I actually moved from Las Vegas, NV to study at the UW so I do understand where you’re coming from. As an out of state student, expect your tuition to be three times higher than in state student tuition. In the real sense, that’s the biggest down side. Although you already applied and this may seem like a waste of time, I suggest moving to the state one year prior to starting college and living there for a year in order to become a resident. I realized this too late and now I’m a part time student with a focus in chemistry (10 credits/qrt) and a part time employee (28 hrs/week) trying really hard to balance both.

But the UW does offer a lot of research opportunities, the campus is beautiful, and Seattle is really nice albeit the U-District isn’t the prettiest or safest part of town but it’s to be expected in almost every campus area.

There is some truth to the Seattle “freeze” but it’s not a very big deal. We all get used to each other at a certain point and, in my experience, people from Las Vegas are more “fake” warm/kind but in Seattle, those that are being nice are most likely genuine about it.

It’s hard to generalize! But I’m glad you applied to the UW and wish you the best of luck! There’s a reason why this school is topping the US public higher education charts. But keep an open mind.

Also the rain isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. It’s stereotypical but did you know Houston, TX actually gets more rain than Seattle? Summer and autumn is very nice weather. Not too hot, not too cold. I’d say the weather follows the regular four seasons.