Graduate StudiesGraduate Degree Programs (MS, PhD) and Admission ProcessJump to:
All degrees require independent research as well as basic and specialized courses. Entering students are assigned three-person Advisory Committees to assist them in planning their degree programs and to help monitor progress toward their degree. Ultimately, the roles of these committees are taken over by formal thesis or dissertation committees selected by the students to complement their unique research and career objectives. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of the Oceanography field of study is emphasized in its core course and distribution requirements. All advanced degree students must take three core courses and at least one advanced course outside of their subdiscipline, in addition to the specific requirements of their major discipline. Students can advance to M.S. candidacy upon successful completion of the core courses, and most complete the requirements for the M.S. degree en route to the Ph.D. However, with Advisory Committee approval, a student may petition to be examined for direct advancement to Ph.D. candidacy. Ph.D. candidates must also pass a Comprehensive Examination within 18 months of admission to the Ph.D. program. Reading knowledge of a foreign language is required only for the Ph.D. Both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees require a minimum of 36 semester credit hours, including 24 credits of course work and 12 credits of thesis or dissertation research, demonstrated competence in computer programming, and 30 days of field experience. All requirements for the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees should usually be completed within three and six years of admission, respectively. Admissions and Financial AidStudents are generally admitted to the Graduate Program in Oceanography ONLY if a member of the graduate faculty will 'sponsor' that student, indicating that they are provisionally willing to serve as that student's advisor and to provide financial support. For this reason it is very important that prospective applicants contact appropriate faculty members well before the January 15 or August 1 / September 1 application deadlines. A list of our Regular and Cooperating Graduate Faculty can be found here. Applications to the Graduate Program in Oceanography are reviewed by all of the Graduate Faculty in the student's subdiscipline. Applicants are expected to have a strong background in basic science or engineering, generally an undergraduate major in physics, chemistry, geology, geophysics, engineering, mathematics, microbiology, zoology, botany, or a related field. Regardless of major, an applicant must have completed mathematical training including calculus through ordinary differential equations and vector calculus. Students lacking such training are considered to have a deficiency in mathematics and are required to take OCN/GG 312. Entering students who have had such formal training must demonstrate a working knowledge of calculus by taking a mathematics proficiency examination. Students who are judged to have a mathematical deficiency based on their performance on this examination must take OCN/GG 312. Graduate students who are required to take UH undergraduate courses to make up for deficiencies in their undergraduate training or math proficiency must earn at least a grade of B in those courses. An applicant must also have a year each of physics and chemistry. The well-prepared student will have covered classical thermodynamics and will have had a semester each of biology and geology. GRE scores (general only) are necessary for admission review. TOEFL scores are required of foreign applicants for whom English is not their primary language. Most of the Department's graduate students receive financial support as Research Assistants on federally-funded research grants and contracts. The Department also has several state-funded Teaching Assistantships. In addition, scholarships in varying amounts are awarded annually on a competitive basis from funds available from the:
Student loans are available through the Gary C. Niemeyer Memorial Fund as well as through the Friends of Oceanography. Applications and required formsAll the information that needs to be submitted can be found in this checklist (PDF). The official application form is available at the University of Hawaii Graduate Division Admissions page. The application and supporting documents become the property of the University and are not returned or available for distribution.
Application Forms for Admission and Financial Aid are also available by writing to:
Deadlines: For U.S. applicants, the deadlines for submission are January 15 for Fall admission and September 1 for Spring admission. For foreign applicants, the corresponding deadlines are January 15 and August 1.
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The Oceanography Department offers master's and
doctoral programs in three sub-disciplines: 
Forms required by the Department can be found here:
