Admissions

Create your online applicant profile via the UW Graduate Admissions website. After creating your profile, you will be asked to select program information:

1. Select your application type: “Graduate”
2. Select your graduate program: “Business Administration – Foster School of Business – MS in Entrepreneurship”
3. Indicate your desired entry date (e.g. Summer 2020)

Essay 1 (600 words maximum)

Entrepreneurs are problem-solvers, always thinking of ways that things could be better. What business, product, new venture idea, area of interest, problem(s) are you looking to solve?

Essay 2 (600 words maximum)

Persistence, resilience, and risk taking are important entrepreneurial traits. A willingness to seek solutions to problems, even when the probability of success is low, is integral to the process. Tell us about a time you overcame a business challenge, or personal challenge if you haven’t had a business challenge yet.

Video

We’d like you to show us who you are beyond what we read on paper. What is the motivation for your entrepreneurial journey? Create a short video (max 90 seconds) describing your entrepreneurial drive or spark. Feel free to be creative, however, there is no right or wrong way to create this video.

Your resume must be uploaded to your online application. It should be a complete summary of your education, key student activities, and professional work history (if applicable) in reverse chronological format. For each student activity and work position, include:

• Company or organization name
• Position title
• Dates of engagement
• Responsibility summary: 2 to 4 sentences describing your primary responsibilities
• Accomplishment bullets: 2 to 4 bullets for each position

Two letters of recommendation are required. Recommendations should speak to your entrepreneurial ability and could come from your supervisor at work, a colleague, a fellow student, a mentor, or a professor. We encourage you to prioritize recommenders who know you well and can provide rich detail. Your recommenders will be asked to comment on your level of perseverance, bias for action, leadership, interpersonal skills, and coachability.

We suggest designating your recommenders early, at least a few weeks before the application review date you are aiming for. Recommenders will receive an email directing them to the online recommendation form.

You must have completed the equivalent of a four-year U.S. bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university to be considered for admission. The minimum GPA is 3.0 for the last 90-quarter or 60-semester credits. Studies conducted outside of the U.S. need to be converted to a four point scale (see below) and translated to English. Transcripts are required for all undergraduate and graduate-level institutions attended.

We review each applicant’s undergraduate history, taking note of the difficulty of the curriculum, the scholastic quality of the school, and the existence of any social or economic disadvantage that may have affected past academic performance. Your prior scholastic performance should indicate an ability to complete graduate level work.

Required format for all transcripts
Do not send official transcripts to our office via mail. Scan copies of your original transcripts in PDF file format and upload them to the online application. Make sure to include any transcript keys that describe the institution’s grading scale. These are typically found on the back side of most domestic transcripts.

The Graduate School Application asks applicants to report their Grade Point Average (GPA) on a 0.0 – 4.0 scale for the last 90 quarter or 60 semester graded credits. If your university was not on such a system, please refer to the instructions provided on the Graduate School “Understanding the Application Process” for converting from an international grading system to a 4.0 scale. If you would like to calculate your GPA prior to applying, the application refers applicants to the Foreign Credits website, and to use the GPA calculator for this process.

If you attended a university that does not grade courses or provide a GPA, check the “I do not have a GPA” box. Self-generated online grade reports or versions that have been cut and pasted into a Word document will not be accepted.

The following information must be on all transcripts:

• Full name of applicant (former names are acceptable if indicated on application)
• Name of degree-granting institution
• Title(s) of academic degree(s) awarded
• Dates of enrollment, including date of graduation/degree conferral
• Names of individual courses
• Grades, marks, or ratings of individual courses
• International transcripts must include official English translations
• Both marks sheets and degree statements are required, if applicable

Neither the GMAT nor GRE are required for admission. We do not believe that GMAT/GRE tests are formal predictors of a candidate’s entrepreneurial aptitude or ability. We do measure an applicant’s academic aptitude by looking at their previous academic courses and GPA. However, individuals with recent GMAT or GRE scores may choose to submit them for admission consideration. If you are concerned about your GPA, you may want to consider taking the GMAT or GRE to help support a low GPA.

If you choose to include your score, request that your official scores be sent to the University of Washington MS in Entrepreneurship Program. Include your score breakdown in the Self-Reported Test Score sections in the online application.

GMAT Score Reporting: University of Washington – Seattle, Michael G. Foster School of Business, Master of Science in Entrepreneurship (code 459-75-94)

GRE Score Reporting: University of Washington (Institution Code–4854)

Proficiency in English is required for admission to a graduate program at the University of Washington. If your native language is not English, the University of Washington requires you to demonstrate English language proficiency in one of the following ways:

• A bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree from a regionally accredited institution in the United States or from an institution in Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, or the United Kingdom. While enrolled at the degree-granting school, the student must be in residence on campus.
• Official documentation from the applicant’s undergraduate degree-granting institution (if the institution is in a country other than those listed above) verifying that all instruction is in English. A minimum of three years of enrollment at the undergraduate institution is required and the degree must be equivalent to a US bachelor’s degree.
• Complete one of the following English language proficiency exams:
  • TOEFL: minimum score requirement is 92 iBT, though we recommend a score of at least 100. Request that your official scores be sent directly to the University of Washington from ETS (school code 4854). Include your score breakdown in the Self-Reported Test Score section in the online application. Applicants with scores below the minimum score requirements are highly encouraged to retake the exam before submitting an application.
  • IELTS: minimum score requirement is 7.0, though we recommend a score of at least 7.5. Request that your official scores be sent directly to the University of Washington via the “E-Delivery service” option. Printed hard copy Test Report Forms will not be accepted. It could take up to 21 days for the University of Washington to process your results so please take the exam well in advance of the application deadline. Include your score breakdown in the Self-Reported Test Score section in the online application. Applicants with scores below the minimum score requirements are highly encouraged to retake the exam before submitting an application.
  • Duolingo: minimum score requirement is 120 though we recommend a score of at least 125. Request that your official scores be sent directly to the University of Washington from Duolingo by selecting, “University of Washington Graduate Admissions (Bothell, Seattle, Tacoma).”

NOTE: Most test scores are valid for two years. Applicants with scores below the minimum score requirements are highly encouraged to retake the exam before submitting an application. ALL SCORES must be submitted electronically to the University of Washington.

Interviews are by invitation only and take place after an initial review of your completed application. Competitive applicants will be invited to interview with an MS in Entrepreneurship admissions team member. Each interview is meant to be a casual conversation that allows us to assess your communication skills and get to know you better. Interviews are conducted online through video conferencing.

A non-refundable application fee of $85 must be paid by credit card through the online application system. You must submit a separate application and pay a separate application fee for each graduate program you are applying to. We are not able to transfer applications between programs.

Completed applications will be reviewed after each round and admission notifications sent via email approximately 8 weeks after the applicable deadline. Applications will only be reviewed once all required elements are submitted.

Once an offer of admission has been made, the applicant will have three weeks to consider the offer and pay a non-refundable, non-transferrable $1,500 tuition deposit. This deposit must be paid with a credit card online and is applied to the summer quarter tuition balance.

If you are an admitted international applicant and indicated you would be requesting an I-20 or DS-2020, you will be given separate instructions. The request for visa status requires you to provide statements of financial ability.

Refer to our International Applicants page or more information. Due to the program starting in the summer quarter, there is a limited amount of time to submit your request and provide the financial documents. Delaying this process may result in not obtaining your visa in time to join the program.