goals for this year were to launch the freshman program and hit enrollment targets, he said.

Last year, the Legislature passed a law allowing branches of the University of Washington and Washington State University to begin admitting freshmen and sophomores and award four-year degrees beginning this fall.

Until now, they could offer only junior and senior years of coursework toward a bachelor's degree, and courses leading to master's degrees.

In 1989, the state Legislature authorized the UW and Washington State University to open five branch campuses. The idea was to bring baccalaureate education to the doorstep of older, working students in densely populated areas. Upperclassmen started attending the branch campuses in 1990, mainly taking evening classes.

The branches have grown rapidly. This year, UW Tacoma will have about 2,360 students, most of them transfers from local community colleges, and its first freshmen class will have about 190 students. UW Bothell will have 1,650 students, including 145 freshmen.

UW Seattle expects about 39,000 students, including 5,450 freshmen.

Business, liberal arts and computer science are among the most popular majors at the branch campuses, which don't offer the same range of courses in science, health science and pre-medicine as UW Seattle.

UW Tacoma Chancellor Patricia Spakes said she's been a little surprised by the demographics of the first freshman class. She was expecting many might be working jobs and attending part-time, but almost all are "classic" freshmen straight out of high school, attending full-time.

In-state tuition at all three campuses is a base $5,460 for this academic year. Fees vary by campus but at each bring the total cost to nearly $6,000.