A C A D E M I C S

Admission, Initial Assesment, and Advising

NOTE: Visit the UH Graduate Division web site for additional information.

Students are admitted for graduate study on the basis of their scholastic records. Degree candidates for the MS program usually have a bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline that provides an adequate background in mathematics, physics, and mechanics. Students with mathematics, physics or other science backgrounds may be admitted to the program, but are required to take specific undergraduate engineering courses to satisfy the pre-program requirements as outlined in Coursework Requirements under Academic Program. Students seeking admission to the PhD program should have an MS in engineering or equivalent qualification. However, exceptionally well-qualified students with a BS in engineering, who do not have a master's degree, may petition to be admitted to the PhD program directly.

Students submit their admission applications to the University of Hawaii Graduate Division, which will perform initial screening to assure satisfaction of the university admission requirements. The department chair then evaluates the applicants and determines their admissibility to the Ocean and Resources Engineering program. The department chair also provides consultation to applicants and matches applicants of research assistantships with research projects. Official scores in the GRE General Test are required for all PhD applicants. Entering non-native English speaking students are required to have taken a TOEFL examination to evaluate their English language abilities. Depending on their TOEFL scores, these students will be individually evaluated at the University of Hawaii English Language Institute and assigned English-as-Second-Language (ESL) courses if necessary. Detailed requirements for admission are set forth in the General and Graduate Information Catalog, available at the University of Hawaii bookstore for a nominal fee. The deadlines for submission of applications are February 15 (foreign students) and March 15 (U.S. students) and August 15 (foreign) and September 15 (U.S. students) for Fall and Spring semesters, respectively.

Upon admission, the department chair meets with each incoming student at a preliminary conference to discuss the program requirements and determine any pre-program deficiencies. The University of Hawaii Graduate Division requires that all transfer credits must not be used in obtaining a prior degree and must be approved during the first semester of enrollment. The Ocean and Resources Engineering program allows up to six transfer credits of courses taken elsewhere. These courses must be equivalent to the core and option-area courses of the program and approved by the instructors upon evaluation of the course notes, assignments, and exam questions. The department chair will then recommend to the Associate Dean of Graduate Division to approve the transfer credits. The student identifies an area of study from one of the three option areas, and selects an academic advisor from the departmental faculty, who specializes in that area of study. The department chair serves as the advisor to the students without an undergraduate engineering degree until they satisfy the pre-program requirements and select academic advisors from their areas of study. The academic advisors review the coursework of the students every semester until they progress to the research stage and are advised by their research advisors, who are also tasked to monitor the students for three years after their graduation. All the information is recorded in the student progress form, which provides data for subsequent program assessments.

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