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Auckland OLY1 chat - archive

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g.walker said:
With that said, apparently the memorising goes up by factors in medschool, but at least by then its all interesting and related topics, instead of some physics here, biochemical cycles there, all the data from pophlth, all the reactions from chem110 which we all forgot by now, and dealing with our dam gen ed courses. Sigh
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Can't speak for Auckland med, but going from healthsci to med at Otago, it hasn't really improved in the "learning uninteresting stuff" deparment. We do 13 vertical modules, including things like biochem, population health and genetics, and some of it is horrendously boring (the genetics mainly :(). Crap thing is that if you fail any of the vertical modules in the exam, you fail the exam overall, but from the sounds of it noone fails so it'll be alright. I really like physics though lol so the sprinkling of physics in cardiovascular and respiratory was nice.
 
physiophysics(lol) is really interesting, the other day we were studying the electric fields that produce the EKG, and it was a much better explanation than "EKG is due to electrical activity of the heart" which u get from physiologists, as well as the PV diagrams of the heart ventricles and whatnot, but those constitute a very small portion of the physics that we're doing here at auckland, so it kinda sux for us, aw well
 
Yeah HSFY "biological physics" pretty much meant normal physics applied to questions which tried to have a biological angle to them. No exclusive physics about the body, but I really enjoyed physics anyway.
 
Was just having a read through the guidelines for admission to medicine at Otago (competitive graduate) and it seems that the UMAT criteria has changed a little.

Before the cut-off was 25th percentile in each of the three sections then ranking according to GPA. Now it's "a current UMAT score that is at a threshold level determined annually by the Medical Admissions Committee".

It seemed a little unfair as UMAT was held in July this year, and people I know who met the 25th percentile threshold chose not to re-sit. However, the new guidelines were released on 1 Sept. Hopefully it won't affect anyone too much, but just a heads-up to future applicants.
 
lambchops said:
Was just having a read through the guidelines for admission to medicine at Otago (competitive graduate) and it seems that the UMAT criteria has changed a little.

Before the cut-off was 25th percentile in each of the three sections then ranking according to GPA. Now it's "a current UMAT score that is at a threshold level determined annually by the Medical Admissions Committee".

It seemed a little unfair as UMAT was held in July this year, and people I know who met the 25th percentile threshold chose not to re-sit. However, the new guidelines were released on 1 Sept. Hopefully it won't affect anyone too much, but just a heads-up to future applicants.
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Oh crap that could be a problem. Most of the people I know chose to resit to get a good safe mark in it.
 
g.walker said:
Lol our new medsci lecturer looks like big boss from MGS4 (https://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/metalgear/images/8/80/Big_Boss_MGS4.jpg)

I dont think our lecturers are spoonfeeding us at all, and its unfair of them to ask us things that we wernt taught about (edemas, bradycardia etc), if you consider the amount of stuff you have to memorise in medsci, i think its only fair that they give us a few hints of what we dont need to know YET. With that said, apparently the memorising goes up by factors in medschool, but at least by then its all interesting and related topics, instead of some physics here, biochemical cycles there, all the data from pophlth, all the reactions from chem110 which we all forgot by now, and dealing with our dam gen ed courses. Sigh

Yo MBChB guys, why have you all disappeared? you know we're just 10 weeks away from our interviews (they'll go by like its 10 days) and i'm sure you know the paranoia thats gonna hit this thread by then ;)

BTW has anyone submitted their MH03 form? i think we should start working on it now
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I'm still here, but just with less time to get onto MSO now. Alot of med school is just memorising stuff (ie, every single vitamin, in what foods they are found, function, metabolism, absorption, some biochemistry, deficiencies...). To be honest, theres very little in the way of conceptual stuff. Anatomy is pretty much all just memory - not all of it interesting, you do get a bit sick of arteries, nerves, dermatomes, veins, origins and insertions after a while. Not only is it mostly about rote learning, the lectures have like twice the material in them compared to first year. You don't escape the biochem in 2nd yr. Ken Scott returns to delight the class with 4 lectures on metabolism. But at least when you are in med, you get alot more of the good stuff to balance out all the rote learning. And at least you know that the pain will eventually be worth it, because your going to be a doctor.

Haha he does look a bit like Denis Loiselle - if you like his stuff, you get to see alot more of him in 2nd year, pretty much teaching the same stuff...just harder and more in depth.
 
You are right

lambchops said:
Was just having a read through the guidelines for admission to medicine at Otago (competitive graduate) and it seems that the UMAT criteria has changed a little.

Before the cut-off was 25th percentile in each of the three sections then ranking according to GPA. Now it's "a current UMAT score that is at a threshold level determined annually by the Medical Admissions Committee".

It seemed a little unfair as UMAT was held in July this year, and people I know who met the 25th percentile threshold chose not to re-sit. However, the new guidelines were released on 1 Sept. Hopefully it won't affect anyone too much, but just a heads-up to future applicants.
Click to expand...

lambchops said:
Was just having a read through the guidelines for admission to medicine at Otago (competitive graduate) and it seems that the UMAT criteria has changed a little.

Before the cut-off was 25th percentile in each of the three sections then ranking according to GPA. Now it's "a current UMAT score that is at a threshold level determined annually by the Medical Admissions Committee".

It seemed a little unfair as UMAT was held in July this year, and people I know who met the 25th percentile threshold chose not to re-sit. However, the new guidelines were released on 1 Sept. Hopefully it won't affect anyone too much, but just a heads-up to future applicants.
Click to expand...

God d*** it, you are right! This new rule is going to affect me deeply, because I only got 30 percentile for my S2. But I think the admission committee will know that they cannot use this new rule at least for this year otherwise they will get strongly complaint by some applicants (I will be one of them:mad::mad::mad:)
 
My only hope is that they do not follow the rule strictly. For example, despite getting lower than 25% last year in S2, I was still invited for physiotherapy interview.
 
I sent an email quite a while ago and this was the reply I got on August 7th 2009 (before the guidelines came out)

Dear asdf

Thank you for your enquiry.

I have spoken with the Undergraduate Admissions Manager who has confirmed that asdf 2008 UMAT (UMAT ID 78465465565) is sufficient to be considered for admission via the Competitive Graduate category for Medicine in 2010.

Kind regards

Beth

Beth Stewart-Jacks
Undergraduate Admissions Officer
Health Sciences Admissions Office
Division of Health Sciences
PO Box 647
Dunedin 9054
New Zealand

My umat was pretty bad I got about 40-45% for each section

I'm not sure if this is valid because they sent the email before the guidelines came out though...

hope this helps
 
dogtown said:
I sent an email quite a while ago and this was the reply I got on August 7th 2009 (before the guidelines came out)

Dear asdf

Thank you for your enquiry.

I have spoken with the Undergraduate Admissions Manager who has confirmed that asdf 2008 UMAT (UMAT ID 78465465565) is sufficient to be considered for admission via the Competitive Graduate category for Medicine in 2010.

Kind regards

Beth

Beth Stewart-Jacks
Undergraduate Admissions Officer
Health Sciences Admissions Office
Division of Health Sciences
PO Box 647
Dunedin 9054
New Zealand

My umat was pretty bad I got about 40-45% for each section

I'm not sure if this is valid because they sent the email before the guidelines came out though...

hope this helps
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There you go. I doubt they will change the criteria this year. But I think the rule will definitely be different next year.

The thing is we are not unhappy with them for changing the rules. They are holding this game. They set up the rules and we follow the roles in order to win. Yet, it is very unfair if they change the rule while we are in the game already. Dont you agree?

My UMAT: 80% 30% 70%
 
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I do agree that it's unfair in that the new guidelines were released about a month after UMAT. If they had given applicants a bit more notice and the option to have another go at UMAT that would've been nice.

Hopefully it doesn't make too much of a difference, maybe they'll raise the threshold just a little. But I guess if one's application isn't successful then it's hard to tell whether it was not meeting the UMAT threshold or not having a high enough GPA (not sure if you can ask admissions this info).

hamlock: Definitely applying for AU as well. Otago would be a great experience (if I get in), but I really want to stay with fam/friends in Auckland + there's a lot of 21sts next year. According to the admissions office I don't have to compete with you first-years :)

vvvvv: All the best for your application! I really hope it doesn't mess you around.
 
lambchops said:
I do agree that it's unfair in that the new guidelines were released about a month after UMAT. If they had given applicants a bit more notice and the option to have another go at UMAT that would've been nice.

Hopefully it doesn't make too much of a difference, maybe they'll raise the threshold just a little. But I guess if one's application isn't successful then it's hard to tell whether it was not meeting the UMAT threshold or not having a high enough GPA (not sure if you can ask admissions this info).

hamlock: Definitely applying for AU as well. Otago would be a great experience (if I get in), but I really want to stay with fam/friends in Auckland + there's a lot of 21sts next year. According to the admissions office I don't have to compete with you first-years :)

vvvvv: All the best for your application! I really hope it doesn't mess you around.
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No, if you dont get in through competitve entry, then it must be because of your gpa. If your UMAT does not reach the threshold, the admission committee will make you withdraw the application.
 
12.30 midnight
have to wake up in 5 hours
caught a cold
cant sleep

[offtopic]anyone watching house season 6 or big bang theory season 3?[/offtopic]
 
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