Admissions from abroad increasing at the UW

As winter dies down, it’s time for the UW admissions committee to make its decisions for the 2008 academic year by choosing which students will be asked to become Huskies.

Mixed in with those thousands of applicants are international students requesting admission.

Last year, the UW received 1,548 international applications. This year, there were 2,174 applicants, according to Philip Ballinger, the director of admissions.

He said the admissions office is in the process of deciding who will be accepted.

“That’s what we are trying to get finished this week,” he said. “[We will] probably offer admission to about 40 percent of those students.”

In autumn of 2007, 2.5 percent of entering freshmen were international students. These numbers composed 6.6 percent of the entire UW student body.

The requirements for international students are similar to what U.S. residents have to do. Core subjects need to be completed and applicants need to have competitive grades. A major difference is that they are required to take an English proficiency test.

“All international students are required to submit English proficiency scores that meet the University’s minimum requirement for admission consideration,” the UW international requirements Web site states.

Depending on the score, the student may or may not enroll in an Academic English Program. This program requires the student to take one to five remedial classes upon entering the school. They will not be able to graduate until these courses are completed.

One complication international students share with U.S. citizens is the financial expense that comes with schooling in another country.

Last year, international student expenses were about $35,457. The students do not receive any more financial help than resident students are given, Ballinger said.

One such student paying for school at the UW is sophomore Mio Higa, originally from Okinawa, Japan. Higa plans attend the UW for another two years.

“I got a scholarship from this person back home for the first year, but other than that, my parents are paying for my tuition,” she said.

She recognizes that attending school in the United States is expensive, but in comparison to an upper-level school in Japan, tuition is nearly the same.

“It is expensive but it’s almost the same as going to pretty nice private universities in Japan,” she said. “My parents thought it [would be] worth coming here than studying in Japan since I will be learning more in universities outside Japan.”

The competitive pricing between universities in other countries may explain why there has been an increase in the number of international applications the UW admissions committee has seen.

“It could be that the falling dollar has a lot to do with it,” Ballinger said. “The dollar has decreased in value so much overseas, it’s a lot less expensive to come study here then it has in the past.”

Most of the international students that came to the UW this year were from Asian countries, though some did come from other countries. The top five countries are China, Korea, Taiwan, India and Canada. This includes both undergraduate and graduate students.

Other than the falling dollar, the proximity of the UW as well as the programs offered could offer explanations.

“We are right on the other side of the Pacific and right under Canada,” Ballinger said. “And the areas of study in which many students from Asian countries are interested in are strengths as well — like engineering and sciences.”

For Higa, it was the campus itself that primarily drew her to the UW.

“I came here on a campus tour with my dad when I was a [high school] senior and I just loved the campus,” she said. “Coming here motivated me to apply for UW.”

[Reach reporter Shannon O’Hara at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]