If you are a SEFS’ prospective graduate student, please use this form to RSVP for our visit day on March 13, 2026. Your RSVP is requested by March 9, 2026.

Welcome Event Agenda

Friday, March 13, 2026

Exact Room Locations to be Announced

9 – 9:30am | Light Breakfast 

Visiting prospective students and partners, current students, and faculty. RSVP required. 

9:30 – 9:55am | Visiting Prospective Students Welcome 

Brief welcome greeting from Dan Brown, Director of SEFS, and Sergey Rabotyagov, Associate Director of Academic Programs, for visiting prospective students. Attend session virtually (button)

9:55 – 10:45am | Meet SEFS Director and Associate Director for Academic Programs 

Dan Brown, Director of SEFS, and Sergey Rabotyagov, Associate Director of Academic Programs, meet with prospective students and answer questions. Learn more about the program requirements, curriculum, degree timeline. etc. 

10:45 – 11:30am | Campus tour 

Join us for a tour of SEFS’ facilities and the UW campus.

Noon – 1pm | Lunch 

Visiting prospective students and partners, current students, and faculty. RSVP required. 

1 – 4:00pm | Graduate Student Symposium (GSS) 

Welcome message from SEFS Director, Professor Dan Brown followed by short (10-15 min) presentations of current research from SEFS’ graduate students. Sessions highlight the diverse research interests and interdisciplinary work of our students and faculty. 

All day (10am – 5pm) | Meet potential faculty advisor, check out campus, talk with fellow students

Feel free to come and go from the GSS to explore the campus or anything that interests you. We recommend scheduling a time to meet with your potential future advisor on Friday if you haven’t already. We will provide lunch and encourage you to join to meet current and other prospective students, faculty, and staff, but if you aren’t able to come to our provided lunch, there are lots of other lunch options nearby on University Way or at the Husky Union Building (called the HUB).

4pm | GSS Reception, Hosted by the famous Dead Elk Society 

Join other students and faculty to unwind and celebrate after the symposium. This is a great opportunity to chat with members of the SEFS community who share your research interests and learn more about what it’s like to be a graduate student at SEFS. All refreshments will be offered free of charge. (This event will be hosted by the Dead Elk Society (DES), a registered student organization that “works to promote social interaction and networking between graduate students, faculty and staff in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.” The DES is basically the department’s social club. You can learn more about quarterly and annual events hosted by DES on the Dead Elk Society website.

Reimbursement Process

For those who will be traveling to campus for the Visit Day, we may be able to reimburse some travel expenses for the cost of your visit.

For anyone who needs to travel more than 50 miles to get to Seattle and is in travel status for longer than 11 hours, we can provide support for your travel expenses.

For those who are including airfare receipts with your reimbursement request, your maximum amount of reimbursement will be $500. For those submitting travel receipts without any airfare, the amount of reimbursement will be capped at $300. 

Pre-Travel Preparation

When choosing your form of travel (in regards to plane, train, bus, or mileage), travelers are required to choose the transportation with the lowest overall cost from your home to the UW. If you live out of state and you choose to drive instead of fly, we are only allowed to reimburse mileage up to the cost of airfare so you will need to get a quote now for a flight from your home to Seattle. This “comparison airfare” will need to be included when you submit your travel claim reimbursement request, which will set the maximum dollar amount for mileage we can reimburse you.

Expenses we are able to reimburse include:

• Transportation to Seattle: Airfare, train fare, bus fare, taxi, ride share fees, parking, or mileage if driving here (we are able to reimburse up to the amount of the most affordable mode of transportation).
• Lodging: For any lodging costs, dates of lodging must coincide with your visit to campus.

How To Submit Reimbursement Requests:

After you complete your travel to Seattle, gather your receipts and documentation to request reimbursement in this easy three-step process: 

1. Download this Travel Authorization (TA) PDF to your computer so you can complete your personal details. Save as a new file, with your last name in the file name, “LastName, TA, StudentVisitDay, 2026.3.13”. Please fill in the highlighted blank fields.
2. Download this Travel Reimbursement Worksheet (TRW) PDF to your own computer so you can complete your personal details. Save as a new file, with your last name in the file name, “LastName, TRW, StudentVisitDay, 2025.3.7”. Please fill in the highlighted blank fields.
3. Email your documents:
   • Save your receipts as PDF files. You can do this by scanning your receipts or by taking pictures and saving the pictures as PDF files when you download them. Please note that each scanned document’s image must be complete, clear, and easy to read.
   • Email your filled out TA and TRW forms along with all your receipt PDFs to sefsfin@uw.edu with the subject line:
     “Travel – Prospective Student Visit, FirstName LastName”

If you have questions or concerns, please email sefsfin@uw.edu

Traveling to Campus

If you need help planning your commute to campus, the UW Transportation Services team can help.

U-PASS

The U-PASS is a “bus pass plus more,” and is just for members of the University of Washington. The pass is added to your UW “Husky Card” (UW ID card) and is automatically activated starting on the first day of each quarter if you are registered for classes enough in advance. This pass gives you unlimited access not only to local Seattle buses and Light Rail, but also Community Transit buses, and several other regional transit options (including water taxi).

King County Metro Transit

King County Metro Transit is the major transit system of King County (in which Seattle is located). This includes mainly bus networks throughout Seattle and surrounding areas. The University District is a major hub for transit, so if you are able to find somewhere to live that is on a direct line via bus or light rail, that can be a good option. King County Metro’s site has a handy trip planner that you can use to evaluate how well different potential living areas are connected to the University of Washington, as well as other areas that might be of importance to you.

Link Light Rail

Link Light Rail runs from just south of Sea-Tac Airport all the way to the University of Washington Husky Stadium. If you live near a Light Rail stop, it makes for a reliable commute to campus. Three new stops are scheduled to open in 2021: University District, Roosevelt, and Northgate.

Community Transit

Community Transit serves Snohomish County (north of King County). They have express buses that connect Snohomish Country to Seattle.

Sound Transit

Sound Transit serves commuters in the Central Puget Sound area. Their site includes a map of the Puget Sound area on which you can track transportation lines from all around the region (including King County Metro and Community Transit).

Sound Transit also owns the Light Rail system, although King County Metro operates the Central Link Line, which currently runs between UW campus and Sea-Tac airport (SEA), with stops in the Capitol Hill neighborhood and downtown as well as many neighborhoods in South Seattle on the way to the airport).

Commute by Bicycle

UW Transportation Services provides lots of information for bicycle commuters at the University of Washington. They help plan routes, and even have a bike buddy program to pair new bicycle commuters in Seattle with those more experienced with the routes and traffic.

Park & Ride Lots

For some, it might make sense to combine driving and public transportation on the commute to campus (because parking on campus is quite expensive). Park & Ride Lots are designed to facilitate this type of commute, by giving commuters a place to store their vehicle at locations that are public transportation hubs. If you want to own a car (certainly not a requirement in Seattle) and you choose to live further out from campus, you might look into this option.

UW Parking Services

Parking at the University of Washington is quite expensive due to limited space and as a way of encouraging alternative forms of transport. Check the UW Parking Services site for more information about parking options on campus.

Sea-Tac Airport

The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) is located just south of Seattle and is the major airport in our area. Link lightrail offers easy, affordable transportation (free with an active U-PASS) from the airport to the University of Washington. 

Accommodations

Here is a non-comprehensive listing of hotels either within walking distance of campus, or in the vicinity of the Link light rail which has two stations on or near the UW campus. 

Northgate Hotels

• Courtyard Marriott by Seattle Northgate
• Hampton Inn & Suites

University District Hotels

• Residence Inn by Marriott Seattle
• Graduate Seattle
• Silver Cloud University District
• Watertown Hotel
• University Inn

Downtown Hotels

• Hotel Max
• Executive Hotels Pacific

Pioneer Square Hotels

• Best Western Plus Pioneer Square

International District Hotels

• Hostelling International Seattle at the American Hotel

Stadium Hotels

• Silver Cloud Hotel – Seattle Stadium

Graduate Student Symposium schedule coming soon.

Familiarize Yourself with the UW Campus

Ahead of Visit Day, please familiarize yourself with our campus through a variety of virtual tours. These include a virtual general campus tour, a housing and dining tour, an Indigenous walking tour, a library tour, and a variety of video campus tours.

• Graduate Funding Information Services can be found at the GFIS website
• Husky Health and Well-Being – students can access health and well-being services like counseling services, health promotion & prevention and medical services through Husky Health and Well-Being
• UW Intramural Recreation
• UW Campus Housing and Food Services
• Library and Research Services

Liz Collier
Office of Student and Academic Services Manager & Graduate Program Advisor
Anderson Hall 108
sefsgpa@uw.edu

Sergey Rabotyagov
SEFS Associate Director; Associate Professor
rabotyag@uw.edu