UH-Manoa ranked
47th on Asian-
American list
School officials question
By Pat Omandam
the methodology used
Star-BulletinThe nation's largest Asian-American magazine has ranked the University of Hawaii-Manoa a surprising 47th among the best colleges in the United States for Asian-American students. UH officials question the magazine's methodology and maintain the university offers a quality education for all ethnic groups.
The August/September issue of A. Magazine: Inside Asian America ranked UH-Manoa 47th of 110 colleges in its first comprehensive survey that uses criteria and rankings from other magazines such as U.S. News & World Report and Time magazine's college guide.
Despite a student body that is two-thirds Asian American, UH-Manoa faltered in other factors, said Gilbert Cheah, A. Magazine's associate publisher.
"One of the reasons for the University of Hawaii not being in there is because of academic ranking by U.S. News and World Report and other college guides," Cheah said.
"... for the University of Hawaii, because it academically ranks so low according to those college guides, all the other points it was given in terms of Asian-Pacific Islander retention and population still didn't make up for its academic ranking."
The institutions were ranked based on percentage of Asian-
American students, faculty and administrators; academic reputation; the retention rate of Asian-American students; and the difference between a college's general acceptance rate and its acceptance rate for Asian Americans.
The magazine has a circulation of 100,000.
UH spokesman Cheryl Ernst questioned how the magazine defined Asian American, as well as how the academic ranking was obtained.
The magazine says the highest scores in each categories made the cut, but not all of the top 15 colleges provided information in all categories.
"So we're a little perplexed by their methodology," Ernst said. "And we would certainly argue that the University of Hawaii is an excellent place for a student of Asian ethnicity to feel comfortable and see strong role models and fine programs that are high quality."
Karen Lam, A. Magazine's managing editor, said the long overdue survey shows Asian Americans are attending college in unprecedented numbers. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, she said 44 percent of the student body is Asian or Asian American while at UC-Irvine, Asians are 46 percent of the student body.
Lam said she was surprised by the University of Hawaii's ranking.
"That's something that definitely did catch our eyes, but we were not going to change the numbers to pull it back up," Lam said.
"Basically, we had seven items in the list of criteria.
"And by population standards alone, Hawaii definitely would have been No. 1, but it did fall short in the matter of reputation and academic standing."
How large universities and liberal arts colleges fare for Asian Americans: Higher education
for Asian Americans
1. University of California-Irvine Universities
2. University of California-Berkeley
3. University of California-San Diego
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5. California Institute of Technology
1. Wellesley College Liberal arts colleges
2. Occidental College
3. Pomona College
4. Williams College
5. Swarthmore College
