The Basics
Why Choose Hawaii?
A+ Features
Needs Improvement
New Collegiette on Campus
All About Academics
Learn From the Best
Interests & Involvement
Team Spirit
Girl Power
Food & Drink
Social Scene
Dorm Life
Exploring Hawaii
Learn More!
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The Basics
Location: Honolulu, HI (2500 Campus Rd)
Funding: Public
Size: 14,257 undergraduate students, 5,912 graduate students
Percent Women: 56%
Tuition (one year): $10,000 (in-state), $27,000 (out-of-state)
Most Popular Majors: Art/Art Studies, General Biology/Biological Sciences, General Hospitality Administration/Management, Other
Greek Life: Yes
Acceptance Rate: 71% as of 2010
For more information about financial aid, scholarships, majors, study abroad, and average test scores, visit the University of Hawaii's website at www.hawaii.edu/admissions.
Why Choose Hawaii?
"Because it's Hawaii!!"
"The girls. It is very diverse. There is a wide variety of very tan, Hapa girls with nice smiles."
“The campus is smaller so it’s easy to get to know your peers and everyone is super friendly – lifelong friends!”
“UH is really close to the beach – even the far ones are easily accessible; it makes the school work worth it.”
“Hawaii is the most relaxed college campus I’ve ever been on.”
"The class sizes are smaller than those you might get on the mainland; it makes the learning personable and relationships with teachers better."
"The new rec center is really nice and it's never too crowded so you'll be able to get a good workout!"
"Polynesian guys."
A+ Features
"The cultural diversity at Manoa makes it a really cool place because you get to meet so many different kinds of people, ethnicity and personality wise. And everyone is so chill here so it's easy to meet and get along with people.""The campus is beautiful and always so green.""It took a while but the new rec center looks really good. And it also makes campus center a much more chill, hang out spot for students inside and out.""Going to school in Hawaii means beach weather all the time. You can just cruise over to the beach after class, before class, or in between classes. It's a good life.""There are never-ending adventures you can go on in Hawaii.""Everywhere you look there are rainbows!"Needs Improvement
“The fact that our campus security are never seen outside of their cars. As much as I love that they will drive us anywhere, I want the campus to feel safer."
"Anyone who goes here knows Manoa is construction central. They need to work on doing quicker construction and renovations, because it really inconveniences students and anyone else walking around on campus.""We definitely need more school spirit here!""More variety in dining hall food.""They should make student fees and class fees go towards more of the required materials that students end up paying for themselves anyway.""It would be so much better if we could have football games on campus one day. There would just be such a better turn out and more student support.""We need more cool artists to come out here and do performances!"New Collegiette on Campus
“If you’re a freshman, there’s a 99% you’ll be living in the Hale Aloha Towers.”
“In the towers, since they are cylindrical, you’re room is basically a slice of pie, so you have to condense your life down to half a slice of pie…. but, don’t worry about the room being so small, between classes and exploring your new island home, you’ll almost never be in there.”
“Being in such close quarters with so many people going through the same triumphs and troubles makes your first year of college one you’ll never forget.”
“You’ll probably have mostly freshman friends, but if you wander of to the apartments on a Friday or Saturday night, you’ll definitely make some upperclassmen friends.”
“All I’m gonna say is, you will be in the courtyard at 4:07 in the morning at some point. The fire alarm gets pulled at the worst possible times.”
“Go to the corny things put on by NSO (New Student Orientation) and student housing, at least in the beginning. It’s a good way to meet people and make friends. Not to mention, they lure you in with free food and free fun all around the island!”
All About Academics
“Some programs are stronger than others, but all in all you’ve made a good investment here at UH.”
“If you want to do anything research related, this is the place to be. We’ve got a land, sea, and space grant, which is really rare for most schools.”
“Professors come here from all over the world, so you get an international educational experience with a wide range of teaching styles to offer.”
“It doesn’t take much to get good grades for 80% of the classes you take. Go to class, do your homework, and half the job is already done.”
“Finals week can be brutal, but the school provides a lot of free food, so it’s worth it.”
“Even though the classes get harder as you go, if you’ve found the right major, and you’re passionate enough, it’ll be nearly impossible for you to do badly.”
Learn From the Best
“For incoming freshman, definitely take advantage of a great program called ACE. You can choose to be in a cluster of classes with 14 other freshman, have a mentor to help you out during your first semester AND you get to register before all other freshman. Having a mentor help you with adjusting to college life and plan fun cluster outings really made my freshman semester the best experience!”
“The professors really make the class. You could really love the subject or hate it depending on how the professor is. At UH Manoa, it’s kind of a hit or miss. There are tons of amazing professors, but there are also some not so good ones. It’s like that at every university. In my experience at UHM I’ve had mostly great professors. Rate My Professor is very biased and not always accurate. But I always read decipher through all the comments, trying to find the truth behind the bias. In that sense, it’s pretty useful.”
“If you take Pysch 100, you need to take it from Dr. Andrew Dewald. He always talks about Batman and stuff so he always keeps the class entertaining but at the same time you learn so much.”
“The best English professor I had was Dr. Hirata-Knight. She has such a brilliant mind, and really knows her stuff. You definitely come out of her class a much better writer and thinker than you were coming in.”
“The best professor I’ve had at UH Manoa was Dean Cost. He teaches Business Law. Even if you aren’t planning on going into business or law, it’s a really great class to take. Professor Cost really cares about how his students do and gives some freebie questions on his exams. Plus, he’s the owner of the famous “Viagra Corvette”.”
Interests & Involvement
“There are a decent amount of clubs and extra curricular activities at UH, you just have to know where to look, online is the best”
“I like doing intramurals, they have all sports, offer games, and have playoffs.”
“For intramurals you have to sign up online, you can either make your own team or be a free agent.”
“If you’re in business club you’re in luck because there are many clubs up in BUSAD that offer you opportunities, internships, and just hands on experience overall”
“Starting a club is pretty easy, just have to submit your club proposal and find a teacher sponsor, I think”
Team Spirit
“We are very passionate; especially at our football games. It gets pretty intense. Seeing all the screaming and dedicated fans rooting for our Rainbow Warriors and being a part of that…it’s a very special feeling.”
“UH Manoa has a variety of intermural sports and different tournaments from soccer to futsal to ultimate Frisbee to inner-tube water polo…we got it all! There’s no pressure to be at the ‘pro level’ either, everyone does intermurals to meet people, have fun, and oh yeah, have a chance at winning the $100 first place prize!”
“I played intermural soccer with a couple of my friends and it was crazy fun. We met not only other students, but also a lot of the international students from India, Venezuela, and England. Needless to say, with them on our team, we won! I’d definitely recommend anyone and everyone to play at least one intermural sport at Manoa before graduating –that should be on everyone’s bucket list!”
“The UH Manoa Marching Band, Color Guard, and Dance crew are amazingly talented! Every time I walk through the gates and enter the field, the Marching Band always pumps me up and gets everyone in the spirit with that drum line. They play some pretty sick beats. Go UH Rainbow Warriors!”
“Last season our basketball team’s promoter was Jamie Smith. He also worked for the NBA Boston Celtics. Last season was the only season where there were absolutely no seats left in the student section. I know he pays for a lot of stuff out of pocket. Once, at the Star Wars night, everyone in the student section got Light Sabers! He definitely adds more spirit to our UH Rainbow Warriors.”
“Being from Hawai’i in the middle of the Pacific, UH Manoa has a tradition very special and sacred at every football game. Our football players perform the ‘Haka’ before the kick off; it’s a Polynesian war cry from New Zealand. It gets everyone pumped up before the game, and it probably scares the other team since they don’t know how we do. It makes our UH football games special.”
Girl Power
“There are definitely more girls that go to this campus than guys”
“The women’s center is located in QLC, you can go to them anytime in need.”
“There is a whole women’s studies section offered, so choices are not limited.”
“Being a women on campus is very diverse. There are many different cultures, races, and ethnicities of women around campus. It’s really neat to meet different kinds of women.”
“Since Hawaii is hot all the time many girls like to dress really relaxed, shorts, tanks, and slippers.”
“There are a select few that dress up, which is nice for a change, but many like to stay comfy and relaxed.”
Food & Drink
"My favorite place to go on campus is Ba-Le because Manoa Gardens is inside. It was actually the first bar I went to when I turned 21. My birthday was on a weekday so I went in between classes and bought my first legal drink. It's so convinient and I always get spring rolls and a 32 oz. beer after classes on Friday. The pad thai and pho aren't bad either."
"The Curb is currently one of my favorite coffee places, on or off campus. The owner, Ben, serves up good iced quad-shot caramel lattes and he's cute! I get sad on the weekend when it's closed. The Da Spot food truck is really really good too. Their mocha aina smoothie is so yummy."
"The Hale Aloha Caf has the quality of food you would expect from a college cafeteria, but it's cheap for the quantity of food you can eat, and the ladies that work their are so sweet. Thursday Premium Nights are the best! I love when they have taco or ceasar salad and the sandwhich bar is so good. I have some good memories of going to brunch my freshman year with our big group of friends and getting omelets while we talk about everything that happened the night before. I gained a lot of weight that way."
"I get the ahi sushi from Campus Center at least a couple times a week and I'm so excited now that they have poke bowls too! Sometimes I switch it up and get a bento or subway. I'm so happy they finally put a Starbucks in CC and that all of the construction is done so we can sit out on the balcony and people watch. I just wish the line for Starbucks wasn't so long all of the time."
"I think that there's a lot of really great places and opportunities but that they're usually pretty obsolete in terms of finding them. They're something that you really have to search for and get to know the area. There's a lot of really small unknown bakeries and eateries around Manoa that are super great once you find them, like Watanabe bakery, that are really trendy and cute and great."
"I love Subway. I always eat at Subway. The salad place in Campus Center is great too. When I had a meal plan, I wished Paradise Palms took meal plans though. Now that I don't have a meal plan, it doesn't really matter either way so I eat there a lot."
Social Scene
"There's pretty much no greek life here. I know there's a couple frats and sororities but it's not a major part of the school. I've been to a couple events thrown by one of the frats, and I think one of them has a house, but it could definitely be better. Back home the parties are crazy so when I came here it was a lot mellower. I wouldn't say UH is a party school. Everyone is super chilled out."
"I like to go out but sometimes I'd rather just sit in and have a movie night with my friends. It's hard though 'cause you can hear everyone else raging and yelling outside so I feel like I'm missing out. My friends and I like to make hurricane popcorn and watch Disney movies or literally any movie with Channing Tatum in it. I know the school has some alternatives too, like on campus movie nights or events in the courtyard. We just went to Taste of Manoa on campus and that was great. There was tons of free food and they were giving away all kinds of stuff. The one event I look forward to every year is Aloha Bash, where they have a bunch of reggae/jawaiian bands play at the amphitheatre on campus."
"My favorite part about UH is how easy it is to meet new people. Everyone is so friendly and even if you meet them just one time, they'll say hi to you if they see you on campus the next week. One thing I don't like is how guys here all just want to hook up and not be in relationships. It makes it hard to meet someone to date who isn't immature and actually wants to be part of a couple."
"Before I was 21 I used to go to dorm parties, but those get so hot and sweaty and there's so many people. Now that I'm 21 I like being able to go off campus and not worry about RAs or getting written up. I like to go to first Friday in Chinatown or go bar hopping in Waikiki. My favorite places are Moose McGillycuddy amd Kelly O'Neils. Waikiki is just hard to get back from if you don't feel like walking all the way back to campus, but walking can be fun as long as you're in a big group so it doesn't get sketchy. I recently discovered The Study, which is in that hotel The Modern. It's pretty upscale but it's cool because it's hidden behind a bookshelf in the lobby and it's right next to Addiction."
"There's some events and places that everyone goes to. We always go to Thursday nights at Tropics because it's college night and they play throwback music. It's packed and it's impossible to go without running into people from class or friends from campus. The same thing happens on first Fridays and basically at every bar in Waikiki."
"The rave scene here is not bad. More and more people come each year. The only issue is with venues. I remember when they used to have them at the water park, but now it's always at smaller places or indoors. A lot of people do drugs and it gets crazy. I know it's not for everyone but if you like EDM, I think you should go to a rave at least once just to see what it's like. The people are cool and friendly and there's no pressure to do drugs if you don't want to."
Dorm Life
“I love living at the dorms because it’s close to work and to school. Being an art student I don’t have to worry about commuting as much, and I can spend more time in the studio.”
“Since I live far away, I have no choice but I love living on-campus because I’m involved in a lot of things on campus so it’s really convenient. A lot of my friends dorm too so we’re all able to hangout together.”
"It's convenient!"
"I really enjoy the convenience of forming. Sure beats driving in traffic and spending hours of my day on the road. Plus I don't have to worry about getting to class on time, in a sense that I don't have to worry about unpredictable incidences like car accidents, road work, and even the weather."
"I like my privacy! I'm in a dorm where I have my own room, but share a bathroom with 3 other people. I don't mind sharing it and taking turns cleaning it, but I like having my own personal space and not have to worry if I'm bothering someone else."
"You get to meet new people from different places and you can learn a lot about independence and doing things for yourself."
Exploring Hawaii
"With so many local sweets and treats, Leonard's malasadas are a must eat!""UH is close to so many diverse restaurants part of exploring is eating the culture!""Sunrise or sunset, each are special moments you shouldnt forget. This is a must while living in Hawaii, watching the sky light up with vibrant colors is incomparable."A little mud, a little sweat - hikes in Hawaii are the best!""Hawaii has some beautiful waterfalls that can only be accessed by foot, its a really good way to bond with others and make new friends."Learn More!
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