The University of Hawaii Manoa

Date: Apr 17 2007
Major: History/Histories (art history/etc.) (This Major's Salary over time)
I transferred to this University after reading the terrible reviews. I went because it was far from home and always warm, in that way I wasn't dissapointed and you wont be either, in every other category you will be. I had no idea it was THIS bad. The grievances are too many to list but I'll give it a shot:

Academically this place is a joke. Many professors are either retired for real or retired in their heads, either way they aren't all there. This place is far away from the rest of academia and it shows - with the exception of a few fields that thrive here - astronomy, marine studies - this place is below average.

The examples are so widespread its hard to pick the best one. Lots of universities' library's offer access to important online databases - I've never seen such a poor selection. CHECK FOR YOURSELF, IM NOT LYING- Open to the public just goto the university library website.

The bureaucracy here is insane. Nothing is done on time, no offices know what is going on, many offices use student workers as a buffer between the real office workers and students who desperately need information. Need housing info? Financial aid help? Expect to be stonewalled by a fellow student who is as in the dark as you are. If you want to check this it can be done simple: PICK UP A TELEPHONE and call the Housing or Financial aid office and ask a simple question: is there going to be summer housing available and if so which facilities? They will not know the answer until probably 2 weeks before school starts. No one cares in these offices that students plan a good portion of their lives around information that is readily available in other schools - housing questions, how much aid will I get, what courses will be available? -(check the course listings - see how many classes have TBA for the professor, its crazy. so sometimes you cannot ratemyprofessor to see who is teaching a class you need to take.)

The dorms are falling apart. hahahah, yeah everyone says that, No Seriously. They are falling apart and you are paying top dollar for it. Check your room THOROUGHLY upon arrival, I didn't, then at the end of the semsester I noticed my closet DOESN'T HAVE A WALL, I filed a request for it to be fixed, nothing ever happened. Thats right, the sheetrock is unstable and theres a massive hole showing pipes and other junk. Pray you dont get a dorm near the ground, hawaii is full of bugs and the screens are perennially ripped. Invest in Bug spray, incense, its not uncommon for students to capture tiny geckos that run wild and bring them into their rooms to fight their enemies. (That is for real)

Nobody gives a shit about you in this school. Even though as out-of-state your double tuition is LITERALLY paying for AT LEAST two residents ('native' hawaiians) to goto this school (the real figure is closer to 4 or 6 as on top of reduced tuition residents get the lions share of financial aid) you are treated as a second class citizen. You are paying more to be treated like sh*t. Everyone here knows it and most people excuse it because HEY, ITS HAWAII! And in that way it makes up for it. I've never had such beautiful weather in my life, its extremely comfortable and you can get a lot done if you are willing to work, but be prepared for an inordinate amount of bullsh*t.