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UoA Graduate Category Chat/Enquiry

Minimum academic time is e.g. finishing a 3 year degree in 3 years instead of taking 5 years to finish it

With your Honours Degree, I'm assuming it took you 4 years to finish the degree and honours which is the expected amount of time to finish it, so you'll be fine.
My honours degree is separate so it's just 1 year in length.

I can’t imagine deadlines moving forward this year…I know they used to be due later (last year because of COVID) but it definitely wouldn’t be changed from Nov. 15th. There is usually a soft 2 week extension available as well! The only thing would be you need to speak to your supervisor about getting your thesis marked & grades back before 30th November as if they are later than that (which Honours often are) your application will be scrapped as they cannot hold up making offers for other students. But definitely chat with your supervisor!
Is there like an official document that says that? About the grades before 30th Nov? I don't understand why that would happen because they usually use interim grades right?
 

Bootleg

Regular Member
My honours degree is separate so it's just 1 year in length.
As long as you complete your honours in 1 year, you will meet the minimum academic time.

Is there like an official document that says that? About the grades before 30th Nov? I don't understand why that would happen because they usually use interim grades right?
It is a departmental guideline. The date varies among departments.
 
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studykiwi

UoA MBChB II
Is there like an official document that says that? About the grades before 30th Nov? I don't understand why that would happen because they usually use interim grades right?
I spoke to the FMHS advisors. I’d definitely go talk to them though. They use your interim grades (assumed A+) for interview ranking, however to get a place offer, they have to use your actual grades. Because if you failed (for example) they can’t offer you a place because you don’t meet the grade requirements. They need your actual final grades to rank you against other students for a place :)
 
I spoke to the FMHS advisors. I’d definitely go talk to them though. They use your interim grades (assumed A+) for interview ranking, however to get a place offer, they have to use your actual grades. Because if you failed (for example) they can’t offer you a place because you don’t meet the grade requirements. They need your actual final grades to rank you against other students for a place :)
Ah yeah that's what my understanding was about the interim grades but I had heard rumours about deadline dates being moved forward but couldn't find anything concrete. Thanks :)
 

Starlight_

Member
Hey everyone, long time lurker and first time posting on the forums. I have been unable to find any information on how UoA calculates your final grade for a two year MSc.
Do they convert all your individual paper grades to a 9 point scale and then average to give cumulative GPA or do they first average the percentages and convert that to the 9 point scale.
I find the grade system a little confusing, especially for a 2 year MSc so hopefully I can get some clarification. If its relevant I completed my MSc at Otago. Thanks in advance and all the best to everyone applying this year :)
 

studykiwi

UoA MBChB II
Hey everyone, long time lurker and first time posting on the forums. I have been unable to find any information on how UoA calculates your final grade for a two year MSc.
Do they convert all your individual paper grades to a 9 point scale and then average to give cumulative GPA or do they first average the percentages and convert that to the 9 point scale.
I find the grade system a little confusing, especially for a 2 year MSc so hopefully I can get some clarification. If its relevant I completed my MSc at Otago. Thanks in advance and all the best to everyone applying this year :)
By two year masters I assume you mean Pgdip + Masters? I believe they only take the grades from one or the other (masters OR pgdip) and they would take each paper/thesis grade and convert to 9 scale before averaging (not by overall percentage if that makes sense). You can always email the admissions office for info too if you want official advice :)
 

Bootleg

Regular Member
Hey everyone, long time lurker and first time posting on the forums. I have been unable to find any information on how UoA calculates your final grade for a two year MSc.
Do they convert all your individual paper grades to a 9 point scale and then average to give cumulative GPA or do they first average the percentages and convert that to the 9 point scale.
I find the grade system a little confusing, especially for a 2 year MSc so hopefully I can get some clarification. If its relevant I completed my MSc at Otago. Thanks in advance and all the best to everyone applying this year :)
Your GPA will only be calculated from the papers you did in your MSc (i.e. the papers you did in your bachelors or PGDip or honours will not count towards your GPA)

Auckland uses a cumulative basis for their GPA calculation, so the best way to calculate it for your standalone MSc degree is using this formula: (total grade points)/(total points taken)

Suppose I'm doing a 240 point masters of which 60 points is for my thesis and the other 180 points are taught courses. Assuming I got a B in my thesis (60 points) but A+ in all my other taught courses (180 points); using a 9 point scale.

My cumulative GPA would be [(60 x 5) + (180 x 9)] / [240] = 1920 / 240 = 8.0.

Hope that helps
 

bluecat

Member
Hey guys, I'm an international student and currently in my third year of Bachelor of Medical Science degree at the University of Sydney, and I'm wondering if I'm eligible to apply for BDS at Otago and what's the cut-off for UCAT? Thank you!
 

Bootleg

Regular Member
Hey guys, I'm an international student and currently in my third year of Bachelor of Medical Science degree at the University of Sydney, and I'm wondering if I'm eligible to apply for BDS at Otago and what's the cut-off for UCAT? Thank you!
Hi,

You won't be eligible to apply for BDS at Otago under both the graduate category or alternative category as in order to be eligible you need to:

  1. Be a domestic student (NZ citizen or permanent residents of NZ or Australia citizen or permanent residents of Australia); AND
  2. (only applies to graduate category) complete a bachelor's degree from a NZ university
 

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bluecat

Member
Hi,

You won't be eligible to apply for BDS at Otago under both the graduate category or alternative category as in order to be eligible you need to:

  1. Be a domestic student (NZ citizen or permanent residents of NZ or Australia citizen or permanent residents of Australia); AND
  2. (only applies to graduate category) complete a bachelor's degree from a NZ university

Hi,

You won't be eligible to apply for BDS at Otago under both the graduate category or alternative category as in order to be eligible you need to:

  1. Be a domestic student (NZ citizen or permanent residents of NZ or Australia citizen or permanent residents of Australia); AND
  2. (only applies to graduate category) complete a bachelor's degree from a NZ university
thank you so much for clarifying! so there is no graduate entry for international students? :( I just found that they accept 60 international students on their page but I'm so confused :((( Idk if that's only for HSFY or something.
 

Bootleg

Regular Member
thank you so much for clarifying! so there is no graduate entry for international students? :( I just found that they accept 60 international students on their page but I'm so confused :((( Idk if that's only for HSFY or something.
On second thought I just double checked Otago website and it does say that they are accepting 60 international students for this year's intake (which is something new to me). Those 60 places could be a combination of HSFY and transfer students from other dental unis.

I think you should send a email to health-sciences@otago.ac.nz and inquiry about this because its quite ambiguous from the university website.

All the best!
 

bluecat

Member
On second thought I just double checked Otago website and it does say that they are accepting 60 international students for this year's intake (which is something new to me). Those 60 places could be a combination of HSFY and transfer students from other dental unis.

I think you should send a email to health-sciences@otago.ac.nz and inquiry about this because its quite ambiguous from the university website.

All the best!
Thank you so much! Have a nice day mate!
 

Starlight_

Member
By two year masters I assume you mean Pgdip + Masters? I believe they only take the grades from one or the other (masters OR pgdip) and they would take each paper/thesis grade and convert to 9 scale before averaging (not by overall percentage if that makes sense). You can always email the admissions office for info too if you want official advice :)
Hey, Thanks for the reply appreciate it. Your explanation is the most logical and definitely agrees with my initial thought.

Your GPA will only be calculated from the papers you did in your MSc (i.e. the papers you did in your bachelors or PGDip or honours will not count towards your GPA)

Auckland uses a cumulative basis for their GPA calculation, so the best way to calculate it for your standalone MSc degree is using this formula: (total grade points)/(total points taken)

Suppose I'm doing a 240 point masters of which 60 points is for my thesis and the other 180 points are taught courses. Assuming I got a B in my thesis (60 points) but A+ in all my other taught courses (180 points); using a 9 point scale.

My cumulative GPA would be [(60 x 5) + (180 x 9)] / [240] = 1920 / 240 = 8.0.

Hope that helps

Thank you for the explanation and the equation. It definitely clears things further.

Just to further clarify - this may be helpful to someone else in a similar boat. I did a 2 year MSc worth 240 points rather than a honours/PGDip and a one year Research MSc.
Based on the advice above averaging based on a 9 point scale and or using the equation gives me the same cumulative GPA.

Thanks again for the reply, puts my mind to ease.
 

Starlight_

Member
Your GPA will only be calculated from the papers you did in your MSc (i.e. the papers you did in your bachelors or PGDip or honours will not count towards your GPA)

Auckland uses a cumulative basis for their GPA calculation, so the best way to calculate it for your standalone MSc degree is using this formula: (total grade points)/(total points taken)

Suppose I'm doing a 240 point masters of which 60 points is for my thesis and the other 180 points are taught courses. Assuming I got a B in my thesis (60 points) but A+ in all my other taught courses (180 points); using a 9 point scale.

My cumulative GPA would be [(60 x 5) + (180 x 9)] / [240] = 1920 / 240 = 8.0.

Hope that helps
Just to add to me previous post, I really appreciate the clarity in your explanation. I've already passed this equation on to friends of mine who were just as confused. Thanks again.
 

studykiwi

UoA MBChB II
Just want to check (super stressed as first time applying, sorry if it's a silly question!) that I do not have to do anything now, just wait for an interview invite right? Screen Shot 2021-08-24 at 3.23.39 PM.png
 

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kinesin

Member
Hey everyone!

fellow grad applicant here - I just had a random look at the UoA MMI page and they've decided that the MMI's are going to be conducted online this year!

they said they will provide more information in due course but I was just wondering if there was anyone here who did the online MMI last year? Could you please share your experience and how the interview day panned out? i.e. was it similar to the traditional 8 station mmi?

thank you so much! 😄
 

drum99

UoA MBChB III
Hey everyone!

fellow grad applicant here - I just had a random look at the UoA MMI page and they've decided that the MMI's are going to be conducted online this year!

they said they will provide more information in due course but I was just wondering if there was anyone here who did the online MMI last year? Could you please share your experience and how the interview day panned out? i.e. was it similar to the traditional 8 station mmi?

thank you so much! 😄
Hey! Yeah I did the MMI interview last year for UoA online - it was super chill. Just did it in my dining room on my computer at home haha, although I did wear a nice shirt and jacket to look vaguely professional HA!

WAY different from the original in person 8 stations. There were only two people on the panel - and I only did like 3 scenarios if I remember rightly. Basically I just had a few minutes to read the scenario, and then had like 5 minutes or so to discuss it.

The big things that I did to prepare were make sure I knew some stuff about health inequity/Maori health and also had some examples up my sleeve of just life things (leadership, how to handle stress etc). Overall I found the best way was just to be yourself and be conversational and try to engage the people interviewing you.
 

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