By Glyn Caddell, BSME · Author of Digital SAT Math Secrets · Tutoring since 2008 — Updated November 9, 2026
Two Hawaii universities hold AACSB-accredited business schools, the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the University of Hawaii at Hilo, and this page lists the SAT and ACT scores of the students they admit, what each costs a New York student, and what Shidler asks before a Manoa student is a business major.
Both report both tests, so the table leads with the SAT and has two ranges to read.
At Manoa a student enters the Shidler College at 60 hours with a 2.50 and seven courses at C or better, or as a freshman through a Direct Admit Program for high-achieving seniors.
Table of Contents
- Hawaii Business Colleges by SAT and ACT Score
- What Does It Take to Enter the Shidler College of Business?
- Which Hawaii Universities Have AACSB-Accredited Business Schools?
- What If Your Score Is Below the Range You Want?
Hawaii Business Colleges by SAT and ACT Score
Hawaii’s two AACSB-accredited business schools are the Shidler College at the University of Hawaii’s Manoa campus in Honolulu and the College of Business and Economics at its Hilo campus, and the table below lists each with its SAT and ACT ranges, cost of attendance, enrollment and admit rate. Both are public campuses of one university and both report both tests, and the rows are sorted by the midpoint of the SAT Math range, so the order can be checked from the table itself.
| College | SAT Reading & Writing | SAT Math | ACT composite | Business school | Cost of attendance | Undergraduates | Admit rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Hawaii at Manoa | 548 to 653 | 533 to 640 | 17 to 25 | Shidler College of Business | $26,433 | 15,029 | 87% |
| University of Hawaii at Hilo | 490 to 610 | 455 to 565 | 15 to 22 | College of Business and Economics | $21,173 | 2,160 | 61% |
A student can see where his Math score sits on this ladder in the image above.
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
The University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu awards its business degrees through the Shidler College of Business, and Manoa reports a Math range of 533 to 640 and charges a New Yorker $34,218, $46 more than the University of Alabama.
Reading & Writing 548 to 653, Math 533 to 640. ACT composite 17 to 25. The top quarter of admitted students scored at or above 640 on Math and 25 on the ACT. Cost of attendance $26,433, with tuition and fees at $12,186 in-state and $34,218 out-of-state. 15,029 undergraduates, 87% admitted.
Manoa admits a student to the university on the application and the Shidler College admits him at 60 earned hours, the subject of the next section, unless its Direct Admit Program took him as a freshman. The cost of attendance in the table is a resident’s. A non-resident’s comes to approximately $48,465 once the higher tuition is substituted, and the $34,218 that drives it sits $9,494 below UConn’s figure and $22,032 above what Manoa charges a Hawaii resident. The flight is the part of the bill no table shows.
University of Hawaii at Hilo
The University of Hawaii at Hilo awards its business degrees through its College of Business and Economics, and Hilo is the smaller campus by 12,869 undergraduates and the harder admit, at 61% to Manoa’s 87%.
Reading & Writing 490 to 610, Math 455 to 565. ACT composite 15 to 22. The top quarter of admitted students scored at or above 565 on Math and 22 on the ACT. Cost of attendance $21,173, with tuition and fees at $7,838 in-state and $20,798 out-of-state. 2,160 undergraduates, 61% admitted.
Hilo’s own accreditation page says, “UH Hilo is one of only two business schools in Hawaiʻi with AACSB accreditation,” and its accreditation was extended again in June 2025 [VERIFY on the AACSB directory]. A New Yorker pays $13,420 a year less at Hilo than at Manoa, and Hilo’s premium over a resident, $12,960, is $9,072 smaller than Manoa’s. Its Math ceiling of 565 is 32 points above Manoa’s floor. The cost of attendance in the table is a resident’s, and a non-resident’s comes to approximately $34,133 with the higher tuition substituted.
Two rows say who got into the university. The next section is about the 60 hours that stand between a Manoa student and the Shidler College.
What Does It Take to Enter the Shidler College of Business?
A University of Hawaii at Manoa student enters the Shidler College of Business at 60 earned semester hours with a 2.50 cumulative GPA, a 2.00 in his Manoa courses and seven pre-business courses passed at C or better with a 2.50 among them, unless the college took him as a freshman through its Direct Admit Program.
The college’s requirements page sets the list out in full. The 60 hours must come from non-repeated, college-level courses acceptable to Manoa. The cumulative GPA must be at least 2.50 on all college work, and at least 2.00 on any Manoa courses. Computer competency comes from LTEC 112 and LTEC 113 or from ICS 101, with a C or better, and the page says a C- is not accepted. The seven pre-business core courses are English composition (ENG 100, 190 or ESL 100, or ENG 200), calculus (BUS 250, NREM 203, or MATH 203, 215, 241 or 251A), speech (COMG 151 or 251), ECON 130 and ECON 131, and ACC 200 and ACC 210, each with a C or better and a combined GPA of at least 2.50. A student who has attempted three or more business courses beyond the core must hold a combined 2.50 in those too [VERIFY every item on the Shidler requirements page].
The page also says what does not count and what does not help. Every requirement must be finished by the end of the semester before the term of entry, fall entry by the end of spring, with certain Manoa Summer Session I courses counted toward fall on a separate notification form. A student with an Incomplete “cannot be admitted to the Shidler College of Business.” A pass/fail grade in place of a letter grade satisfies nothing. And taking courses “above and beyond” the admission requirements, in the page’s own words, “does not impress” the admissions committee.
The way around the 60 hours is the Direct Admit Program, and the page describes who it is for in two words. “High-achieving” high school seniors may apply for first-year entry to the college, and the requirements page names no GPA, no score and no class rank for it [VERIFY on the Direct Admit Program page and quote any number it gives]. Hilo’s College of Business and Economics rules were not found for this page [VERIFY the Hilo catalog].
Set against the mainland pages, Shidler’s gate is a long one. On our page on business colleges in Alabama, the University of Alabama asks nine courses, 27 hours and one 2.5 at 61 hours. On our page on business colleges in Arkansas, Walton asks thirteen courses and two 2.50s. Shidler asks seven courses, a computer course, 60 hours, a 2.50 twice and a 2.00 once, and tells the student not to pad the file.
| Door | Who | What Shidler asks | GPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct Admit Program | “High-achieving” high school senior | The university application and the program’s own review [VERIFY] | None published |
| Junior-standing admission | Any student at 60 earned hours | LTEC 112 and 113 or ICS 101 at C, seven pre-business courses at C or better, no Incompletes, no pass/fail, everything done by the end of the prior semester | 2.50 cumulative, 2.00 at Manoa, 2.50 in the seven, 2.50 in any three or more further business courses |
The image above lists what a Manoa student completes before the Shidler College reads his application.
Does a C- Count Toward Shidler Admission?
No, a C- does not count toward admission to the Shidler College of Business, because the college’s requirements page asks a C or better in each of the seven pre-business courses and in the computer-competency course and says a C- is not accepted.
The same page closes two other doors. An Incomplete on the record bars admission outright until it is cleared, and a pass/fail grade in place of a letter grade satisfies no requirement. A student who takes extra business courses to strengthen the file should know the page’s line about that: it “does not impress” the committee [VERIFY].
Seven courses at C, two 2.50s, no padding. Which schools hold the accreditation is the next section.
Which Hawaii Universities Have AACSB-Accredited Business Schools?
Two Hawaii universities hold business accreditation from AACSB International, both campuses of the University of Hawaii, and the list below names each with its city and the school that awards the business degree [VERIFY both on the AACSB directory before publishing].
- The University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu awards its business degrees through the AACSB-accredited Shidler College of Business.
- The University of Hawaii at Hilo awards its business degrees through its AACSB-accredited College of Business and Economics.
Accreditation matters for a reason that is easy to miss at seventeen. Business itself is not a licensed profession, and the one business degree that leads to a license, accounting, leads to it through the state board rather than through the school. A CPA in Hawaii normally needs 150 semester hours with 24 in accounting and 24 in business, the Uniform CPA Examination, 1,500 hours of experience and the ethics requirement, and the board asks no residency [VERIFY on the board’s page]. AACSB status matters on the way there because business schools use it to decide whose courses they will accept in transfer.
Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu holds business accreditation from the ACBSP rather than AACSB [VERIFY], and it is the school a New York family asks about first: 488 to 590 on Math, 86% admitted, $34,392 for every student. Brigham Young University-Hawaii in Laie charges every student $6,630 and admits 47%, and its business program is not AACSB-accredited [VERIFY its accreditor]. Chaminade University of Honolulu holds business accreditation from the IACBE, and the University of Hawaii-West Oahu’s business division from the ACBSP. None of the four is a row.
Nothing on this page ranks the two. They are two campuses of one university with the same accreditor, one gate at 60 hours and two prices, and the pages for business colleges in California and business colleges in Washington carry the nearest mainland schools a student looking at Hawaii is likely comparing.
What If Your Scores Are Below the Range You Want?
In Hawaii the flagship’s floors are 533 on Math and 17 on the ACT, and Hilo’s are 455 and 15. A student under the floor he wants is not ruled out, because a quarter of admitted students were there too. He is in the quarter that needs the rest of the application to carry more.
The first step is finding out where the score actually is, section by section. A free diagnostic SAT gives a Math score that can be set directly against Manoa’s 533 floor.
The Math section rewards the same handful of topics on every test date, and a student who knows which of them he is missing can close a gap of 50 to 100 points in weeks rather than months. The method is on our page on improving your SAT Math score, and at Manoa the same algebra fills the calculus course, BUS 250 or MATH 203, 215, 241 or 251A, that stands among Shidler’s seven pre-business courses and must come back at C or better.
How to Read These Score Ranges
Each range in the table covers the middle 50% of admitted students who submitted that test, so a quarter of admitted students were below the lower number and a quarter were at or above the upper one.
A range describes the students who chose to submit at all. Where a school is test-optional, the range describes the submitters, and the submitters are the students whose scores helped them. More on what SAT score you need for college and on test-optional colleges.
Should You Take the ACT Instead?
Hawaii gives the SAT to its public school juniors as the state test [VERIFY current Hawaii statewide testing], and both schools on this page report both tests.
A New York student who holds an SAT should send it to both and leave the ACT alone unless a school on the mainland asks for it. Nothing at Shidler’s 60-hour door reads either test.
Business Programs in Nearby States
Hawaii borders no state, and the nearest AACSB-accredited business schools on the mainland are in California and Washington [VERIFY the lists before linking].
See business colleges in California and business colleges in Washington.
Business Colleges in Other States
We publish the same breakdown for business programs in every state.
See business colleges by state for the full list.
Glyn Caddell
Glyn Caddell holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from NJIT and has been tutoring New York City students since 2008. He founded Caddell Prep in 2012 and is the author of Digital SAT Math Secrets: Lessons & Tricks to Quickly Improve to a Perfect 800 on the Math Test, which contains over 900 practice problems and is used in Caddell Prep’s SAT math classes. He is founding president of the Staten Island Technical High School alumni association and teaches every lesson on this site personally.
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