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UoA Graduate Category Chat/Enquiry

Ive heard it isn't a good idea to take too many medscis in one sem. Also some of the medscis (stage II) are not neccessary unless it is a pre requisite for stage III. (Must take 4 of the 5 required stage III medsci). I think 203 was known to be particularly hard and isn't even a pre req for the neccessary medscis so i would opt out of it if I were you unless you really want to do the one stage III medsci paper it's a pre req for.
(This is for a physiology degree though not biomed)
 

greengem

MD III
Ladybug 7 I got advised to switch medsci 203 for medsci 201, but do some more research, look at past papers and determine which suits you more. Apparently 201 is slightly easier but with any medsci it's gonna require a lot of effort from us :)
 

matron7

Lurker
Keen to set up a facebook chat to share resources among us physiology students that intend to apply for med in 2 years time (biomed students too).
 

Ladybug 7

Member
Ive heard it isn't a good idea to take too many medscis in one sem. Also some of the medscis (stage II) are not neccessary unless it is a pre requisite for stage III. (Must take 4 of the 5 required stage III medsci). I think 203 was known to be particularly hard and isn't even a pre req for the neccessary medscis so i would opt out of it if I were you unless you really want to do the one stage III medsci paper it's a pre req for.
(This is for a physiology degree though not biomed)
Thanks for that advice! I've heard medsci 203 has quite a reputation. Do you think 201 would be a better choice if I were to do 3 medsci papers in terms of workload? I've been thinking whether it would be better to put gen ed/stats in sem 1 instead of the 3rd medsci but still undecided.
 
I personally would not reccommend 3 medsci papers in one sem in the first place as your gpa will take a big hit (post grad med we are going to need a high gpa) but if you have to i'd say take the ones which will open up your options for stage III.
 

greengem

MD III
I think it depends on the person, I'm doing 3 medscis in first sem because I worked best at the beginning of the year in 2017. By getting the "hard" papers out of the way, I'll have three stage one papers in semester 2 along with my last medsci paper. But this is post-grad hahaha so we are going to have to work best every day lol
 

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acbard9

Auckland MBChB
Hmmm...

I did MEDSCI 201, 203, 204 and 205. Whilst 201 and 203 are considered the two hardest, I achieved significantly better in 201 and 203 (both A+) than I did in 204 and 205 (A-, B+). I even got a B in a gen-ed that is considered easy. Definitely take advise you get about which papers are easy with a grain of salt.

If you are the memorise-material type, I would suggest doing one of 201 or 203 (along with 205). I hear 202 is easy too, some saying it was the easiest of all the MEDSCIs.

I suggest leaving STATS 101 until the 2nd semester. Many students take a 5th paper in Semester 2 if Semester 1 doesn't turn out that well. STATS 101 (or MATHS108) would be a highly-suitable 5th paper, in my opinion.

Have a browse through the BIOSCI papers too. I personally enjoyed BIOSCI 203 despite my poor grade (lol), and the seemingly general dislike of the paper past and present.

But to contradict that last statement (lol), I would highly suggest taking papers you genuinely find interesting, and not worry about what pathway it could go into in terms of your research or career. Biomedical major papers will generally lead to the same opportunities. I have had a little bit of experience with research now, and the majority of the people in the lab did not do their current research interest (eta: in undergrad*)

Best of luck to you and everybody else :).
 
Last edited:

MiGoreng

Member
Hmmm...

I did MEDSCI 201, 203, 204 and 205. Whilst 201 and 203 are considered the two hardest, I achieved significantly better in 201 and 203 (both A+) than I did in 204 and 205 (A-, B+). I even got a B in a gen-ed that is considered easy. Definitely take advise you get about which papers are easy with a grain of salt.

If you are the memorise-material type, I would suggest doing one of 201 or 203 (along with 205). I hear 202 is easy too, some saying it was the easiest of all the MEDSCIs.

I suggest leaving STATS 101 until the 2nd semester. Many students take a 5th paper in Semester 2 if Semester 1 doesn't turn out that well. STATS 101 (or MATHS108) would be a highly-suitable 5th paper, in my opinion.

Have a browse through the BIOSCI papers too. I personally enjoyed BIOSCI 203 despite my poor grade (lol), and the seemingly general dislike of the paper past and present.

But to contradict that last statement (lol), I would highly suggest taking papers you genuinely find interesting, and not worry about what pathway it could go into in terms of your research or career. Biomedical major papers will generally lead to the same opportunities. I have had a little bit of experience with research now, and the majority of the people in the lab did not do their current research interest (eta. in undergrad*)

Best of luck to you and everybody else :).

Guessing this was meant to be in the other thread, but glad I caught it, lol.

Ah, wow, that’s unexpected for sure; guess it really does come down to your learning style in the end. Going by your comments and a little further digging, i’ve settled with MEDSCI 201, 202, and 206 as my optionals and stats second sem. Unfortunately only BIOSCI209 is in the optionals this year, so I gotta pass up on that one.

Thanks a ton for the insight!
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
Guessing this was meant to be in the other thread, but glad I caught it, lol.

acbard9 ‘s reply seems to be in response to posts above re. doing Med Sci papers: which ones, how many, and in which semester. I can move the post (and your reply) if you think it’s meant to elsewhere, but I think it’s fine.
 

Stuart

Administrator
Emeritus Staff
- offtopic -

acbard9 ‘s reply seems to be in response to posts above re. doing Med Sci papers: which ones, how many, and in which semester. I can move the post (and your reply) if you think it’s meant to elsewhere, but I think it’s fine.

Hi LMG!,

I believe the issue is that we have another thread for "which papers to take". It's an issue that arises from having a separate chat-based thread. It's an ongoing issue in other sub-forums also. It's probably my fault for not sorting it out when I rearranged all the threads.
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
- offtopic -



Hi LMG!,

I believe the issue is that we have another thread for "which papers to take". It's an issue that arises from having a chat-based thread. It's an ongoing issue in other sub-forums also. It's probably my fault for not sorting it out when I rearranged all the threads.

I can move all the posts to that thread. It’s just a few button clicks.
 

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Mdku22

MBChB III
I just got my MMI feedback, and wondered if anybody had any insights:
ada48ac9bd.png

How many categories are there? I apparently had an average MMI but I was rated excellent in a few categories, and above average for many - must I have been particularly poor in some categories not listed here?
 

DrDrLMG!

Resident Medical Officer
Administrator
I just got my MMI feedback, and wondered if anybody had any insights:
ada48ac9bd.png

How many categories are there? I apparently had an average MMI but I was rated excellent in a few categories, and above average for many - must I have been particularly poor in some categories not listed here?

It sounds like you did a great job. Sorry to hear that you did not receive a place. Assuming each of those factors is a separately marked 'category', I'd imagine there were a number of applicants who received Excellent assessment ratings in all, or almost all, areas. The above would suggest to me that your score combination, as good as it is, was unfortunately not quite competitive enough for the very few places (compared to applicants) available to study Medicine.

Stuart, rustyedges, Rob, or frootloop might have more specific feedback for you.
 

molive

Member
I just got my MMI feedback, and wondered if anybody had any insights:
ada48ac9bd.png

How many categories are there? I apparently had an average MMI but I was rated excellent in a few categories, and above average for many - must I have been particularly poor in some categories not listed here?

There are 14:
Awareness of health issues
Career motivation
Communication
Conflict resolution
Creativity
Critical thinking
Cultural safety
Empathy
Ethical/moral reasoning
Quality of argument
Self-awareness
Self-care
Social responsibility
Teamwork

There are 8 stations and each station assesses 3 of the above categories, so there is some overlap. Each is scored from 1 - 10 so each station has a possibility of 30 points.
 

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