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Our Direct Admission program provides an opportunity for high-achieving business-minded high school seniors to be admitted directly from high school into the Milgard School of Business at the University of Washington Tacoma. See below for full details about this exciting and exclusive program. We look forward to welcoming our future business and nonprofit leaders to the Milgard School of Business!
How to Apply?
High school seniors can be automatically considered for Direct Admission to Milgard School of Business by selecting one of the business majors (Accounting, General Business, Finance, Marketing, Management) as their first-choice major on the UW Tacoma freshman application.
Learn more about freshman admission to UW Tacoma here.
Admission is competitive, and space is limited. Milgard Direct Admission offer letters will be sent out January - April.
Direct Admission is designed for true freshmen. Running Start students who have completed our lower division business prerequisites through their community college should apply to Milgard through our standard admission pathway.
Freshman applicants not offered Direct Admission to Milgard will enter the university in a pre-major status, and can apply to Milgard through our standard admission pathway when eligible.
Benefits of Milgard Direct Admission
Milgard Direct Admits will:
- Have a guaranteed spot in the Milgard School of Business at UW Tacoma, one of the most highly-sought academic programs on campus
- Earn a UW business degree – a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration (BABA), selecting one of five options to tailor your degree to your interests and goals:
- Accounting
- Finance
- General Business
- Management
- Marketing Qualify for Direct Admission scholarships
Recent Milgard Direct Admit scholarship awards have ranged from $1,500 to $6,000.
- Engage with Milgard faculty and local business executives through special events and workshops exclusively for business majors
- Receive personalized, one-on-one support and guidance from Milgard School of Business Academic Advisors
- Utilize the career and internship resources of the Milgard Success Center
- Be part of a close-knit cohort of fellow business-minded students all starting out together at UW Tacoma as Milgard Direct Admits
- Connect and grow with your cohort in a 2 credit autumn quarter Leadership Seminar focused on communication, teamwork and ethics in various leadership projects and activities
- And much more!
Interested?
We'll reach out to you:
Questions?
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND PREREQUISITE REQUIREMENTS
During the first two years at UW Tacoma, students work on completing general education requirements as well as lower-division business courses.
- TBGEN 111: Leadership Seminar
- TACCT 210: Financial Accounting I
- TACCT 220: Financial Accounting II
- TACCT 230: Managerial Accounting
- TMATH 110: Introductory Statistics with Applications
- TBGEN 218: Business Law
- TBECON 220 or TECON 200: Introduction to Microeconomics
- TBECON 221 or TECON 201: Introduction to Macroeconomics
- English Composition
Milgard Direct Admission students must meet the following requirements before declaring a formal option in business:
- A cumulative GPA of at least a 2.75 in all college coursework.
- A cumulative GPA of at least a 2.75 in business prerequisites: accounting, business law, economics, and statistics.
- Business prerequisites and English Composition may not be taken P/F or S/NS. The minimum acceptable grade in these prerequisites is 2.0.
All business students have to complete:
- 35 credits of upper-division business core courses
- 30-35 credits upper-division business courses
- 180 credits (minimum) to graduate with a BABA degree.
- A 1.7 minimum grade in all upper-division business coursework.
- A 2.0 minimum cumulative GPA in all upper-division business courses.
- In order to maintain eligibility for the Milgard Direct Admission program, admitted students must make progress toward the business degree.
- Direct Admission students must show satisfactory academic performance each quarter to continue in the program. Students dropping below a 2.5 cumulative GPA may be dismissed from the Direct Admission program.
- Direct Admission students who reach 105 credits and are not yet ready to declare a business option due to lack of prerequisite completion or low GPA may be dismissed from the Direct Admission program.
- Students who are dismissed from the Direct Admission program will be coded as pre-major and must apply to the Milgard School of Business if they still want to pursue a business degree.
Newly admitted Direct Admission students may be awarded a Milgard scholarship. This scholarship is applied toward UW Tacoma tuition and fees only and will be paid in six equal installments in the autumn, winter, and spring quarters of the student’s first two academic years at UW Tacoma. To receive the scholarship, Direct Admission students must enroll full-time each award quarter, with a minimum of 12 credits. Students who switch to a different major or are dropped from the Direct Admission program due to academic performance will forfeit their scholarship. At the end of their first academic year, they must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 to maintain the scholarship for the following academic year. At the conclusion of this 2-year scholarship period, students may apply for Milgard scholarships that are competitive and open to all Milgard students.
