Hi, I am thinking of going to Otago next year and living in a residential college. I really want to be accepted into St Margaret's College just for the atmosphere and closeness to the school. What do they look for in a student? Do they look for academics or mostly all-roundedness? My current extracurricular activities include: school prefect, involved in school committees, volunteering in the community for events and holiday programmes. Last year I was involved in debating, school chemistry team, careers committee, anti-bullying committee and also involved in sporting activites - but I'm wondering if last year stuff actually count. Would you advise me to be more involved in sports? Could you give me some advice to improve my application? Thanks in advance
-
Welcome to MSO!
We are an online community for current and prospective medical, dental and allied health students and early career professionals from Australia and New Zealand.Please read: About MSO | Annual Welcome and Important Information | MSO Rules
Quick Links To Forums
Tests/Interviews: UCAT | GAMSAT | Interviews Entrance Discussion: Graduate Medicine | Undergraduate Medicine | Dentistry -
Please consider registering on MSO. Benefits of registering are:
- Able to post and participate in the forum
- After 10 posts: Private Message Other Users
- After 25 posts: Access to the Chatbox
- After 100 posts: Custom user titles and Ad-free experience
If you would like to get involved with MSO or have ideas, suggestions, comments, criticisms or other feedback please Contact Us
Otago Halls of Residence
- Thread starter Pineapple
- Start date
Kidnapincolour
Regular Member
You actually have to pay more to stay in St Mags than some other halls by the way, something like an extra grand or something? Maybe less. Keep that in mind. But try not to get all cut up about what hall you get into. You will meet people no matter where you stay. And more importantly the hall you get into will not determine whether or not you will get into medicine. That bit is all reliant upon hard work and all that jazz.
Hi, thanks for your view on it - I completely understand what you mean. It may be an insignificant factor in determining whether I get into medschool or not but based on my research within this forum, many people commented that St Mags had a quiet, studious atmosphere - which I personally prefer than a loud partying one or is that not the case? May I ask where you stayed if you are staying at a residential college and how you are finding it?
Hi i know its super early but i am super keen on going to Otago next year. I really want to stay in Selwyn next year. Im a prefect and have a level 2 excellence endorsement. do i have a good chance of getting in?
If anyone has gone there in the past was it a nice place to live?
thanks
If anyone has gone there in the past was it a nice place to live?
thanks
Zion
Regular Member
Hi i know its super early but i am super keen on going to Otago next year. I really want to stay in Selwyn next year. Im a prefect and have a level 2 excellence endorsement. do i have a good chance of getting in?
If anyone has gone there in the past was it a nice place to live?
thanks
Too good to be wasted in Selwyn.
I was joking
If you can keep up your good work, play some sports and maintain good grades, I think it's fair to say that you have a good chance of getting into any hall you want. Well, maybe except for Carrington, they're pretty picky there.
Hayward: Pretty close to uni, has amazingly huge rooms. Other than that, I know nothing about it.
Cumberland: Has a bit of a dodgy reputation, although that's probably undeserved. Is also reasonably close to uni.
Knox: Looks like a castle. Has pretty nice rooms. Is miles away. Has some traditions that some find endearing, some find pretentious/weird.
As in it's known as one of the 'rowdier' halls (although that's just it's reputation, I can't confirm/deny that from personal experience). But lets face it, most halls can get pretty rowdy at times, and as far as I know they're all pretty good/quiet around exam times.
UniCol is probably pretty similar to Cumby, although it's actually gotten a lot less rowdy since the new master came in. It's also literally on-campus. Which is awesome.
Did you come to the tertiary open day today? Because I'm pretty sure all the halls had guided tours and whatnot.
Seriously, they're all pretty similar overall. They're all big places crammed full of freshers, and about the only real differences is in terms of how far away from uni they are. In the end, it doesn't *really* matter if one place's rooms are ever-so-slightly bigger/newer, or if it's got a reputation for rowdiness, etc. You'll make friends at any of them, and they'll all give you any academic/pastoral support you might need.
If you want one of the 'traditional HSFY' halls, I'd probably preference Carrington or St Margarets. If you'd rather not live with millions of other HSFYs/straight-up don't care what the people you live with are studying, I'd grab a map, and preference the closest halls to campus.
Oh, and I know this is a long thread, but it contains just about every possible description of all the major halls, so if you have a quick skim over it you should be able to build up a reasonable idea. Also probably an idea to have a look at the websites of the individual halls, and decide which one looks cool to you.
Yup, idk if they're going to upgrade you to a bigger room but definitely bed. It goes for every college and I assume that they won't really charge you extra for a bigger bed but if they do transfer you to a bigger room I'm pretty sure that the cost for that room is what you'd need to pay. It probably depends on the size of the room of the college because most beds can just handle up to 6'2 in height so if your room isn't big enough to fit a bed that'd accommodate your size they probably will ask you to transfer to the bigger room. Idk the policies for every college though so I might be wrong.
Zion
Regular Member
I don't know about other colleges but here at Knox, you won't be charged for a bigger bed/room. If you apply for Knox, the form they send you at the end of the year will ask you how tall you are, so they can put you in a room with bigger bed.
Hi Does anyone know much about selwyn? I know its not a typical HSFY hall but I don't want to go to carrington or st margs as a stress enough on my own anyway
You're right in saying that it's not a typical HSFY hall - I think we have like 40 health scis this year (out of around 170 people). The stress will get to you either way, it just comes down to how you deal with it. Oh and I am a fresher Selwynite this year (if you haven't deduced it already) so yeah I know pretty much everything there is to know. Got any specific questions or..?
Yes! I was wondering what are the people there like? I know that is a ridiculously generalised question but i'm really loud and not shy at all so I don't want to be in a hall thats like super super serious all the time but at the same time i also want to be able to study hard. I got an excellence endorsement, I'm a prefect and my dad and two of my uncles wen't to selwyn so do you think it would give me a good chance of getting in? also, Is the food good?
sorry for bombarding you so many questions!!
Thanks