Auckland OLY1 chat - archive

[iUsername]

That's good sounds like a nice recovery! Hope is a great thing *insert Shawshank Redemption quote here*. Rumour mill has it 107 muscle guy decided to give you guys a nice question this year?

I still got 2 more...lets just say I can't wait to have them over and done with because this has been a nice and stressful semester! We're pretty much assessed the same way you guys are...4 papers each semester with their own tests and exams. And some practical exams ('rat races'). Some full year papers too though so I think we have less exams next semester.

Hows your time table though? pretty full?
My second semester is lovely! No 3 hour wait times

"easy" really depends on your artistic talents. He left for Bristol last week and probably was to busy to think of a few questions so he ended up sticking us with a 10 point diagram. Yeah it was about the cross bridge cycle but gosh by the end of the exam mine looked like road kill! Definetly imagined it better in my head!

I ended up writing most of what occured around the side and drawing a line to the places were it occured. I was all set for an essay style question on ECG'S etc

 

[E2011]

quick question, if someone were to get a high core GPA, and maintain the overall GPA of 6 to be elgible, should that someone be worried about their marks in non-core papers?

 

[iUsername]

quick question, if someone were to get a high core GPA, and maintain the overall GPA of 6 to be elgible, should that someone be worried about their marks in non-core papers?

All you need is a B+ average overall and then from there you only need to worry about your core papers and UMAT (ish...from what i've read on this thread they dont care too much).

 

[kakarot]

To 2nd/3rd years: What kind of core gpa values were obtained by students who got into med? I know you guys don't go asking everyone in your 2nd/3rd classes about OLY1 core gpas but if anyone could give a little insight as in what the "standard" core gpa for med entry could be around, it would be appreciated. Do you think there would be any changes due to the threshold increases this year?

I just heard from someone at my hall today who was saying that you can only apply to auckland med twice in your life. So I was maybe thinking if I was to get an 8.5 i might try out for an interview, but if i got anything lower (like 8.25) it might be better to not apply, and instead conserve the chance for later applications? I hope that doesn't sound just plain stupid...

 

[qbob]

I think with a core GPA above 8.0 you have a really good shot, and I would most definitely apply. This year there are extra places available too (I think about 25 or so for regular OLY1 entry), which will no doubt lower the grade threshold slightly.

For now I'd say relax, wait till you get your course results in about 3 weeks time before you start planning the "what-if" scenarios

 

[govpop]

quick question, if someone were to get a high core GPA, and maintain the overall GPA of 6 to be elgible, should that someone be worried about their marks in non-core papers?

Theoretically you could get 4A+ and 4C+ in your non core, and you would have the highest possible grade for when they rank you. This comes in helpful next semester when you only have one core.

 

[4everAlone]

Hows your time table though? pretty full?
My second semester is lovely! No 3 hour wait times

"easy" really depends on your artistic talents. He left for Bristol last week and probably was to busy to think of a few questions so he ended up sticking us with a 10 point diagram. Yeah it was about the cross bridge cycle but gosh by the end of the exam mine looked like road kill! Definetly imagined it better in my head!

I ended up writing most of what occured around the side and drawing a line to the places were it occured. I was all set for an essay style question on ECG'S etc

Yeah it's pretty full, but it doesn't feel quite as bad when you're with an awesome bunch of people who are no longer competitors! I definitely found second semester to be a lot nicer than first...you only have one core paper to focus on, which is a pretty interesting paper in itself. You also have labs at grafton and the labs there are brand new and pretty sweet! Hahahaha it's algood you're not an arts student so I don't think they'd expect much...love it how lazy the lecturers can be sometimes. It gets worse (*or better depending on how you see it!!) if you make it into med, they repeat questions like crazy.

And yeah I agree with qbob, especially with the extra places this year and increased grade thresholds an 8.0 should give you a reasonable chance. By no means safe, but definitely a reasonable chance.

 

[govpop]

It gets worse (*or better depending on how you see it!!) if you make it into med, they repeat questions like crazy.

Lol

 

[Srao92]

To 2nd/3rd years: What kind of core gpa values were obtained by students who got into med? I know you guys don't go asking everyone in your 2nd/3rd classes about OLY1 core gpas but if anyone could give a little insight as in what the "standard" core gpa for med entry could be around, it would be appreciated. Do you think there would be any changes due to the threshold increases this year?

I just heard from someone at my hall today who was saying that you can only apply to auckland med twice in your life. So I was maybe thinking if I was to get an 8.5 i might try out for an interview, but if i got anything lower (like 8.25) it might be better to not apply, and instead conserve the chance for later applications? I hope that doesn't sound just plain stupid...

To be honest I think I'l apply regardless of my final GPA (unless its really bad!).
I don't think i've ever wanted anything so bad in my life and even though i'm a first year and a bit niave in saying this...I really do think I was put on this Earth for this role. You can judge that however you want but that feeling has kept me going through this year through some harsh personal strife.

I honestly am a huge believer in life working out the way you want if you want something bad enough...it just might take a little longer than you anticipated. You seem like an intelligent boy with some good grades (reading over your pophealth scores made me really self concious about mine ) so i wouldn't worry too much about your results and more about your UMAT and interview.

 

[iUsername]

Yeah it's pretty full, but it doesn't feel quite as bad when you're with an awesome bunch of people who are no longer competitors! I definitely found second semester to be a lot nicer than first...you only have one core paper to focus on, which is a pretty interesting paper in itself. You also have labs at grafton and the labs there are brand new and pretty sweet! Hahahaha it's algood you're not an arts student so I don't think they'd expect much...love it how lazy the lecturers can be sometimes. It gets worse (*or better depending on how you see it!!) if you make it into med, they repeat questions like crazy.

And yeah I agree with qbob, especially with the extra places this year and increased grade thresholds an 8.0 should give you a reasonable chance. By no means safe, but definitely a reasonable chance.

So i'm guessing i'm going to live at uni pretty much like I have been now?
Defintely thinking of moving into a hall, I hate the 30min ride into town...

 

[4everAlone]

So i'm guessing i'm going to live at uni pretty much like I have been now?
Defintely thinking of moving into a hall, I hate the 30min ride into town...

Pretty much. 8am starts 3 days a week and 9am starts 2 days a week. Most of my days generally finish around 330ish. But everyone has a different timetable.

Ahh I got a 45min bus ride...I don't actually mind it though...gives me time to listen to some music or get some more sleep if it's early =)

[MENTION=7506]govpop[/MENTION] Yeah that's all I'm gona say about repeating questions...

 

[iUsername]

Pretty much. 8am starts 3 days a week and 9am starts 2 days a week. Most of my days generally finish around 330ish. But everyone has a different timetable.

Ahh I got a 45min bus ride...I don't actually mind it though...gives me time to listen to some music or get some more sleep if it's early =)

[MENTION=7506]govpop[/MENTION] Yeah that's all I'm gona say about repeating questions...

Haha sleeping on the bus.... after seeing the school kids mess around with some of the sleeping passengers I think i'll pass
I'm not a very fun person at 8am in the morning. But I did manage to acclimate to the 4 day 8am starts this year.

 

[iUsername]

Plus you could do some post-grad work if again you needed to increase your grades

How would that work? If I recall correctly OLY1 doesn't count if you applying via post grad?

 

[iUsername]

Also, they could say things that are wrong (e.g morally), and expect you to go against them just to see if you would...

Lol! I was really counting on my vast interview experience to help with the medicine interview...but it seems to be a lot more thinking than just "what do you like to do for a hobby"

 

[4everAlone]

How would that work? If I recall correctly OLY1 doesn't count if you applying via post grad?

They use your last two years of study to calculate your gpa, so yeah OLY1 doesn't count if you apply post-grad at Auckland. It does count in Otago though I think.

You can do a one year post-grad course on top of your degree, and then they would take the final year of your degree and that year of post-grad work to calculate your gpa...or you could do two years of post-grad work, masters/phd (I think?!) and they'd use those...Basically they just use your grades from your final 2 years of study, whatever that may be (must be a degree or higher qualification though I think)

 

[iUsername]

They use your last two years of study to calculate your gpa, so yeah OLY1 doesn't count if you apply post-grad at Auckland. It does count in Otago though I think.

You can do a one year post-grad course on top of your degree, and then they would take the final year of your degree and that year of post-grad work to calculate your gpa...or you could do two years of post-grad work, masters/phd (I think?!) and they'd use those...Basically they just use your grades from your final 2 years of study, whatever that may be (must be a degree or higher qualification though I think)

Sweet, but I do feel a little bad shoving everything onto my student loan. From what i've heard from honours/masters/pHD students is that its really full on. I'm doing health science so i'm pretty sure it wont involve as much lab work but it'll definetly leave little time to work and pay off my debt.

Reading over the other posts, I've noticed Chinaski saying that she's still paying off her debts from 3 degrees...lol perhaps it isn't such a bad route after all.

 

[punterforlife]

first time poster.question for the auckland med students: just wondering if the interview panel has the list of our grades in front of them when conducting the interview at auckland uni?suppose will they know I only got a B- average in first year BA?

 

[govpop]

no they have no idea of your grades.

 

[punterforlife]

no they have no idea of your grades.

so u get questions based on the MH-03 form basically aye?so they can't know u did jack in your year 1 of B.A?

 

[iUsername]

so u get questions based on the MH-03 form basically aye?so they can't know u did jack in your year 1 of B.A?

Basically if you did well enough to get an interview they won't really care how your grades are.
They are there to judge your personal ability to handle medicine as a degree and career. They'll leave all the academic stuff to the faculty to sort out.

And the interviews vary depending on who you get...some posters on MSO have said that they got questions that were derived from their form, while others stated that it was never or hardly refered to.