University of Hawaii at Manoa Top Questions

There are many lecture hall classes for the General education requirements. Luckily, not all lecture hall teachers are awful. Many are actually interested in the topic that they are speaking about and truly interact with the students. Also, the major classes are very hands on, which I truly appreciate.

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They're ok. I would like harder classes. I'd like to have to put some effort in to get straight As. But there's too many idiots here.

The academics at my school are comfortable. They ask enough of you to challenge you but don't have unreal expectations about learning and pace of classes. My favorite class currently is Religion 150 with Professor J. Sakashita. It is a very unique class with one of the best educators at its helm. Professor Sakashita is one of those unique professors who can make you laugh every class and makes it so fun that you look forward to attending, but at the same time he really drives home his point and gets you learning. My major is biology and I love the bio department so far. Both of my bio teachers have been very good educators with different styles but both very aeffective. I think UH Manoa is pretty balanced in terms of learning to learn or for a job.

Academics at UHM are just like any other college, you have your challenging classes and then you have the easy 4.0 classes. Your academic experience will really depend on what you plan on majoring in and how intense you want your course load to be. For example, I am a Kinesiology/Rehabiliation Sciences major and I take a LOT of science classes. They're challenging, but you make the effort to go talk to your professors, they will help you.

In the nursing school at UHM the classes are really great and personal. every teacher knows every student and everyone gets really close with their classmates. yes ofcourse there is a lot of work and clinical time that we put in but for us nursing students who had to work hard just to be accepted into the program, we love what we do. every day of class is hands on and is not like normal lecture classes. nursing is awesome

The best thing about the Unversity of Hawaii (Manoa Campus) is its diverse fields of study and opportunities for success. There are a number of resources available and being a part of clubs on campus is a great way to seek these connections. The one thing I would change would be implementing more of a community oriented environment so that students will feel comfortable to engage as a collective entity. The campus is rather large, therefore the sense of school pride is only apparent among the select few who attend games and other campus events. Outside of classes, I spend most of my time either in the one of the two libraries or at campus center, the hub of student activity on campus. University of Hawaii is located at the base of Manoa valley, a residential district and minutes away from Waikiki beach so there really isn't much of a college town. The most concentrated "college town" feel would be in the dorm complex. Regarding UH's administration, I have been lucky to have highly qualified professors, lecturers, and mentors so far. In terms of academic advising, admissions, and student services, the administration as a whole could improve upon regarding the needs of every student. The experience I'll always remember during my short college career thus far is the first and second day of second semester sophomore year. I just remember the whole day I carried with me an infectious and cheery disposition because I loved all my classes. I was telling everyone I knew, "I love school!." They sort of just laughed at me and said I won't be feeling this way for long. They were right, as the work load progressed significantly. I still, however, very much enjoy my classes. The most frequent student complaints I've heard are mainly administrative related. Overall improvement in the way things are done at the administrative level would be beneficial to all at UH.

The academics are okay at UHM. In some of the larger classes, you won't know your professor. Once you get into your major, your professor will most likely know your name. There are a lot of study sessions to help study for midterms and finals. The academic requirements can seem like a pain to take but if you choose the right classes, they can be really interesting! I think this school focuses on preparing its students to be job-ready and offer a lot of ways to get internships/co-ops during your study.

If it's important to you, the professors of smaller classes will remember your names, at least for the semester. The lecturers of course do not. But if you are in a small class, after a few weeks they will definitely remember your name. Also, the professors are open to meeting with students outside of class, but they can be busy themselves. Many are friendly though, but generally you have to be the one to approach them for a conversation more than just "hi". How often do students study? Depends on the students, the classes, etc. You have the students that skip classes all the time, and slack off, then there are the really studious ones, and many students that fall in between. Even some students that skip class all the time can pull of As if the class grades purely on exams (if they put in the effort outside of class to study of course). People do tend to be shy about class participation at first, but after a while you will see who are the people that will step up and talk throughout the semester, especially since class participation counts towards the grades in those smaller classes. Intellectual conversations outside of class? I guess it happens. I don't normally have them with my friends though, and I don't normally overhear many "intellectual" things I suppose. I'm sure there are people out there though. If you want to start it, start it, but I think the majority of people don't just have these kinds of conversations here. Some programs are competitive. I know nursing is extremely competitive here at UH.

For entry-level courses at the 100-level there is less interactions since the classes tend to be large. The course-work is general and not extremely challenging. However, the upper-division courses tend to be a little bit smaller, allowing for better interactions with professors. The professors are generally open-minded and available to students. The business school is a lot more organized and geared towards application of course work. I think their approach is to help students prepare for the future. Although there are some classes that are more book-based.

Come here for any Asian or Pacific language (I'm pretty sure you can't learn Marshallese anywhere else in the world), any type of Asian Studies (our library has 2 floors of Asian collections), Geophysics (volcanic islands), NOT Astronomy (go to UH Hilo where the observatory is!), Tourism Industry Management (Hawaii's biggest industry), Marine Bio/Oceanography (obviously), Tropical Environmental Studies, International Business (Schidler College of Business is like #20 in the world), and other related programs. I'm an anthropology major and I have to say the department is pretty solid, especially regarding Asia/Pacific anthro. Don't come here expecting to get a 'mainland-quality' education in many traditional liberal arts and sciences, unless you've heard otherwise from several sources. There will be decent programs, but mainland schools will be better.

First, most students start off as an arts and science major (or you could be a pre-major such as pre-business, pre-med, etc.). Because of this, most students will be attending bigger classes with over 100 students, so professors are likely to not remember your name unless you speak with them on a regular basis. As students progress into their major, classes are smaller (at the business school, we have about 40 students per class), and people generally know each other after the first year of business school. In the business school, we are able to spend time with the professors as majority of them have office hours where we can come in to ask for additional help. I have personally went to two of my professors outside of the classroom, and they have proven to be very helpful. In one case, one of my professors let my group come in and helped to create a code for our semester project (it has to do with Microsoft Access if anyone wanted to know specifically), and it was just something we would not be able to do on our own. I believe that at least for the business professors, most of them are making attempts to help students out with education in getting a job versus learning materials for the sake of learning. Although what would make the things we learned put to use is networking, whether it is with classmates around campus or within a club that brings in professionals.

Students don't study! No motivation.

Come here for any Asian or Pacific language (I'm pretty sure you can't learn Marshallese anywhere else in the world), any type of Asian Studies (our library has 2 floors of Asian collections), Geophysics (volcanic islands), NOT Astronomy (go to UH Hilo where the observatory is!), Tourism Industry Management (Hawaii's biggest industry), Marine Bio/Oceanography (duh), Enviromental Stuff focused on Tropical region (duh), International Business (Schidler College of Business is like #20 in the world), and other related programs. Don't come here expecting to get a 'mainland-quality' education in much else, unless you've heard otherwise from several sources. There will be decent programs, but really can't begin to compare with say any California or East Coast institution.

I am a psychology major and I have to say UHM was both challenging and rewarding. I was able to befriend many members of the faculty and they have helped me not only grow as an individual but also grow as a student. I was just recently accepted into graduate school, thanks to them : ).