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UoA Graduate Category Chat/Enquiry

BWelch

Member
Hi,
I'm due to finish a Physiology BSc at the end of the year. Had been planning to apply for postgrad med at Auckland and Otago.
Sat the UMAT this morning. Left too little time at the end to fill in my answer sheet, and only was able to half fill it in (I know, huge mistake - I'm pretty devastated). I know I do quite well at UMAT (97th percentile in first year), but with only a half-full answer sheet I'm expecting a very low mark.

I'm figuring that this will definitely be below the UMAT cut-off needed for Otago grad entry. I figure if my grades and interview are really good I might still have a chance at Auckland (I know UMAT is only weighed 15% for ranking there). I'd love some advice from anyone who has done really badly at UMAT and still gone for grad entry - any thoughts?

As it is, I'm assuming that if I want to do medicine I'll need to study for another year and apply again. Otago takes your most recent three years - if I do an Honours year, will they include that year in that calculation? For Auckland - it says they just take the previous two years - would that include an Honours year and my third year? Alternately for Auckland - if I chose to start a law degree (for Plan B), would I still be able to apply for med at the end of 2019?
Apologies for the million questions, hoping someone can advise me.
 

Oxycodone

Surgical registrar
Hi,
I'm due to finish a Physiology BSc at the end of the year. Had been planning to apply for postgrad med at Auckland and Otago.
Sat the UMAT this morning. Left too little time at the end to fill in my answer sheet, and only was able to half fill it in (I know, huge mistake - I'm pretty devastated). I know I do quite well at UMAT (97th percentile in first year), but with only a half-full answer sheet I'm expecting a very low mark.

I'm figuring that this will definitely be below the UMAT cut-off needed for Otago grad entry. I figure if my grades and interview are really good I might still have a chance at Auckland (I know UMAT is only weighed 15% for ranking there). I'd love some advice from anyone who has done really badly at UMAT and still gone for grad entry - any thoughts?

As it is, I'm assuming that if I want to do medicine I'll need to study for another year and apply again. Otago takes your most recent three years - if I do an Honours year, will they include that year in that calculation? For Auckland - it says they just take the previous two years - would that include an Honours year and my third year? Alternately for Auckland - if I chose to start a law degree (for Plan B), would I still be able to apply for med at the end of 2019?
Apologies for the million questions, hoping someone can advise me.

Sorry to hear about UMAT, that horrid test caused me a lot of grief back in the day. I can't answer all your questions. But I can give a bit of insight for a few. You may still have a chance for Auckland. My UMAT was atrocious; 30th%ile. But, that combined with a GPA of 8.36 (last 2 years) and what I thought was a decent interview I got an offer. So there still might be some hope! If you did an honours year I think auckland would only count your honours and 3rd year (at least thats how it work back in 2014). I am unsure how Otago calculates now days, sorry. Keep your head held high, in my opinion medicine is totally worth the grind :)
 

Stuart

Administrator
Emeritus Staff
Hi BWelch,

I am sorry to hear about your mishap. It's okay, though. This will not be the end of the world and I have been in a similar situation in the past (in an exam).

If your grades are fine, you don't need to study another year. Instead, you can just work/rest and take UMAT again, then apply. If you end up doing honours, Otago would take the four years and Auckland would take the last two year (including honours). People do get into Auckland with low UMAT as Oxycodone has alluded.

It doesn't really matter what you do next year. You will be able to apply for medicine at the end of the year.

Good luck and feel free to ask anything you are worried about.
 

Samthecat

Lurker
how did you transfer from uoo to uoa? did you transfer credit or did you apply normally?

Transfer credit!

Also wondering if uoa still considers and includes 100 level year summer school papers in final the GPA after the interview?
 

Panic123

Member
Hi, was just wondering what GPA is needed for graduate entry into medicine for Auckland University in New Zealand under UTAS scheme to be considered competitive for a place (assuming an average interview and UMAT)?
Thanks
 

greengem

MD III
I assume UTAS is similar to RRAS and MAPAS requirements in terms of GPA needed and there are different UTAS categories you can apply under from what I know so requirements may vary according to which UTAS category but I'm not 100% sure on this, Stuart will know more about it.
 

Stuart

Administrator
Emeritus Staff
Hi Panic123,

We have never had a successful UTAS applicant on MSO. There is no data available for the scheme. As far as I know, the university will not release any information about the GPA and such due to the low number of applicants/successful applicants - there is a high risk of privacy issues. They only get a handful of applicants (0-10) for each category. I think they only have places reserved for two or three applicants. It's the least know category/scheme of all.

I hope that was helpful. I strong recommend contacting the admissions for more information. However, I doubt you won't get anything useful back unless it's a administrative question.

Good luck!




I assume UTAS is similar to RRAS and MAPAS requirements in terms of GPA needed and there are different UTAS categories you can apply under from what I know so requirements may vary according to which UTAS category but I'm not 100% sure on this, Stuart will know more about it.

Hi greengem,

I think there are a few different sub-categories within. They would have different requirements, I think.
 

Panic123

Member
Thank you greengem and Stuart do you guys have any ideas on the GPA needed to be competitive for an offer despite the little MSO information available. My converted GPA to New Zealand (domestic) is about 7.9/9 which after looking around seems a bit low for general but I'm not sure if that would be competitive under UTAS or not? I will definitely give them a call soon and ask questions but yea I don't think they will give much information out.
 

Stuart

Administrator
Emeritus Staff
Thank you greengem and Stuart do you guys have any ideas on the GPA needed to be competitive for an offer despite the little MSO information available. My converted GPA to New Zealand (domestic) is about 7.9/9 which after looking around seems a bit low for general but I'm not sure if that would be competitive under UTAS or not? I will definitely give them a call soon and ask questions but yea I don't think they will give much information out.

Hi Panic123,

I really have no idea, but I would think it is a lot lower than the general one. Given that they only offer a few places, I would think it can vary a lot year to year depending on the cohort.

Is 7.9 your Auckland 2-year GPA? Are you only interested in Auchland MBChB?
 

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Panic123

Member
Hi Panic123,

I really have no idea, but I would think it is a lot lower than the general one. Given that they only offer a few places, I would think it can vary a lot year to year depending on the cohort.

Is 7.9 your Auckland 2-year GPA? Are you only interested in Auckland MBChB?
Thanks for your thoughts! and I actually study in Australia. 7.9 is my current 1 year and a half GPA according to my conversions. So I'll be intending to apply next year for 2020 cohort at Auckland. I'm highly interested in medicine anywhere in Australia or New Zealand. But my UMAT this year fell short off the threshold required for non-standard AUS universities (s1:58 s2:62 s3:37 overall:61 percentile). I was born in New Zealand and my relatives have a property in Auckland that I can stay at, so permanently moving there isn't a problem. I understand that Auckland will take the last 2 years of study, I will most likely be between 7.7-8.1 NZ GPA if my grades continue in the same trend, which I'm hoping will be enough under UTAS scheme for Auckland when I apply as a graduate next year. If they are a lot lower than the general one then around a 7.9 should be somewhat competitive yea? Cheers mate Stuart and I understand that this is just speculation due to lack of UTAS data :)
 

mic788

Lurker
Just wondering if anyone could give me an insight into how strong my application would be for auckland with a GPA of 8.1-8.2 and a raw UMAT score of 139. It was my first time sitting UMAT and I definitely needed to do a lot more preparation than I did, especially in regards to time management :lol:

Trying to decide if I should apply this year or wait it out until next year and give UMAT another crack to get a better application (I'm honours this year so don't have any other options to bump up my GPA)
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
Just wondering if anyone could give me an insight into how strong my application would be for auckland with a GPA of 8.1-8.2 and a raw UMAT score of 139. It was my first time sitting UMAT and I definitely needed to do a lot more preparation than I did, especially in regards to time management :lol:

Trying to decide if I should apply this year or wait it out until next year and give UMAT another crack to get a better application (I'm honours this year so don't have any other options to bump up my GPA)

Not sure if this will help you in the interim, but here is a collation of all the data reported here last year :D Best of luck. (and yes, I agree, time management for UMAT is absolutely the key!).

NZ Med and Dent Place Offers 2018 - Collated Data
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
Thanks for your thoughts! and I actually study in Australia. 7.9 is my current 1 year and a half GPA according to my conversions. So I'll be intending to apply next year for 2020 cohort at Auckland. I'm highly interested in medicine anywhere in Australia or New Zealand. But my UMAT this year fell short off the threshold required for non-standard AUS universities (s1:58 s2:62 s3:37 overall:61 percentile). I was born in New Zealand and my relatives have a property in Auckland that I can stay at, so permanently moving there isn't a problem. I understand that Auckland will take the last 2 years of study, I will most likely be between 7.7-8.1 NZ GPA if my grades continue in the same trend, which I'm hoping will be enough under UTAS scheme for Auckland when I apply as a graduate next year. If they are a lot lower than the general one then around a 7.9 should be somewhat competitive yea? Cheers mate Stuart and I understand that this is just speculation due to lack of UTAS data :)

The only UTAS applicant we had report their data here last year was as follows:
8.00, 151, first year, UTAS

Your data looks very similar to theirs (your UMAT raw is slightly higher, your GPA possibly slightly lower, unless you can get it to 8.1).
 

Bunny230

Member
Hi there

I'm considering applying for postgrad med at Auckland under the RRAS scheme with an estimated GPA of 7 by the end of this year and with a raw UMAT score of 114 (extremely devastating :()

Before I got my UMAT results back I thought I still had a decent shot at getting in seeing as the lowest successful GPA for RRAS entry was 6.5 but with such a low UMAT score I've nearly lost all hope:(:( If I perform quite well in the interview does anyone reckon I would still have a shot or do you recommend I save my application for next year? I know you only get two shots at applying for Med in Auckland!
 
Hi there

I'm considering applying for postgrad med at Auckland under the RRAS scheme with an estimated GPA of 7 by the end of this year and with a raw UMAT score of 114 (extremely devastating :()

Before I got my UMAT results back I thought I still had a decent shot at getting in seeing as the lowest successful GPA for RRAS entry was 6.5 but with such a low UMAT score I've nearly lost all hope:(:( If I perform quite well in the interview does anyone reckon I would still have a shot or do you recommend I save my application for next year? I know you only get two shots at applying for Med in Auckland!
It's hard to tell for sure what your chances are, but based on the data from this forum it would appear you have a shot. If this is your first time applying then I would go for it personally. If you don't make it then you could always apply again next year with an additional (hopefully higher) year's gpa depending on your degree situation. That's how I see it anyway.
 

kei

UoA BSc (Biomed), MBChB II
Hey guys, also feeling quite unsure whether I should apply for med this year. This is my last chance in applying for UoA med. My UMAT was not that great (150 raw) and my gpa will realistically be at 8.0625 (could bump it up to 8.1-8.2 if all things go well this sem). Do you guys think I have a decent shot? Feeling really anxious considering the high GPAs last year...
 
Hey guys, similar question to Kei's with a 7.5GPA (final 2 years), 186 raw umat I would need a near perfect interview to stand a chance aye?

I'm applying with an engineering degree but I don't believe type of degree matters. Makes me wonder if it's worth doing first year biomed next year if I don't get in.
 

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yung scurvy

Regular Member
Same sort of state/question as posted before! Applying through the grad pathway for Auckland, but got a pretty poor UMAT of 128 raw score. GPA if all works out should end up around 8.2 and this is what it is currently at. Even with the poor UMAT score is this enough for an interview? Also am applying through the UTAS scheme to boost chances!
 

greengem

MD III
Same sort of state/question as posted before! Applying through the grad pathway for Auckland, but got a pretty poor UMAT of 128 raw score. GPA if all works out should end up around 8.2 and this is what it is currently at. Even with the poor UMAT score is this enough for an interview? Also am applying through the UTAS scheme to boost chances!
I think for an interview in general graduate category last year you needed a 7.25 GPA over 2 years and a 6 GPA over 3 years. With an 8.2 GPA and UTAS scheme, I'd say you have a very very high chance at landing a spot as long as you don't say anything absurd in the interview. (For UTAS scheme I believe the GPA needed to be considered for an interview over the last 2 years is a 6).
Good Luck!
 

yung scurvy

Regular Member
I think for an interview in general graduate category last year you needed a 7.25 GPA over 2 years and a 6 GPA over 3 years. With an 8.2 GPA and UTAS scheme, I'd say you have a very very high chance at landing a spot as long as you don't say anything absurd in the interview. (For UTAS scheme I believe the GPA needed to be considered for an interview over the last 2 years is a 6).
Good Luck!
Thanks dude!
 

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