Graduate Admissions

Graduate Admissions Procedures

To all applicants to graduate programs in the Department of Second Language Studies:

The following steps and procedures apply to all applicants to the following degree programs, except where noted as specific differences between programs (as in the case of distinct standardized test requirements between the MA, AGCSLS, and Ph.D. programs):

Master of Arts in Second Language Studies (M.A.)
Advanced Graduate Certificate in Second Language Studies (AGCSLS)
Doctor of Philosophy in Second Language Studies (Ph.D.)

There are two aspects to your admission process. You are applying both:

1) for admission as a graduate student to UH, and
2) for admission to one of the Department of SLS graduate programs (and perhaps for
financial aid from the Department)

You submit the forms for 1) admission as a graduate student to the Graduate Division of UH, meeting their deadlines. This may be done (preferably) on-line, or by downloading a copy of the application forms at http://manoa.hawaii.edu/graduate/content/prepare-required-documents-documentation-requirements.  If forms are downloaded, they should be sent to the Graduate Division at the following address, along with various other material listed later in this document:

Graduate Admissions Office,
2540 Maile Way, Spaulding 354
Honolulu, Hawai’i 96822, USA

You submit the materials in 2) relating to the SLS Department program as attachments to grdchr@hawaii.edu, meeting our deadlines.

Departmental forms are available online at: http://www.hawaii.edu/sls/sls/?page_id=154.

1. Submit a University of Hawai’i Graduate Admissions Application on-line. All the required application instructions are on the Graduate division website: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/graduate/content/prepare-required-documents-documentation-requirements
   • You can apply directly on-line, without using a paper application, or you can download a paper application.
2. Download Department of SLS application for financial aid. Complete the document and send it as an attachment to grdchr@hawaii.edu
   Download the form from:
   • Financial Aid Form for the Department of SLS

3. Request letters of recommendation from three or more individuals who know your academic and professional abilities. These should be sent by the writers of the letters as an attachment to grdchr@hawaii.edu. (As far as possible we do not wish to receive hard copy letters of recommendation.) Please remind people who write the letters for you to mention what degree you are applying for (PhD or MA) because sometimes their letters come in earlier than your materials, and we need to know where to put the letters. Instructions to be conveyed to those writing letters of recommendation:

   –The letter should be a statement of how well you think this applicant will do as a graduate student engaged in advanced studies in the field of Second Language Studies. You might wish to remark on the applicant’s intellectual ability, research ability, and promise of productive scholarship. It would be helpful for us to know how long and in what capacity you have known the applicant.

   – If the applicant is applying for a graduate assistantship (which involves teaching or research in one of the department’s programs), we would appreciate from you an assessment of the applicant’s teaching ability, or research skills, self-reliance and independence, and maturity.

   –Information on the applicant’s intellectual ability and promise of productive scholarship would also be appreciated.

4.  Obtain and review Department of SLS admissions procedures and program information. You can read this information on our website http://www.hawaii.edu/sls/. Click on the appropriate program (M.A., Ph.D., AGCSLS). You can also download a printable version of the brochure.
5. Prepare to take the Graduate Record Examination General Test (GRE-General), Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), and/or International English Language Testing System (IELTS). No minimum score is required for GRE. A minimum score for TOEFL is 100, and for IELTS is 7.5.  No other tests are required (such as the TSE, TWE, or others);
   1. contact the Educational Testing Service at www.gre.org or www.toefl.org, respectively.
   2. the University of Hawai’i & Department of SLS codes for these tests are R4867, 3907 for the GRE, and 4867, code 99 (for “other”) for the TOEFL.
   3. all applicants to the Ph.D., and native English speakers applying to all programs, are required to submit GRE scores.
   4. non-native English speakers applying to the M.A. and AGCSLS should submit TOEFL test scores or IELTS test scores; it is also advised that Ph.D. applicants whose native language is not English submit TOEFL scores or IELTS scores. [Whether or not non-native applicants have completed degrees at English-speaking institutions is not relevant to this decision. The Department of SLS requires some standardized test score.]
6. Request one official copy of transcripts from all institutions where you have studied, and official translations of them into English if not in English, to be sent in a sealed envelope to the:
   • Graduate Admissions Office
     2540 Maile Way, Spaulding 354
     Honolulu, Hawai’i 96822, U. S. A.
7. Prepare a statement of purpose. The Department of SLS prefers a statement of approximately 1250 words documenting relevant experiences and training, professional goals, areas of research interest, and so on. If the statement is slightly longer or shorter, that is not a problem. Send your statement of purpose as an attachment to grdchr@hawaii.edu.
8. Submit the Graduate Admissions application form, along with your application fee, as early as possible, but postmarked no later than the dates indicated below:
   

   Program	Fall Semester	Spring Semester
   PhD	December 15	September 1
   MA	March 1	September 1
   AGCSLS	January 15	September 1

   Graduate Admissions Office,
   2540 Maile Way, Spaulding 354
   Honolulu, Hawai’i 96822, U.S.A.

   IMPORTANT NOTE TO INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
   Regarding Submission of “Confidential Financial Statement for International Applicants”

   This form, part of the application packet, must be submitted completely filled out. All applicants who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents must meet certain financial eligibility criteria in order to qualify for a student visa. The Department of SLS and University of Hawai‘i are usually unable to provide sufficient additional financial support if a student does not demonstrate adequate independent personal funds. The “Confidential Financial Statement” available in the Graduate Admissions Application must be completed as fully as possible. Failure to demonstrate a sufficient amount of personal funds available, whether or not the applicant is applying for or expects to receive a Graduate Assistantship or tuition waiver, is almost always grounds for eventual denial of admission or eligibility for a visa certification, even when an applicant meets other criteria for admission.

9. Submit the Graduate Program Supplemental Information Form and other materials (a check list is provided below) as attachments to grdchr@hawaii.edu.These materials do not have to be sent or arrive by the official deadline for application forms, but they should arrive as soon as possible (see next point). Applicants who send the materials (except for the letters of recommendation, which will be sent by recommenders) to the Department of SLS should attach all the required materials within one email and put a clear file name for each attachment (e.g. Program Supplemental Information Form, Statement of Purpose, Financial aid, Research Paper, etc.). Please put either PhD application or MA application in the subject line of your email. Other subject lines are not preferred. To prevent confusion, please make sure the materials you send are the final versions.
10. Decisions on the tuition waiver awards or graduate assistantships usually follow soon after admissions decisions, although they are occasionally made several months later. The exact date is a function of the date that the Department is notified by the Graduate Division of the amount of tuition support available. Offers of admission and tuition waiver awards to new student applicants must be acknowledged by applicants as soon as possible. Applicants are expected to notify the Department regarding acceptance of admission and/or tuition support within a month of initial notification by the Department. A formal acceptance places an ethical burden on the applicant to follow through, or to notify the Department of SLS if any emergency changes are required, as other applicants’ places and support are at stake.

We look forward to hearing from you if you have any questions concerning these procedures, and we hope that you can successfully apply for admission to our programs. For further information or if you have questions, please contact: Graduate Chair at grdchr@hawaii.edu.