STUDENT & ALUMNI RESOURCES

Career Services Library

 Visit the Career Services Library to explore a variety of resources useful for career exploration and planning, job searching and applying to graduate school.  Resources include the following:

  • Job Listings

  • Experiential Listings

  • Salary Information

  • Employer Directories

  • Employer Literature

  • Employer Video Tapes

  • Reference Books

  • Employment Market Trends

  • Follow-up Surveys of Graduates

  • Job Skills Video Tapes

  • Career & Graduate Programs Video Tapes

  • Career-related Magazines

The Career Services Library is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.  

Computer Lab

Use IBM-compatible computers to search for employment information on the Internet and to create job and graduate school documents.  Typewriters are also available to complete job and graduate applications forms.  NOTE:  Users must bring a diskette to save computer documents and paper for printing.   

The Career Services Computer Lab is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Graduate School

A decision to apply to graduate school requires information gathering, planning, and preparation.  Check out the many resources offered by Career Services to assist in this process. 

  • Counseling appointment

  • Review of personal essays

  • Peterson’s Graduate Programs directories

  • References on admissions, personal statements, and financial aid

  • Video tapes:  “Applying to Graduate School"
                        “Getting Into Highly Competitive Graduate Schools”

For more discussion on applying to graduate school, click on the following for articles written by the CS staff:

Graduate School Information

Writing Personal Statements

Graduate School Information

If you are considering graduate studies at UHM (or any other school), please take time to find out about the particular programs you are or may be interested in.

  1. Speak with professors, instructors, and graduate students in departments here at UHM.

  2. Make an appointment with a Career Services counselor to discuss your plans.

  3. Evaluate why you want to go to graduate school.

You may want to visit the Professions Advising Center - http://www.advising.hawaii.edu/artsci/pac/ in Hawaii Hall room 102 for resources on law, medical, and health-related programs; and the Graduate Division offices in Spalding Hall room 354 for specific UHM information.

Also, be aware of application and test date deadlines. For Fall admission, many application deadlines are in January and February of the year you wish to enroll. For Spring admission, deadlines are near the end of summer. Therefore, you will need to start your efforts early. Of interest to you may be Career Services' credential file service where we store letters of recommendation written on your behalf by authors you have solicited.

Career Services conducts periodic workshops on applying to graduate school and has videotapes of past workshops. Some programs also send representatives to campus to speak at informational meetings, check the Recruitment schedule periodically. We also have videotapes from a small number of graduate and law schools, and other resource material that can help.

A selection of titles of books that are available for reference in the Career Services Library include:

  • Jumping Through The Hoops: A Survival Guide to Graduate School"

  • "Financing Graduate School"

  • and a number of directories of graduate programs, both nationwide and international.

Check with Hamilton Library if you wish to see versions of college and university catalogs on microfiche (near the Reference Desk). To search online for other publications and directories on graduate school go through the UHM Library home page - http://libweb.hawaii.edu/uhmlib/index.htm.

For more information on grad school topics, such as UHM programs, examinations, and for some links to other sites, visit the following websites:

University of Hawai'i at Manoa

   UHM Catalog
        http://www.hawaii.edu/catalog/

   Admissions and Records Office
        http://www.hawaii.edu/catalog/admrec

Other Graduate School Resources

   FinAid or financial aid resources
        http://www.finaid.com/

   Gradschools.com site
        http://www.gradschools.com/

   NACADA (National ACADEMIC ADVISING Association Technology in Advising
                  Commission)
        http://www.psu.edu/dus/ncta/

   Denver Paralegal Institute, for information on the paralegal profession and their
      programs
        http://www.paralegal-education.com/

   Peterson's site
        http://www.petersons.com/graduate/

   MBA Explorer, from Graduate Mgmt Admission Council
        http://www.gmat.org/

   US News Report articles
        http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/beyond/bchome.htm

Writing Personal Statements: Getting Started

When applying to graduate or professional schools or a scholarship program, you will more than likely be asked to submit a written personal statement along with other information or documents. All these data will be used by a screening committee to determine your suitability for the school, profession or program. Depending on the school, this personal statement may carry considerable weight in this determination.

Therefore, the personal statement is a critical element of the application package. It is intended to provide more information or added insight about you, and basically should reveal your goals, ideas and some personal history.

Your job is to provide the reader with a clear idea of who you are, what your goals are, and add information about yourself that may not be available elsewhere. How you accomplish this may depend on the program. Usually, specific information and questions or guidelines will be given on what you need to discuss. However, at times, no instructions may be given; it may be completely open ended. Also, you may be asked to limit your statement to one page in length; others may wish you to write from 3 to 6 pages.

To help you prepare your statement, the following guidelines are provided to help you.

  1. Read the instructions or question carefully.
    (Don't write what you "think" the admissions committee wants to hear.)

  2. Review your personal history.

  3. Jot down specific and vivid details of any experiences or events which may reveal your interest and enthusiasm for this profession, field of study or school.

  4. If needed, make an outline of the main ideas you wish to discuss.
    (Don't discuss controversial topics.)

  5. Expand on these ideas using details to add specificity and interest.

  6. Use your first paragraph to get the reader's attention.

  7. Be clear, concise, positive and enthusiastic in your writing.

  8. Revise, redraft and rewrite. No one should submit a first draft as part of the application.

  9. The essay should be spelling and grammar perfect. Also, keep your essay gender-free.

  10. Do get feedback on your final draft. People will have varying points of view on the substance and writing style of your essay. Consider their suggestions carefully, but remember, in the final analysis, it is your essay.

  11. The personal statement represents you, demonstrates your writing skills, reveals your focus, personality and reflects your intellect and depth of thinking.

  12. Finally ask yourself, does your essay answer the question asked by the admissions committee or school?

For additional help and sample essays, visit the Career Services office and consult the following publications:
 
            How to Write a Winning Personal Statement by Richard J. Stelzer (CS
            publication GS-3)
            Write For Success by Evelyn W. Jackson and Harold R. Bardo (CS publication
            GS-2)
            Graduate Admissions Essays-What Works, What Doesn't, and Why by Donald
            Asher (CS publication GS-5)

In addition, you may wish to submit your draft to Career Services where a counselor will provide a critique of your personal statement.