Not exactly studying in Japan. U Hawaii Japan-MBA

[UPGRAYEDD]

Anyone have any experience or knowledge about University of Hawaii's Japan related MBA program?

Just looking for the general stuff. Quality of program, reputation, etc.

[nawlinsgurl]

I'm also interested in this as well.....hello

hello

is anyone out there?

[marukun]

I don't recommend it. It is possible that the professors there are good, as are most Japanese studies professors at UH. I got an MA in Philosophy and did all but my thesis for an MA in Religion. Both degrees I focused on Zen Buddhism. Because I focused on Edo jidai. I took enough graduate courses in kobun and kanbun to have an MA in Japanese literature, again without thesis.

I had great professors and many great friends, especially from China and Japan. But I don't recommend UH, the City of Honolulu, or the State of Hawaii.

Hawaii is 3rd world. It is probably one of the worst places to live in the US. Great for tourism, but terrible for living. The state refuses to fund public education. This was before the Bubble burst in Japan, which had negatively impacted Hawaii's economy. Now you have the worldwide great recession.

The professors rank very, very low in pay compared to their colleagues in America. Any chance they get, they leave for a post in America or Europe. My first spring semester they went on strike, shutting down the university for 2 weeks. We had to come in on weekends for makeup lessons.

There is very little funding for graduate students. You can get more funding elsewhere. Out-of-state tuition is very high and it is hard to get residency. They are always raising tuition in leaps and bounds. I got scholarships and was a teaching assistant, but still struggled financially as UH gives less than other universities and the cost of living is high in Hawaii. I'm moving back to Osaka, which is cheaper than Honolulu. The rent and food in Hawaii are brutally expensive, especially milk, eggs, natural food, and Japanese food. They shut down what they tried to pass off as graduate housing to make it into a dorm for athletes from visiting schools, eventually opened a new for $700/month and there is a waiting list. You won't find air conditioning in the dorms, apartments, or houses.

Hamilton Library is great for East Asia resources, however the local undergraduates working there lose the materials very frequently. The library was shut down for my first spring break for renovation. Someone forgot to tell the students. It was shut down for a semester because of a flood. It turns out the library was illegally and intentionally built in a floodplain. Then some guy sets books on fire after it reopened.

Sinclair Library is old, has no air conditioning, the books are rotting from the mold, and some books have spiders living inside them.

Arson destroyed one of the schools there.

The computer lab and intranet are worthless.

The people who hated UH the most were not American students, but the Japanese students, who expect a higher standard of living, especially when they are paying so much. If you are a Japanese girl, it is even worse, as you will meet creepy white guys whose primary source of knowledge of Japanese women is from manga, anime, and porn. Many of these guys are stalkers.

So, was it total hell for me in Hawaii? No. I made many friends and had great professors. Also, Hawaii's natural beauty is unreal. The ocean looks digitally enhanced. There are many good places for hiking, swimming, visting. Waikiki is energetic both day and night. Whereas the 4 seasons in Japan are spring, summer, autumn, and winter, the four seasons in Japan are summer, summer, summer, summer. Honolulu is diverse in its local population, plus has many international tourists. But there is more to going to a university than the quality and reputation. You'll be there 2 years, borrowing a lot of loans from an inept financial aid department. And whereas my alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, is friendly to graduate students, unfriendly to undergraduates, UH Manoa is friendly to undergraduate students, unfriendly to graduate students.

If you do decide to go, I can give you the names of many good restaurants and places of interest.

[z-flo]

I was born and raised on Oahu. I went to UH Manoa for my BA. While I can't speak on the Japanese MBA program, how much of what you said actually relates to the program in question? Hm...

"It is possible that the professors there are good, as are most Japanese studies professors at UH."
Okay, this is relevant.

"Hawaii is 3rd world. It is probably one of the worst places to live in the US. Great for tourism, but terrible for living."
I'm sorry, but passing Hawaii off as "third-world" is just shy of offensive. Hawaii's, well, different. Don't get me wrong, it does depend on where you go, or perhaps more importantly where you're from. For example, if you're used to Manhattan and move to Ewa Beach, you might be a bit farther from home than you'd realize. If you're from Hollywood, and someone were to approach you at Pearlridge and ask a question in pidgin, I wouldn't blame you for wanting to teach them the word of God. As far as I'm concerned (aware), Hawaii is just as civilized and functional as most any other capital. If you're coming to Hawaii for college, you're going to learn something new, in and out of the classroom.

"The state refuses to fund public education. The professors rank very, very low in pay compared to their colleagues in America. Any chance they get, they leave for a post in America or Europe. My first spring semester they went on strike, shutting down the university for 2 weeks. We had to come in on weekends for makeup lessons."
I remember this. Are you implying that it happens frequently, however? Is the relationship between the professors and the Board of Regents during your tenure guaranteed to apply to that of the OP?

"There is very little funding for graduate students. You can get more funding elsewhere. Out-of-state tuition is very high and it is hard to get residency. They are always raising tuition in leaps and bounds."
No arguments here, though I'd imagine almost everyone, everywhere is raising tuition to accommodate the need to survive.

"The cost of living is high in Hawaii. The rent and food in Hawaii are brutally expensive, especially milk, eggs, natural food, and Japanese food. They shut down what they tried to pass off as graduate housing to make it into a dorm for athletes from visiting schools, eventually opened a new for $700/month and there is a waiting list. You won't find air conditioning in the dorms, apartments, or houses."
The cost of living is fairly high, this is true. It should be pretty easy to get a job, though, be it on-campus or elsewhere. While the cost of the dorms and Sodexho food seems alarming at first, spread out throughout the year it's actually anywhere from modest to pretty cheap. As for the dorms, well, how many dorms, apartments, or houses were you in, exactly? The renovated Frear Hall is pretty much what you're looking for if you want a modern dorm. The others, including Johnson, Gateway, etc., don't need air conditioning. Open a window. Get a wet towel. Improvise, if you have to.

"Hamilton Library is great for East Asia resources, however the local undergraduates working there lose the materials very frequently. The library was shut down for my first spring break for renovation. Someone forgot to tell the students. It was shut down for a semester because of a flood. It turns out the library was illegally and intentionally built in a floodplain. Then some guy sets books on fire after it reopened. Sinclair Library is old, has no air conditioning, the books are rotting from the mold, and some books have spiders living inside them. Arson destroyed one of the schools there."
Hamilton's mishaps were pretty damned unfortunate, yes. Sinclair is pretty old, yes, but hey. UH is over 100. If you want them to modernize with each Presidential term, feel free to provide the money and manpower. Here's hoping future generations won't have to suffer like you apparently did.

However, I'll cede that I was only there for my BA. I don't know just how important Hamilton and Sinclair are for grad students. It's not like those are your only possible resources, though. If you default to blaming the school for your trouble, would it be possible instead to simply be more resourceful?

"The computer lab and intranet are worthless."
Right. The intranet is worthless. This is why I managed 2-3MB/sec uploads and downloads in the dorms. This is why daily inter-building Halo tournaments were conducted with zero lag. ... or maybe this is why the connection lagged for you. Oops. My bad. ._.;;

To be fair, though, the Campus Center wireless connection did seem to take a hit during the second half of my tenure. The decent, air-conditioned lab inside the lounge in the third floor made up for it, unless you wanted to play Maple Story or something.

"The people who hated UH the most were not American students, but the Japanese students, who expect a higher standard of living, especially when they are paying so much. If you are a Japanese girl, it is even worse, as you will meet creepy white guys whose primary source of knowledge of Japanese women is from manga, anime, and porn. Many of these guys are stalkers."
I was a Japanese major before switching to English in my fourth year. I was in the Japanese Culture Club, with brief stints in the Anime and Manga Society here and there. With that experience set in mind, let me just say that here, yes, you're absolutely, 100% right. Some Caucasians, raised under a mainland US behavioral system, do come to UH to study the Japanese language, women, men, whatever. My girlfriend and I met at UH; she actually was asked out by one such guy some weeks before we started going out. It was pretty funny watching them socialize.

"Yipes. Just yipes. Do you think they're cognizant of how bad they've got it? Let's hope not. Poor bastards." That sort of thing.

Luckily, though, most Japanese students should be able to fend for themselves. From what I remember, your average "anime white guy" at UH isn't likely to take the same courses as the Japanese students, let alone pass them with any semblance of competency. Moreover, with the Japanese students tending to form sub-groups within the larger foreign student community, the odds of any major threat (except for Socrates, if you ever met him) is pretty low.

"I made many friends and had great professors. Also, Hawaii's natural beauty is unreal. The ocean looks digitally enhanced. There are many good places for hiking, swimming, visting. Waikiki is energetic both day and night. Whereas the 4 seasons in Japan are spring, summer, autumn, and winter, the four seasons in Japan are summer, summer, summer, summer. Honolulu is diverse in its local population, plus has many international tourists. But there is more to going to a university than the quality and reputation. You'll be there 2 years, borrowing a lot of loans from an inept financial aid department. And whereas my alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, is friendly to graduate students, unfriendly to undergraduates, UH Manoa is friendly to undergraduate students, unfriendly to graduate students."
I can't speak on the financial aid department, nor have I ever been a grad student or a resident of Texas, but the rest does seem mighty accurate.

"If you do decide to go, I can give you the names of many good restaurants and places of interest."
Ditto.

That said, if anyone with direct experience in the Japanese MBA program has anything to add, feel free.

[marukun]

You give many good arguments.

As far as discussing the MBA program, I was going to do that if the OP responded. First, I wanted to emphasize that there is more to grad school than seminars. My understanding is that you could do a lot worse than UH regarding international business and East Asia related business regarding faculty quality and reputation. He asked about Japan, and they are strong, but UH is good at East Asia all around. Problem is, with the faculty at the 20%-tile or 40%-tile in pay, it's easy to lose them. I was lucky. Others weren't.

Moreover, I checked the OP's file and noticed JET ALT. There is a good chance of saving money to help live in Hawaii while studying. And an MBA is only 2 years, while an MA+PhD is 6-8. The latter course is for someone who will hope to get a tenure job and then tenure from publishing--if there lucky even in good times. If the OP applies now, gets in, starts 9/10, then graduation is 9/12, the world economy may be back in business again, and grad school is a good refuge during hard economic times. But many competitors into getting into grad school know this as well.

So, a 2-year MBA may not be all that bad, after I reflected on it. But an MA+PhD was risky before the Great Recession, and UH was falling behind other public universities in funding.

As for the importance of libraries for grad students, they can become your first home, the dorm your last home. As a grad student I have a different perspective than you. The profs will tell us things they will not reveal to undergrads, especially if the undergrads are locals.

I was a resident assistant for a dorm. Can't remember the name. Even with windows open it was miserable. The design was to make it safe in case of typhoon, but the air circulation was nonexistent.

Compared to Texas and Kansai, the food in Hawaii is very expensive. I do much better here. Of course, I get paid more, as well.

Finally, I enjoyed Hawaii a lot. But it was sad to see how the State treated the University, Cayetano being the worst. Also, I think it sucks that the locals have a hard time managing their budgets, while most people who have second homes in Hawaii could care less about the state.

[UPGRAYEDD]

Thanks for writing something but 90% of what you wrote is not applicable to the Japan-MBA program.

The program is 21 months with 18 in Hawaii and the final 3 in Japan. Everyone pays the same tuition ($43,096). There are no out of state fees.

I also live in a moldy wooden shack in Shikoku with no AC and no heat in the winter. As far as I'm concerned I can't find housing worse than this. Don't really care about library either because I probably will never be there. The information about financial aid is interesting though.

What I'm concerned with is the quality of this specific program, its reputation, etc. How good are the business Japanese classes? What % of students land jobs at graduation...what is the reputation of alumni? Stuff like that.

[marukun]

Thanks for writing something but 90% of what you wrote is not applicable to the Japan-MBA program.

The program is 21 months with 18 in Hawaii and the final 3 in Japan. Everyone pays the same tuition ($43,096). There are no out of state fees.

I also live in a moldy wooden shack in Shikoku with no AC and no heat in the winter. As far as I'm concerned I can't find housing worse than this. Don't really care about library either because I probably will never be there. The information about financial aid is interesting though.

What I'm concerned with is the quality of this specific program, its reputation, etc. How good are the business Japanese classes? What % of students land jobs at graduation...what is the reputation of alumni? Stuff like that.

I'm sorry, but what I wrote is applicable. It sounds like you've never been to graduate school. And now you say that you don't care about the library because you will never be there. Then, you shouldn't go to graduate school, unless everything is online these days, and I doubt everything is online. If it is all online, well, you'll miss out on a lot of hotties by not going to the library. One thing I'll say about Honolulu is that you can't walk down the street without running into a girl or woman should be a supermodel.

Good to see that there is no out-of-state tuition. But when did in-state, or for that matter out-of-state, get to be that high? Not when I was there. Or is that accumulative for the 21 months? Will financial aid cover all of your costs? Probably not, so you better have a lot of savings and get a job in Hawaii. Good luck. There were no jobs to speak of before the downturn, and what on-campus and off-campus jobs available were very low paying. You could apply for scholarships from the Business School, SHAPS, CJS, and EALL and the East-West Center. The EWC can really help you out because they can provide housing. But you won't win if you don't plan on going to the library because you won't be competitive.

The best way to judge the quality of the faculty is to view their CVs, read their publications, see if these publications are in the best peer reviewed journals, who cites them, and what ongoing discussion they have got going with their peers. Are their contributions important, up-to-date, or even groundbreaking? Also, make sure they have the language credentials and that they can cite relevant Japanese language sources. For you to do this, you must go the library--unless everthing is online. The profs' CVs certainly should be online. Also, you can email grad students to see what they have to say regarding matters academic, practical, and career replacement. But sources like US News and World Report are not always reliable because they are based upon not very rigorous polls. Moreover, reputations sometimes last longer than they should after prominent faculty retire or take positions elsewhere and a program is unable financially to replace them with someone of equal stature due to funding cuts, while up-and-coming programs may take time to develop a reputation. And one thing I warned you about is UH faculty taking positions elsewhere because they are severely underpaid at UH compared to what their colleaques are making elsewhere in usually cheaper cities.

Since you are interested in Japanese business, you should plan on getting JLPT 1. If you don't or won't have that here, then you must plan on studying Japanese at UH. There are many good professors and instructors, but there are other ones to avoid, not because they are too strict, but because they are too dishonest.

As for your situation in Shikoku, you could buy an eakon.

[UPGRAYEDD]

Yes I do have a masters degree in Economics. But it was a joint BA/MA program and didn't exactly get the same experience as graduate students.

Further, the problems with the library are irrelevant to 95% of MBA candidates. Though it does speak about the overall reputation of the university.

It's nice to hear about the university, but like I said before, I'm looking for specific stories about the MBA program.

[marukun]

Yes I do have a masters degree in Economics. But it was a joint BA/MA program and didn't exactly get the same experience as graduate students.

Further, the problems with the library are irrelevant to 95% of MBA candidates. Though it does speak about the overall reputation of the university.

It's nice to hear about the university, but like I said before, I'm looking for specific stories about the MBA program.

Joint BA/MA? Sounds great. Well, the quailty of the library for East Asia is quite good. It's how the library is run and was almost ruined that shows the problem with the university's administration, though the negative attitude by the State since Cayetano became guv has been the main problem.

Sorry if my first post was a bit negative. I've tried to balance it since. Also, as no one here has been able to answer your main questions, I've answered where I have some knowledge as well as provided non-academic information to flesh things out. As I said to the first person who replied to my first post, I was thinking from the point of view of MA/PhD, whereas your program is just about 2 years. I checked your profile. You are JET and you say you live in Shikoku. So unless you are paying back a lot of loans and/or don't know how to save money, you should be financially better off than most people who enter grad school. As Hawaii is so expensive, many grad students there are on parental support.

I came across this.

http://shidler.hawaii.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=58

In addition to the rankings, notice how many endowed chairs and distinguished professors they have. That means they are getting recognition from the private sector as well as from the university. You should check out the faculty specializing in Japanese business. I was surprised that none of them are in CJS. By the way, SHAPS is now SPAS. My friends and I who studied there think we were in great departments at a terrible university 'supported' by a third world banana republic government in a very beautiful place. When it comes to Hawaii, Mother Nature knew what she was doing. Humankind has tried to screw it up ever since the US took over. Anyway, see if you can email grad students in business about the faculty reputation and their experiences.