Otago Halls of Residence

[Bootleg]

1. How likely is it to receive an offer between now and move in day
2. When do these offers start being sent out (the day results are released, a few days later, weeks later)
3. Do all halls usually have places to fill
4. Is it worth contacting halls or the accommodation office once results have been released
5. Is it possible to find out about free spots in the uniflats
6. Or is there anyone on here in there first or second year looking for a flat mate

1. That is dependent on how many people decline or get rejected. Historically alot of people did get rejected because they didn't meet the UE requirement, which meant that they couldn't enroll into any course. However, because of COVID the UE entrance has been changed (i.e. its easier to gain UE then previous years), hence more people will pass the UE threshold and be admitted. So, chances are a bit lower then previous years.
2. Offers are sent out whenever there is a free place available. There is no specific date or deadline.
3. Generally speaking yes but some spots are reversed for scholarship students (who didn't apply first round but got offered a scholarship later on), you can contact [email protected] for more information about your situation
4. Again, each halls do not manage your application, the accommodation office does. After a place (in most hall) is rejected, the accommodation office will contact the next person on the waitlist. Note: applications for Selwyn, St margs, Knox college, are all managed internally by the college themselves.
5. I believe Uniflats are only available for international students. However its possible that they might become available for domestic students. I suggest you contact [email protected] for more information.

Hope that helps

 

[eileithyia]

Hi everyone! Been lurking around these parts for a while but I finally decided to make an account today.

I have been at the Otago open days this Sunday/Monday and got to visit all of the different halls of residence.

A bit keen, I know, as applications are still months away, but I've been thinking a lot about where I want to be next year. Initially, I walked into St. Margs and loved the place. However, the novelty of it all is already wearing off. I think I was perhaps drawn in by the fact that I assumed it was a 'prestigious' hall with lots of academic HSFY students. I've also heard a few things here and there about St. Margs having a lot of mental health issues which put me off a little. Can anyone confirm or deny this? My other favourite 'academic' hall was Carrington.

The hall I really ended up loving was Aquinas. I walked in and within minutes I felt like I'd found my place.

I'm very keen on putting Aquinas down as my #1 choice, but I wanted to get some insight into whether this is actually a bad idea? I know it's not known for being academic in the same way that say Arana, St. Margs, and Carrington are, and I'm not sure if this will decrease my chances of success next year? I know that the year is what you make it, and ultimately it comes down to strong work ethic, discipline, and maintaining mental health, but I don't want to put myself at a disadvantage in a hall that isn't heavily academic.

What are your guys thoughts? Should I put Carrington as my #1 and Aquinas as my #2, or go with my initial instinct and put Aquinas as my #1? I know I have a lot of time to decide, but I'd love to get some opinions now.

 

[Bootleg]

I'm very keen on putting Aquinas down as my #1 choice, but I wanted to get some insight into whether this is actually a bad idea? I know it's not known for being academic in the same way that say Arana, St. Margs, and Carrington are, and I'm not sure if this will decrease my chances of success next year? I know that the year is what you make it, and ultimately it comes down to strong work ethic, discipline, and maintaining mental health, but I don't want to put myself at a disadvantage in a hall that isn't heavily academic.

What are your guys thoughts? Should I put Carrington as my #1 and Aquinas as my #2, or go with my initial instinct and put Aquinas as my #1? I know I have a lot of time to decide, but I'd love to get some opinions now.

Your chance of getting into medicine is not increased if you stayed at a 'academic' hall. nor is it decreased if you stay at a 'not academic' hall. Regardless, of what hall you stay it, technically, everyone has a equal shot at getting into their desired program.


However, there are some benefits from staying at a 'academic hall'. The first one is obvious, you will be like minded people who are motivated and have a high work discipline. This could be a good and bag thing.

Good thing: Since everyone is studying and motivated, you will probably be induced to also study work very hard. The environment you stay in will make you more inclined to attend lectures, go to hall tutorials, etc.

Depending on the type of person you are, one negative is that it's quite competitive. The fact is, when progress test results comes around, you will see many people in your 'academic hall' achieve straight 100%s or 95%+ - if you had a 'bad result', it might take a strain on your mental health as you might feel incompetent about your abilities.


I hope that helps.

Edit: I'll add more information once I get off my bus

 

[alwayslate]

Hi everyone! Been lurking around these parts for a while but I finally decided to make an account today.

I have been at the Otago open days this Sunday/Monday and got to visit all of the different halls of residence.

A bit keen, I know, as applications are still months away, but I've been thinking a lot about where I want to be next year. Initially, I walked into St. Margs and loved the place. However, the novelty of it all is already wearing off. I think I was perhaps drawn in by the fact that I assumed it was a 'prestigious' hall with lots of academic HSFY students. I've also heard a few things here and there about St. Margs having a lot of mental health issues which put me off a little. Can anyone confirm or deny this? My other favourite 'academic' hall was Carrington.

The hall I really ended up loving was Aquinas. I walked in and within minutes I felt like I'd found my place.

I'm very keen on putting Aquinas down as my #1 choice, but I wanted to get some insight into whether this is actually a bad idea? I know it's not known for being academic in the same way that say Arana, St. Margs, and Carrington are, and I'm not sure if this will decrease my chances of success next year? I know that the year is what you make it, and ultimately it comes down to strong work ethic, discipline, and maintaining mental health, but I don't want to put myself at a disadvantage in a hall that isn't heavily academic.

What are your guys thoughts? Should I put Carrington as my #1 and Aquinas as my #2, or go with my initial instinct and put Aquinas as my #1? I know I have a lot of time to decide, but I'd love to get some opinions now.

Hello! I was at aquinas, and just a quick note: in 2020 at Aquinas, 5 people got into med, 3 to dent, 3 to pharmacy, and about another 10 into other professional programmes
I loved Aquinas, and would 100% recommend

 

[jaimelesglaces]

Heya! I've been lurking on here for a while and finally decided to ask a question! I am planning on studying HSFY at Otago next Year (haha very original, I know...). I went to the Open days in May and visited a bunch of halls, my two favourites were definitely Carrington and St Margs and since both are 1st choice, I just really can't really decide between the two...

At the moment I might be keener to put Carrington down as my first choice but I was wondering if anyone on here who stayed at either of them this year could give me their general opinion of the hall or a little more about their experience

And I've also got a few specific questions if someone doesn't mind answering"
- For Carrington:
How much of a party vibe is there?? Like how much drinking goes on haha...
And also, that's quite a random concern, I personally love that it's on a hill, the small walk absolutely does not bother me, but I'm just wondering how slippery it would get in winter like when temperatures are sub-zero in the morning and the road gets slightly icy, and whether people have had problems with that in the past?

- For St Margs:
I've heard a lot about it having quite a competitive and not so friendly vibe... how accurate is that?

And also, does anyone know which of the two is more competitive to get into?

Sorry, that's a lot of question, but anyways, I'd just love any sort of general feedback on what either of these is like and I really appreciate anyone's help! Thank you

 

[Bulgogi]

At Carrington now and have friends at St Margs. Both are really good halls but in my biased opinion, I don't regret choosing Carrington over St Margs. Anecdotally, the food seems to be better, tutorials maybe more worthwhile, whilst both halls have well rounded, academic students. The location of St Margs is preferable to Carrington (on campus vs hill) but the Carrington hill isn't that bad and its only a 7-10 minute walk to campus.

How much of a party vibe is there?? Like how much drinking goes on haha...
- like any Otago hall there is a decent party vibe, especially at the start of the semester. If it's your thing you can go ham. For me, it's not really how I enjoy my free time so my friend group just did our own thing.

In regards to the hill, it seldom has been frozen over but yeah one time a friend had to go back to St Davs because the hill was too icy (coming back at 5am from studying smh). I think it happens pretty rarely it gets that bad and there's three different roads to Carry anyways.

Not from St Margs but:
I've heard a lot about it having quite a competitive and not so friendly vibe... how accurate is that?
- The people I've met there are pretty friendly and good people. I think both halls are pretty similar in regards to academics being taken pretty seriously but as long as you find a good study group its all goods. If anything, I think St Margs might have more students that prefer to study alone whilst Carry seems to have many small study groups.

And also, does anyone know which of the two is more competitive to get into?
- Carrington was for 2021 I think. I've had friends declined from Carry that were put into St Margs. St Margs wasn't a first choice hall for admission this year, from what I can tell.

 

[jaimelesglaces]

At Carrington now and have friends at St Margs. Both are really good halls but in my biased opinion, I don't regret choosing Carrington over St Margs. Anecdotally, the food seems to be better, tutorials maybe more worthwhile, whilst both halls have well rounded, academic students. The location of St Margs is preferable to Carrington (on campus vs hill) but the Carrington hill isn't that bad and its only a 7-10 minute walk to campus.

How much of a party vibe is there?? Like how much drinking goes on haha...
- like any Otago hall there is a decent party vibe, especially at the start of the semester. If it's your thing you can go ham. For me, it's not really how I enjoy my free time so my friend group just did our own thing.

In regards to the hill, it seldom has been frozen over but yeah one time a friend had to go back to St Davs because the hill was too icy (coming back at 5am from studying smh). I think it happens pretty rarely it gets that bad and there's three different roads to Carry anyways.

Not from St Margs but:
I've heard a lot about it having quite a competitive and not so friendly vibe... how accurate is that?
- The people I've met there are pretty friendly and good people. I think both halls are pretty similar in regards to academics being taken pretty seriously but as long as you find a good study group its all goods. If anything, I think St Margs might have more students that prefer too study alone whilst Carry seems to have many small study groups.

And also, does anyone know which of the two is more competitive to get into?
- Carrington was for 2021 I think. I've had friends declined from Carry that were put into St Margs. St Margs wasn't a first choice hall for admission this year, from what I can tell.

Thank you so much, this is very helpful!! I think I'm quite keen to put Carrington as my first choice then ) I just have a little question (sorry my written english understanding isn't the best haha) - when you say "Anecdotally, the food seems to be better, tutorials maybe more worthwhile, whilst both halls have well rounded, academic students.", do you mean the food and tutorials seem better at St Margs or Carry?
Thank you again heaps for your time

 

[Bulgogi]

Thank you so much, this is very helpful!! I think I'm quite keen to put Carrington as my first choice then ) I just have a little question (sorry my written english understanding isn't the best haha) - when you say "Anecdotally, the food seems to be better, tutorials maybe more worthwhile, whilst both halls have well rounded, academic students.", do you mean the food and tutorials seem better at St Margs or Carry?
Thank you again heaps for your time

Better at Carrington (personally)

 

[mani]

At Carrington now and have friends at St Margs. Both are really good halls but in my biased opinion, I don't regret choosing Carrington over St Margs. Anecdotally, the food seems to be better, tutorials maybe more worthwhile, whilst both halls have well rounded, academic students. The location of St Margs is preferable to Carrington (on campus vs hill) but the Carrington hill isn't that bad and its only a 7-10 minute walk to campus.

How much of a party vibe is there?? Like how much drinking goes on haha...
- like any Otago hall there is a decent party vibe, especially at the start of the semester. If it's your thing you can go ham. For me, it's not really how I enjoy my free time so my friend group just did our own thing.

In regards to the hill, it seldom has been frozen over but yeah one time a friend had to go back to St Davs because the hill was too icy (coming back at 5am from studying smh). I think it happens pretty rarely it gets that bad and there's three different roads to Carry anyways.

Not from St Margs but:
I've heard a lot about it having quite a competitive and not so friendly vibe... how accurate is that?
- The people I've met there are pretty friendly and good people. I think both halls are pretty similar in regards to academics being taken pretty seriously but as long as you find a good study group its all goods. If anything, I think St Margs might have more students that prefer to study alone whilst Carry seems to have many small study groups.

And also, does anyone know which of the two is more competitive to get into?
- Carrington was for 2021 I think. I've had friends declined from Carry that were put into St Margs. St Margs wasn't a first choice hall for admission this year, from what I can tell.

I had a few friends get accepted into carrington then moved into other halls bc carrington over offered!! But I doubt this would be an issue next year cause it already happened this year

 

[whodafookisthat]

Can someone from margs give a college overview?

 

[eileithyia]

Super late reply, but I wanted to say thank you to Bootleg and alwayslate for their replies! It's incredibly helpful to get a perspective from someone who has experienced the halls first hand, rather than my clueless classmates who know just as much as I do...

Hello! I was at aquinas, and just a quick note: in 2020 at Aquinas, 5 people got into med, 3 to dent, 3 to pharmacy, and about another 10 into other professional programmes

Thank you so much for this statistic! Is this a decent success rate considering the amount of people at the hall? Not too sure on what's considered good or bad..!

Additionally, how did you find the distance? Did it ever stop you from going to your labs/lectures, or did you find the shuttle really helped you out? Also, did you find the tutorials to be of a high standard?

technically, everyone has a equal shot at getting into their desired program.

Thanks for this reminder. It's so easy to fall into the mental trap of "oh no, I'm not going to Arana, I'm screwed!" When in reality it isn't like this at all. I honestly think I'll personally achieve at my highest if I'm not surrounded by super-academic health-scis. I'm definitely a lone-wolf when it comes to working, at least for the most part. As long as I have access to high-quality tutorials I think I'll be alright anywhere. Do you know if the tutorial quality is relatively equal across all of the halls, or if some are known to be better?

 

[eileithyia]

Not sure how to edit my last message, but I'm aiming for dentistry if that's relevant information!

 

[Bootleg]

Thanks for this reminder. It's so easy to fall into the mental trap of "oh no, I'm not going to Arana, I'm screwed!" When in reality it isn't like this at all. I honestly think I'll personally achieve at my highest if I'm not surrounded by super-academic health-scis. I'm definitely a lone-wolf when it comes to working, at least for the most part. As long as I have access to high-quality tutorials I think I'll be alright anywhere. Do you know if the tutorial quality is relatively equal across all of the halls, or if some are known to be better?

I would personally say the qualities of tutorials are relatively equal across all halls - all the hall tutors go through the same recruitment process which is centrally run. One thing I would stress is don't solely rely on tutorials. As the tutorials are usually run by third year or fourth year medical students, some of the things they say might be out of date with the current course syllabus (i.e. no longer assessable); focus more on labs and lecture slides

 

[eileithyia]

Thank you so much for the help. I ultimately am selecting St Margarets as my #1 and Aquinas as my #2 because that was my gut instinct and I feel they align with my personal values and what I hope to achieve.

(I am not interested in partying, would rather hang out in small groups, I have high performance history in music, am a Catholic, etc)

However I know I'll be okay no matter where I end up. A hall will be whatever I make it. As you said:

Regardless, of what hall you stay it, technically, everyone has an equal shot at getting into their desired program.

This gave me a lot of perspective and really challenged my thinking in a positive way. Thank you again!

I'm so excited to meet you all next year and I'm waiting patiently for the HSFY 2022 thread to open up!

 

[raibenaa]

Hey does anyone know if there are lots of hsfy students at either te rangi or hayward? I feel like it would motivate me to study more. I know carrington does and I'm heavily considering it but te rangi/hayward just have way better looking rooms. Not gonna be partying too much but do I want a good group of people I can just chill and occasionally get wasted with.

 

[eileithyia]

Kia ora everyone,

I've applied to all my halls and such, but had a question about how to pay for them when the time comes around.

I've spoken to AskOtago representative, but they didn't have any recommendations for me.

I am eligible for a student allowance ($180 per week) that doesn't need to be paid back, and obviously a student loan. However, from what I've heard, your student loan does not cover your halls?

I was told that the only way to pay for your halls was via a living costs loan/student allowance (which you can only get like, $10,000 for per academic year, correct?) or out of your own pocket.

As might be obvious by the amount of student allowance I am eligible for, I can not afford to pay the extra $8000 or so dollars that I'd have to pay for out of pocket. How did you guys pay for it, or how would you recommend me paying for it?

I've applied to a lot of Christmas casual/Summer jobs in an attempt to get some money from that, but I don't like my chances of getting any of them since I can't afford driving lessons or a car to drive to and from work places, so I am only on my learners. All the money I have earned from small jobs over the past few years I have saved with the intention of putting all of it towards study, but I still feel like it's not going to be enough.

I would really appreciate any advice surrounding this.

Thanks

 

[eileithyia]

frootloop Do you still use MSO? I see you haven't been online in a few weeks but I would love to ask you a few questions about UniCol! I just got accepted into it - it wasn't on my preference list but I'm honestly stoked to get any offer and I'd love to know what I'm in for. Could I private message you?

 

[Bootleg]

I am eligible for a student allowance ($180 per week) that doesn't need to be paid back, and obviously a student loan. However, from what I've heard, your student loan does not cover your halls?

Yes your student loan does not cover your hall, but you can borrow a extra 150 p.w. from your student loan as part of living costs. So combined with your student allowance that is $330 p.w.

As might be obvious by the amount of student allowance I am eligible for, I can not afford to pay the extra $8000 or so dollars that I'd have to pay for out of pocket. How did you guys pay for it, or how would you recommend me paying for it?

Halls are seriously not affordable for many folks. If you haven't already, apply for scholarships, the minimum amount for most scholarships is 6k and if you are above the criteria they can go up to 20k. Part time work is not feasible during HSFY, so your options are quite limited sadly.

 

[frootloop]

frootloop Do you still use MSO? I see you haven't been online in a few weeks but I would love to ask you a few questions about UniCol! I just got accepted into it - it wasn't on my preference list but I'm honestly stoked to get any offer and I'd love to know what I'm in for. Could I private message you?

Hey hey, yes of course - I'm not on MSO all that reliably any more, so will private message you my email address

 

[el03]

Hey hey, yes of course - I'm not on MSO all that reliably any more, so will private message you my email address

Hi there frootloop, could I also get your email address?