MLIS Residential & Online: Prepare to Apply Online
The online application opens annually on September 1. Before you apply online, we recommend gathering the necessary information, preparing your personal statement and supplemental responses, and saving them as separate electronic documents. These steps will allow you to copy and paste your prepared statements into the online application. If you try to compose your answers online, the session may time out.
You will be asked to enter the following information on the online application:
1. Test Scores
If you are applying to the Residential or Online MLIS program, you will be asked to enter your GRE scores on the Graduate School application. If you are applying to the Law MLIS program, you will be asked to enter your LSAT scores on the Information School application. (Law MLIS applicants need not submit the GRE.)
2. Resume or Curriculum Vitae
Upload an electronic copy of your curriculum vitae or résumé, in Microsoft Word, RTF, or PDF format. Your curriculum vitae or résumé should include the following information:
- Work experience related to the library and information professions (include employer, position title, and dates of employment)
- Other types of employment experience (include employer, position title, and dates of employment)
- Involvement with volunteer, community, and/or diversity-related activities (include organization, position title , and dates of service)
- Relevant honors, awards, publications and presentations
3. Three Recommendations
On the UW Graduate School application you will be asked to provide names and contact information for three persons from whom you have requested recommendations. Your recommenders will be sent an e-mail prompt with instructions for submitting their letter of recommendation online once you activate their names as ready for the e-mail instructions. Requesting your letters of recommendation online will allow you to see when the letters have been submitted. Additional instructions are available within the online UW Graduate School application.
Request recommendations from three people who know you well and who are able to comment on your academic competence, ability to engage in graduate study, and potential for future success in the library and information science professions, or who can comment on your employment experience. Unless academic- or work-related, do not submit recommendations from family members, clergy, or friends.
Though we prefer that your recommenders submit their letters through the online option, they can also opt to send a letter via regular mail. If they choose this option, the recommendation should be written on company or organizational letterhead and sent with a completed MLIS Residential or Online Recommendation Cover Sheet.
Recommenders who choose the regular mail option should send their letter to:
MLIS Resdential & Online Admissions Committee
Information School
370 Mary Gates Hall, Box 352840
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-2840
4. Personal Statement of educational and professional goals
Your statement should communicate to the Admissions Committee your aspirations for your future in the library and information science professions. Among other things, it could discuss:
- What you hope to accomplish from this program
- Your reasons for choosing the Information School and our MLIS program
- Your tentative career goals for your professional career
- Your experience with information technology
- Your leadership experience and potential for leadership in the profession
We will use your personal statement to assess your writing ability. Your Personal Statement should be between 750-1000 words.
The Information School believes that diversity contributes to the intellectual and social enrichment of the School. We welcome applicants who have varied cultural experiences and educationally or economically diverse backgrounds. If you wish to have these factors included in the review of your application, please include in your statement a section concerning relevant factors such as personal history, family background, and influences on your intellectual development. This statement could include cultural and educational opportunities (or lack thereof), social and economic disadvantages that you may have had to overcome, and the ways in which these experiences affected you.
Please remember that your Personal Statement is limited to 1000 words.
5. Supplemental question
*NOTE: The supplimental question for the Autumn 2009 application is in process and will be posted by the time the online application opens on September 1.
We recommend that you prepare the answer to this question first as a text document (e.g., in a Word document) and copy and paste in into the text box in the online application. Double-check your formatting after you paste text.
If you have questions about the application process, please contact the Information School’s Office of Student and Academic Services (OSAS) by e-mail at either mlis@washington.edu or onlinemlis@washington.edu, or by phone at 206-543-1794.