Otago Halls of Residence

[Cathay]

On a side note, my St Marg friends are very jealous of the size of the rooms my Hayward friends have... And I must say, Hayward does have impressive rooms.

 

[mango101]

Thanks for all that info - it is very helpful!
@ Ramza: On the St Margs website it says that they don't do initiation ceremonies but instead you take part in community projects. What kind of community things did you do at the start of the year? And do they do any other things to introduce you to the college etc other than the community projects?

Also I heard a rumour that the colleges generally don't like accepting people from the same high schools into the same colleges because they don't want to group you with your high school mates....is this true or is this just a rumour?

 

[Cathay]

Meh, from what I hear, St Marg initiation = making you get up at 4am... and go around for a bus trip.

 

[frootloop]

Also I heard a rumour that the colleges generally don't like accepting people from the same high schools into the same colleges because they don't want to group you with your high school mates....is this true or is this just a rumour?

I don't know, but anecdotally I've noticed the exact opposite, heaps of people from the same schools seem to end up at the same colleges.

 

[Cathay]

Also I heard a rumour that the colleges generally don't like accepting people from the same high schools into the same colleges because they don't want to group you with your high school mates....is this true or is this just a rumour?

This is bollocks, judging by the 20 or so Burnside people at St Marg (and about the same number in Carrington), and multiple Burnside people in pretty much every college...

 

[greenglacier]

Generally speaking the halls do try to limit the number of students from the same school at each hall. Individual halls do often accept a lot of students from one school (especially if they've had good experiences with students from that school in the past), but they also consciously work to ensure that no single school becomes too dominant. It's all about ensuring a diverse community (and minimising the chances of some people feeling socially left out as soon as they arrive).

 

[Cathay]

but they also consciously work to ensure that no single school becomes too dominant. It's all about ensuring a diverse community (and minimising the chances of some people feeling socially left out as soon as they arrive).

That is true... From what I can see people from the same school are split well apart, so essentially people on the same floor are all strangers.

 

[Ramza]

Thanks for all that info - it is very helpful!
@ Ramza: On the St Margs website it says that they don't do initiation ceremonies but instead you take part in community projects. What kind of community things did you do at the start of the year? And do they do any other things to introduce you to the college etc other than the community projects?

Also I heard a rumour that the colleges generally don't like accepting people from the same high schools into the same colleges because they don't want to group you with your high school mates....is this true or is this just a rumour?

Yeah being part vice pres of the exec in 2nd year we organise a "bus trip:, but the rest is kept quiet as 'st margs don't do initiation ceremonies' pahhhh. . . I don't want to ruin the fun that freshers at smc go through. Probably one of the most epic and hushed up initiations at otago.


yeah hayward rooms FTW!

yeah a lot of get-to know-events are held at the start of the year, they'r kinda average lol mainly cause theyr organised by the R.A's and not the exec lollll. umm but yeah 5 guys from my school applied and 4 of us got into st margs, the last guy also got better marks than all 4 of us in NCEA as well. . . and SMC was his first choice. . but he got his second choice!!! . . . that was ARANA. and as cathay said - we were all put on seperate floors.

You will become very close with your floor, my flatmates so far have all been floor mates.

 

[limone88]

...

 

[frootloop]

Not true. There is a student at Carrington this year who put Carrington as their second choice - and was (obviously) accepted.

Maybe there weren't enough people who put it down as a first choice, or some of those who put it down as a first choice were 'highly unsuitable' (to put it lightly).

 

[greenglacier]

The warden of Carrington explicitly told me that in the first round of offers, he only accepted first choicers. However, once the first round has been made, colleges can only accept off the general waiting list and don't have much choice in the matter - in other words, if someone got accepted with carrington as their second choice it was on a late offer, made by carrington after everyone who had put carrington first (and was deemed suitable) had been accepted into a college (be it carrington or a lower choice).

What this means is that yes, it is possible to be accepted by Carrington if it's your second choice, but (working on last year's precedent) only if you get rejected by all your colleges, or reject your offer in the hope of getting a Carrington offer (a very risky move!), and any offer from Carrington will come late.

 

[SeeKay]

...

 

[bignose]

St margs isn't the best. Av food, small rooms, very tough on the rules.

Ooh and formal dinners every week.

Seriously, doesn't matter what hall you're in. What matters is how hard YOU work.

 

[noblelady777]

Hi guys,
I'm currently thinking of applying for St Margaret, Carrington and Hayward. Everyone keeps on telling me that St Margaret is the most academic and has the best tutorials for HSFY plus everyone there is very focused on their studies instead of partying so based on that I want to put St Margaret as my first option. Some of your posts have been saying that Carrington only accepts first choices in the first round of offers so I'm confused about how I should order the halls. What happens if you don't get accepted into any hall? Also, when applying what did you guys write for your application when describing yourself? Do you pretty much talk about your academic achievements while also talking about other things you are involved in to stress that you are an all-rounder?
Also, how high of a UMAT score do you need to get into med or dentistry?
Thanks!

 

[Cathay]

Everyone keeps on telling me that St Margaret is the most academic and has the best tutorials for HSFY plus everyone there is very focused on their studies instead of partying so based on that I want to put St Margaret as my first option.

I suspect it's more "harsh rules" and less "focused students"... I don't tend to believe colleges confer inherent academic advantages... Not going to talk about tutorials because I've never attended one (anywhere), suffice to say it's not necessary for academic success (I presume you've seen the part of this thread where frootloop and myself casually flashed our first semester averages?)

Some of your posts have been saying that Carrington only accepts first choices in the first round of offers so I'm confused about how I should order the halls.

Simple: first choice is the one you want, second choice (*preferably not* Arana, Carrington, St Marg, or Knox because they're popular so you probably won't get in via second choice) is the backup, third choice is more like the one you want most out of the bum ones.

What happens if you don't get accepted into any hall?

Then you go on the general waiting list and get picked up by anyone who has spare capacity.

Also, how high of a UMAT score do you need to get into med or dentistry?

I see you haven't poked around to find this information... The answer is: depends on your HSFY average. Click the box below. And please use the search function next time.
[box=The Infinite Wisdom of the Legendary greenglacier]In order to be eligible for undergraduate entry into 2nd year medicine, applicants must pass all HSFY papers with at least a B (70%). If this is the case, then all applicants are ranked by:

Average mark across best 7 papers in HSFY (which means that an 8th paper, if taken, can knock out the worst HSFY mark) - 66% weighting
UMAT score (sections 1, 2 and 3 weighted 45:45:10 respectively) - 34% weighting

Note that for UMAT it is the score that is used, NOT the percentile.

This can be viewed as a score calculated by the following formula:
[box=formula](Mark in best paper + Mark in 2nd best paper + ... + Mark in 7th best paper)*2/21 + (UMAT S1 mark*0.45 + UMAT S2 mark*0.45 + UMAT S3 mark*0.1)/3 [/box]

The cut-off score for entry into the 2010 2nd year class through a first round offer (i.e. not off the waiting list) was somewhere between 77.2 and 77.5, which can approximately translate to one of the following:
30th percentile UMAT and 94% average
50th percentile UMAT and 92% average
80th percentile UMAT and 89% average
90th percentile UMAT and 87% average
95th percentile UMAT and 86% average [/box]
So as you can see, and as far as we know, there is no UMAT score with which you cannot get in to med. All you need is a sufficiently high HSFY average to boost your ranking score above the cutoff.

For dentistry, I believe there is a threshold you need to get (50th percentile in each of the three sections), and a pass-fail interview you need to pass, and then it's ranking based on HSFY average.

 

[greenglacier]

I dunno what people told you about St. Margaret's, but going there won't increase your chances of getting into med. Also, I don't think it's fair to call it the most "academic" hall considering that Carrington and Arana both got more people into med than St. Margaret's did last year (and Knox fairly consistently gets the highest percentage of their HSFY students into med). Choose the hall you most want to live at - if you like the idea of being fined $5 every time you forget to close your door before putting on any music then go to St. Margaret's. Personally I wouldn't be overly happy there since even though the atmosphere would be more conducive to study, I'd rather not be overshadowed by a set of rules strictly enforced via a fine system. I also don't particularly like having to dress formally for every Sunday dinner.

 

[Ramza]

on the whole green glacier summed up st margs, and again i will say to anyone, a hall is a place to get to know people. In terms of fines I was only fined once ($5) and that was for having 10+ people in my room singing enrique iglesias at 1am thursday night with a keg. It really is for the biggest of things, other wise they never bother you again.

But I enjoyed my year at st margarets very much, you get many of the fellows of the college tutoring you namely lecturers you will get in hsfy, all that is good, but it depends on how hard you work. However i think had i gone to any other hall i would have enjoyed it just as much. This post is bias i guess, but we had it pretty f***ing good at smc.

It's a fairly well rounded hall also as theres many 2nd 3rd year and hons students, many of whom do physiology/anat/micr/bioc/gene and the like, so you're never short on specialists, I guess it's how you use the resources each hall gives you. The students tend to be (mostly) conserved, and while the rest of the uni will show ignorance, as a resident its your job to lap it up and fuel it.

 

[smile]

Please don't be put of st margs thinking it's soley academic focused, you get fined all the time and all everyone does hsfy because that is totally wrong! You only get a fine if you do something stupid and if they'll always give you a warning first. If you want to know how strict it is then read the handbook on their website.
It definitely is a quieter and more conservative college and although people do drink, it's not so in your face and there are a lot of people who don't drink - but either way you can still have fun no matter whether you drink or not.
Having returners is a massive help for 1st years as there are mentor groups run by second years who will help you out with the glm's, make practise tests for you, give you chocolate under your door before the tests etc. etc.
I found it was a really good supportive environment but if you are big into parties you might have more fun elsewhere.
Sunday formal dinner is no biggie and in fact I quite liked it and the food was worth it

 

[frootloop]

Quick moderation note: Please post any questions not related to residential colleges in either the 'School students discussion/enquiries' or the recently-posted 'HSFY 2012' thread.
I'd also recommend a quick read through the (albeit unfinished) 'HSFY advice from MSO members' and 'Otago HSFY rumours' threads, as your questions (especially 'what UMAT/grades do I need?' 'How much work should I do?') will likely have been answered.
Ta
frootloop, section mod.

 

[Ramza]

Personally I wouldn't be overly happy there since even though the atmosphere would be more conducive to study, I'd rather not be overshadowed by a set of rules strictly enforced via a fine system.

I do know for unicol the fines there are a lot larger ranging from $35 - $1,350