I have a BS in biomedical engineering, been in genomics research for three years and I've co-authored 5 publications. US citizen.
I think the main thing with UW was that I had a connection through a postdoc I met at a Hackathon a few years ago, she got me in touch with a bunch of PIs there. I have a very smart friend with similar background and research experience who applied to UW and didn't get an interview, I don't really understand why I would and she wouldn't since she's been in a *very* good lab for the last three years (but she did get an interview at Hopkins already)