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UW in the High School

Who Can Enroll

Any high school student who is academically ready may sign up to take a UW course at their school to earn high school credit. However, if you also want to earn UW credit, you must take an additional step to register through UWHS.

Before enrolling through UWHS to earn UW credit, it’s important to carefully consider if this is the right option for you. There are two key things to consider:

  1. First, you must have completed any prerequisite coursework. About half of the courses offered through UWHS have prerequisites. Check with your school counselor or review the course descriptions to find out if you meet all requirements before registering.

  2. Second, UWHS courses are official UW courses, and they’re more challenging than a typical high school course. When you complete the course, your grade is recorded on a permanent UW transcript. If you register but ultimately choose to not complete the class through UW, the transcript will still exist but will reflect the dropped course instead of a grade.

Succeeding in a UWHS Course

Succeeding in a UWHS course — and in any college course — requires responsibility, hard work and discipline. You’ll need to have or be ready to learn skills such as:

  • Time management (including study time outside of the school day)
  • Persistence through challenging course material and assignments
  • Note-taking and other study skills
  • Use of study groups
  • Prioritizing tasks
  • Asking your teacher and others for help (e.g., other students, tutors)
  • Problem-solving
  • Self-advocacy (seeking out additional resources to help with academics, life skills, etc.)
  • Communication (e.g. understanding and following written and verbal instructions, contacting offices to register for or drop courses in a timely manner, etc.)

In addition, the most successful students support their studies by using UW resources, including extensive library resources, the Odegaard Writing & Research Center and more.

Most UWHS students are up for the challenge — more than 95% successfully pass their course and earn UW credit!

Disability Accommodations

Any accommodations approved at your high school as part of an individualized education plan (IEP) or 504 plan must also be approved for your UW courses. To make an accommodation request or obtain more information, contact the UW Disability Services Office at dso@uw.edu, 206-543-6450 (voice) or 206-685-7264 (fax).

If you have an IEP or 504 plan, there are differences between K-12 education and post-secondary education regarding disability accommodations. This page from the Disability Resources for Students (DRS) office at the University of Washington has information and links to other resources to help you in that transition.

Note: The Disability Resources for Students office serves matriculated students at the UW, while the Disability Services Office serves nonmatriculated students, like those in UW courses in their high school through UWHS. Should you enroll at the UW as a full-time student, you’ll need to contact DRS going into your first year on campus.