NZ Students Studying in Australia

[Cathay]

Various Otago med students tell me to go to Aus over Otago as their programs are better whilst some say stay in NZ because Aus students will be prioritised by Aus hospitals

I think the only real question there is "do you want to be a doctor in NZ?" - if so, it would be advisable to study in NZ. Medicine is a profession where you should study in the country you intend to work, if at all possible. The NZ PGY1 (internship year) job-matching gives priority to those graduating from a NZ medical school.

As A1 pointed out, you can't get an Aus student loan, nor a NZ student loan, if you study medicine in Australia, and are therefore required to pay essentially the domestic tuition fee plus your own living costs. This means you (or at least your parents) will need deep pockets.

The conventional wisdom of MSO has been that New Zealanders should only study medicine in Australia if they have been turned down from NZ medical schools, are prepared to fork out quite a bit of money, and are okay with the possibility of having to stay and work in Australia for a number of years.

Side note: I don't think "their programs are better" (if true) actually counts for anything - all the accredited medical schools in Aus/NZ aim to make you a safe, competent intern (PGY1), and as far as I know, "which Aus/NZ med school you went to" doesn't really affect anything further down the line for specialty application etc.

 

[Verdigris]

Hey so I'm on the waitlist for med but unlikely to get in (91.28) and I was looking to apply to oz, just wondering about your situation and how you got to australia!

milo8867 feif LSNZ

My experience applying to Australian medical schools

Kia ora tatou. I hope you are all well. If you have recently received a rejection from a medical school, I hope you realise that this is not a measure of your worth or of your potential as a doctor…

battlelostandwon.wordpress.com

hi everyone if u have questions about my experience please send them to me in a direct/private message or post them to my wall so i can answer them in another blog post x

 

[Toms]

hi everyone if u have questions about my experience please send them to me in a direct/private message or post them to my wall so i can answer them in another blog post x

Hey,
Congrats on getting the offer from Aussie, I was just wondering how did they convert your NZ gpa into the GEMSAS GPA, is it true that if you get an A- or above, its converted into the max 7 there?

 

[Crow]

Hey,
Congrats on getting the offer from Aussie, I was just wondering how did they convert your NZ gpa into the GEMSAS GPA, is it true that if you get an A- or above, its converted into the max 7 there?

Yes - anything 80% or above = 7, 70% or above = 6 etc. If every single unit you’ve taken in NZ scored over 80, then you’ll have a 7 GPA. If not, it’s slightly more complicated but still very simple to calculate.

 

[Verdigris]

Hey,
Congrats on getting the offer from Aussie, I was just wondering how did they convert your NZ gpa into the GEMSAS GPA, is it true that if you get an A- or above, its converted into the max 7 there?

if u wanna check specifically, check out:

GEMSAS

applygemsas.edu.au

 

[yung scurvy]

Hey Verd, considering applying to Australia next year. Only thing that is concerning me is GAMSAT! how did you do? and does it seem that for the GEMSAS you need to reach or threshold, or is it weighted?
Greatly Appreciate any help! - Sorry if this is basic info, but was getting confused looking at the website!

 

[Verdigris]

i'll try make a gamsat blog post, would that be helpful? yung scurvy

 

[yung scurvy]

i'll try make a gamsat blog post, would that be helpful? yung scurvy

That would be great!

 

[Verdigris]

GAMSAT blog post! Sitting the GAMSAT – my experience
Also, I have a "contact me" thing on my blog now - it does ask for your email (so I email you back), but if you would rather just send me a PM here that's all gooods x

 

[yung scurvy]

GAMSAT blog post! Sitting the GAMSAT – my experience
Also, I have a "contact me" thing on my blog now - it does ask for your email (so I email you back), but if you would rather just send me a PM here that's all gooods x

Thanks!!

 

[Verdigris]

So apparently all I do now is write this blog

Answering questions – Australia vs New Zealand, ranking GEMSAS universities

Kia ora tatou! I hope you are all well and enjoying the lovely sunshiny weather in the southern hemisphere! I spent Christmas and New Years with family in the States, so I’ve been shivering in the …

battlelostandwon.wordpress.com

 

[Gemma]

So apparently all I do now is write this blog

Answering questions – Australia vs New Zealand, ranking GEMSAS universities

Kia ora tatou! I hope you are all well and enjoying the lovely sunshiny weather in the southern hemisphere! I spent Christmas and New Years with family in the States, so I’ve been shivering in the …

battlelostandwon.wordpress.com

Ive read everything on your blog and its super helpful! Thanks so much for writing it All the best for your year at UQ - would love to know how you find it

 

[benster]

Hi, I'm not sure where to post this but I have a few questions (which probably have been answered, if so could you link it) about applying to study dentistry in Australia as an undergraduate. I just completed HSFY at University of Otago and have been waitlisted for dent so I am looking at applying for Australia at the end of this year.

1. Can I apply for Dental schools in Australia such as UQ, Griffith, Adelaide after completing a bachelor of science at Otago University at the end of this year?
2. Can I apply for Dental schools in Australia such as UQ, Griffith, Adelaide after completing first year engineering at the University of Auckland?
3. Will I have to sit the UCAT again? What percentile will I need?
4. To convert my GPA from NZ to Australia, is it true that for both Otago and Auckland that GPA of 85+ = GPA of 7 in Australia so I'll need to score at least an 85 in majority of my papers?
5. What are the best Australian dental schools?
6. How much roughly does it cost to study Dentistry in Australia each year?

Thanks so much in advance for answering these questions, it'll save me a lot of time!

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Hi, I'm not sure where to post this but I have a few questions (which probably have been answered, if so could you link it) about applying to study dentistry in Australia as an undergraduate. I just completed HSFY at University of Otago and have been waitlisted for dent so I am looking at applying for Australia at the end of this year.

1. Can I apply for Dental schools in Australia such as UQ, Griffith, Adelaide after completing a bachelor of science at Otago University at the end of this year?
2. Can I apply for Dental schools in Australia such as UQ, Griffith, Adelaide after completing first year engineering at the University of Auckland?
3. Will I have to sit the UCAT again? What percentile will I need?
4. To convert my GPA from NZ to Australia, is it true that for both Otago and Auckland that GPA of 85+ = GPA of 7 in Australia so I'll need to score at least an 85 in majority of my papers?
5. What are the best Australian dental schools?
6. How much roughly does it cost to study Dentistry in Australia each year?

Thanks so much in advance for answering these questions, it'll save me a lot of time!

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes, if you want to be eligible for all options, look at the collated data thread for an idea of what result you’ll need
4. I’m not sure
5. They are all accredited and you come out as a qualified dentist so the ‘best’ is whichever gives you an offer! Griffith has a full fee component for the final two years which is prohibitive for some
6. It varies drastically from Uni to Uni due to location/cost of living and the full fee Masters at Griffith. You can easily do this research yourself.

 

[Crow]

4. To convert my GPA from NZ to Australia, is it true that for both Otago and Auckland that GPA of 85+ = GPA of 7 in Australia so I'll need to score at least an 85 in majority of my papers?

Correct, though it depends on the university I think. If you were to go through the graduate entry pathway, then the cutoff for a 7 at those particular universities is 80 rather than 85.

 

[sparestuff]

4. To convert my GPA from NZ to Australia, is it true that for both Otago and Auckland that GPA of 85+ = GPA of 7 in Australia so I'll need to score at least an 85 in majority of my papers?

I can confirm this is true, at least for QTAC. I got 85+ in all my papers in Uni of Auckland and they gave me a gpa of 7.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Kale here’s the spot to have a read and then ask any further questions you might have

 

[Kale]

Kale here’s the spot to have a read and then ask any further questions you might have

Thank you

 

[Emcee]

Hi can someone correct me if my understanding is wrong? so regarding gpa conversion from NZ to AUS, if you apply as a non-standard you need to get 85%+ to get a 7 GPA in aus whereas if you apply as a graduate the threshold goes down to 80%? I know this is true for GEMSAS GPA conversion for University of Melbourne DDS, but what about schools that aren't in GEMSAS such as Griffith Dent or UQ Dent.

 

[A1]

Hi can someone correct me if my understanding is wrong? so regarding gpa conversion from NZ to AUS, if you apply as a non-standard you need to get 85%+ to get a 7 GPA in aus whereas if you apply as a graduate the threshold goes down to 80%? I know this is true for GEMSAS GPA conversion for University of Melbourne DDS, but what about schools that aren't in GEMSAS such as Griffith Dent or UQ Dent.

GEMSAS covers 10 graduate schools and uses 50/60/70/80 for 4/5/6/7.

For the undergrad med/dent schools GPA calculation is done by the TACs (UAC QTAC VTAC etc). They generally use P/Cr/D/HD for 4/5/6/7 and ignore the numeric marks.

Since NZ unis use A-/A/A+ instead of P/Cr/D/HD we don't know for sure how the TACs calculate. It's only our speculation that they might use 50/65/75/85 for 4/5/6/7, since this is the grades scale used by the UAC/QTAC unis.