Admission
Because Kamehameha Schools is a private school, admission is by application. At the Kapālama campus, the process is highly selective. Acceptance rates range from approximately 6.7% to 14.7% depending on the grade for which a student applies. Acceptance rates at the Maui and Hawaiʻi campuses are generally higher, ranging from approximately 9.2% to 24%, due to those islands' smaller populations and the lack of boarding students.
In accordance with a century-old interpretation of the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Kamehameha Schools prefers applicants of Native Hawaiian descent "to the extent permitted by law." Orphans and indigents receive special consideration. Preference applicants must submit evidence verifying that at least one of their pre-1959 ancestors is Hawaiian.
The schools' admissions policy has been a subject of controversy. Because far more applicants claim Hawaiian ancestry than the schools can admit, virtually all students have some Hawaiian blood. Non-Hawaiians have attended, but this is extremely rare. In 2002, Kamehameha admitted one non-Hawaiian student, Kalani Rosell, to its Maui campus, for the first time in 40 years. Rosell was admitted after all qualified Hawaiian applicants had been admitted. This decision sparked alumni protest.
Kamehameha's admissions policy was the focus of two federal lawsuits, which contended that preferring Native Hawaiians is a race-based exclusion that violates U.S. civil rights law. Both lawsuits have since settled.
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—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Powerful, yes, that is the word that I constantly rolled on my tongue; I dreamed of absolute power, the kind that forces to kneel, that forces the enemy to capitulate, finally converting him, and the more the enemy is blind, cruel, sure of himself, buried in his conviction, the more his admission proclaims the royalty of he who has brought on his defeat.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)