Frequently Asked Questions

Is Will McClatchey accepting new graduate students?

At least temporarily, No. Having just moved to the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, I am working on getting my research activities coordinated and do not plan to accept new students until this is in order.

Do I have to be a botanist to be admitted to an Ethnobotany program?

No.Students are encouraged to apply from any discipline, but students who choose to become trained as Ethnobotanists through a Botany Department should expect to become competent botanists. Therefore, students entering from non-botany/biology programs will need to spend more time catching-up with students who have already learned basic botany skills and knowledge.

What kinds of courses could I take that would help me to get into graduate school?

Botany (taxonomy, anatomy and ecology), Geography (particularly biogeography) and Anthropology (particularly ethnography) courses are all useful. General sciences including Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics are important if not already part of your training. In 1995 a survey of programs was conducted and the results provided a set of recommended courses.

How should I choose a graduate school?

The challenge is to find the program that is designed to prepare you in the way that you want to be prepared regardless of its admission criteria, rules, funding, etc. and figure out how to get into and through that program. It would seem to make no sense to do anything else since the few years of study will be preparing you for the rest of your life. If a particular school or program is the best one you can find in the entire world, then do the best that you can to get into that one. Don't take no for an answer. Get into it.

Graduate school should not be treated like a part-time job or a temporary career. It is a permanent tattoo in the middle of your face that everyone will see for the rest of your life. You need to make real sure that you are happy with your choice.

Probably the most common, yet often disappointing approach for selection of a graduate school is to select: a) a "great" program (not considering the individual mentor), and b) the program that offers the best financial package. The reasons that these are disappointing is that graduate school is not about programs, but about mentors, and a priori funding is almost always provided at a price (usually working on someone else's research interests and not your own). It is not uncommon for graduates of well-funded training programs to find themselves doing work for the rest of their lives that is not personally interesting, and having difficult times finding work because they never learned to develop their own ideas, write grants, and become an independent scholar.

If a program requests details such as GRE exam results should I submit these?

If a program asks for specific information, try to provide it as completely as possible. It usually does not hurt to provide additional information that is partitioned in such a way that it may be removed or viewed as additional. If scores are unusually low and there is a good reason, then offer a brief but clear explanation.

What are Frequently Asked Questions from Students Applying at University of Hawaii?

See the University of Hawaii Botany Department FAQ page