How hard is it to get into the University of Hawaii nursing program?

It is fairly hard to get into the University of Hawaii nursing program, especially compared with less capacity-limited majors. Nursing at UH is competitive because clinical spots are limited, applicants are reviewed separately from general university admission, and successful students usually have strong grades in science and prerequisite coursework.

At the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene does not function like an easy “declare the major and you’re in” pathway. Students typically must complete specific prerequisites and then apply to the nursing major, so being admitted to UH Manoa does not automatically mean admission to nursing. In practice, that means you should think of nursing as a selective second step.

What “competitive” usually means is that GPA, especially in anatomy, physiology, microbiology, chemistry, and other required classes, matters a lot. A solid overall GPA helps, but prerequisite and science performance often carries the most weight because it predicts whether a student can handle the pace of nursing coursework and clinical training.

As a junior, the most realistic things to focus on are keeping your grades high, taking the strongest science preparation available to you, and checking the exact prerequisite list and application structure for the UH campus you mean, since University of Hawaii campuses can differ. Also pay attention to whether you are applying as a first-year direct-entry student or as a pre-nursing student who applies later, because that changes the timeline.

A strong applicant is usually someone with consistently high grades, especially in lab sciences, who has shown they can manage demanding coursework over time.