Otago Halls of Residence

[musica209]

What is the drinking culture like in Dunedin and at Knox? I've heard a range of anecdotes about Dunedin (e.g. Hyde Street Keg party) and just wondering what your opinions and views are? I don't consider myself a drinker and want to spare the brain cells that are left, they could come handy during HSFY haha.

[offtopic]I don't drink, but when I do, it's in excess...[/offtopic]
The drinking culture is huge in Dunedin if you involve yourself in it. It's quite easy to avoid drinking if you want to get down into your study so you're really not missing out on much

 

[GeorgieC]

Hey guys!
Just wondering which halls are open to second year students?

 

[Squirrel]

Hey guys!
Just wondering which halls are open to second year students?

Hey GeorgieC

According to the prospectus (I'm still in high school so correct me if I'm wrong), Arana, City, Knox, St. Margaret's, Salmond, Selwyn and Toroa have undergraduate and postgraduates, so I assume all the ones mentioned are open for second years?

 

[frootloop]

Hey GeorgieC

According to the prospectus (I'm still at high school so correct me if I'm wrong), Arana, City, Knox, St. Margaret's, Salmond, Selwyn and Unicol have undergraduate and postgraduates, so I assume all the ones mentioned are open for second years?

I can't speak for the other colleges listed, but I can say with 100% certainty that UniCol only takes first-years (excluding RA's, but that's a whole different kettle of fish). I'm reasonably certain that Arana and City Col do as well.
The only college I've ever heard of taking second-year non-returners is Cumberland, but there could be more (the likes of Knox/St Margs/Carrington take some second/third years, but as far as I know they're all returners (ie: they lived in that college in first year)).

 

[Squirrel]

What is the usual step after the first year, do most people go flatting? I'm getting a bit ahead of myself but I'm just curious

 

[musica209]

What is the usual step after the first year, do most people go flatting? I'm getting a bit ahead of myself but I'm just curious

Usually flatting. Some returners, some apply to be RA's/House Tutors, some go to studios, few go back home.

 

[stevo140]

Hey GeorgieC

According to the prospectus (I'm still in high school so correct me if I'm wrong), Arana, City, Knox, St. Margaret's, Salmond, Selwyn and Toroa have undergraduate and postgraduates, so I assume all the ones mentioned are open for second years?

We have to separate the Uni owned and non-Uni owned Halls here. The Uni-owned Halls can only take a maximum of 5% second years. Although some, such as Unicol, don't take any. This is because the Uni wants to get as many first years into the Colleges as possible.

The non-Uni owned Halls (aka the affiliates) sometimes take up to 50% second years (especially Selwyn, Knox and St Mags). But overall, most freshers will go flatting in their second year. It's the best option IMO to get some good life experience. If you want to be an RA, you're more likely to be accepted if you've got a year of flatting under your belt.

 

[Squirrel]

How big are the room sizes (obviously depends on which hall) but if any one could give me a rough measure of what the sizes where where you stayed at. Also, what is already in the rooms, what are we expected/useful to bring?

 

[Dorky]

Not much of a drinker myself, but its university, i guess thats the time when you start a lot more.

 

[musica209]

How big are the room sizes (obviously depends on which hall) but if any one could give me a rough measure of what the sizes where where you stayed at. Also, what is already in the rooms, what are we expected/useful to bring?

Room sizes vary; some of my friends have a room the size of Harry Potter's closet, and others have a room the size of my living room - it's really a stroke of luck what kind of room you get a Carrington. You're usually provided with a bed, but I dunno, could change from hall to hall.

Okay, no seriously, you get the typical things like a table, dresser, cupboard, bed, chair. That's it. Bring everything you use from your day-to-day life from back home; it's not that hard

 

[stevo140]

How big are the room sizes (obviously depends on which hall) but if any one could give me a rough measure of what the sizes where where you stayed at. Also, what is already in the rooms, what are we expected/useful to bring?

I can't speak for all the Halls but out of the ones I can; Cumberland has tiny rooms, Cumberland Courts has big rooms, Hayward has massive rooms, Aquinas has good size in most rooms but massive in others, St Mags has some small rooms and some good size, Studholme has small rooms unless you're in the flats, Salmond have OK sized rooms, City College have good sized rooms.

My advice would be to check their websites and view their rooms there. Though be careful, some Halls will only show their best rooms!
Bedrooms at Hayward College, Hayward College, University of Otago, New Zealand
Bedrooms at Cumberland College, Cumberland College, University of Otago, New Zealand
Living Spaces at Aquinas College, Aquinas College, University of Otago, New Zealand

 

[Honeycrisp]

What sort of things does St Margaret's look for in an applicant? And how many people are likely to apply for this college?

 

[Honeycrisp]

And do halls provide duvet covers? Like good ones. Or should I be bringing my own?

 

[musica209]

What sort of things does St Margaret's look for in an applicant? And how many people are likely to apply for this college?

And do halls provide duvet covers? Like good ones. Or should I be bringing my own?

Before the mods get here, try pressing 'Edit' instead of double-posting

1. St. Margs usually looks for academics, and preferably achieving quite highly in something else, like sport, drama, music etc. And community workers.
2. Lots of people apply for St. Margs.
3. I don't know about other halls, but Carrington supplies duvet covers because they supply a duvet. They're not that great, but they do the job of ... well, covering your duvet... So I'm not too fussed. I guess it depends how fussy you are with your covers?

 

[Squirrel]

Anyone able to link me to a thread for high school students with questions to do with University of Otago and health science in general? There's so many threads out there, I can't seem to find any relevant ones. Thanks!

 

[musica209]

Anyone able to link me to a thread for high school students with questions to do with University of Otago and health science in general? There's so many out there and can't seem to find any. Thanks!

This is school students, as the title states:
https://www.medstudentsonline.com.au/f115/school-students-discussion-enquiries-20354/index23.html

This is for this year's HSFY discussion and enquiries:
https://www.medstudentsonline.com.a...chat-enquiries-26818/index136.html#post267231

 

[Squirrel]

Haha, I appreciate your humour and help! (yy) Sorry, I am fairly new to this site.

 

[Honeycrisp]

What is covered on CELS191? And how much of it continues on from high school biology?

 

[musica209]

What is covered on CELS191? And how much of it continues on from high school biology?

You're posting in the wrong thread, so if you'd like to re-direct the rest of your questions (that are similar to this) in this thread: https://www.medstudentsonline.com.au/f115/school-students-discussion-enquiries-20354/index23.html

CELS191 - you learn about cells in depth, pretty much. You cover some of the basics in high school, like... that mitochondria is the ATP factory. But aside from that, most of CELS is developing off that. There is a fair lot of new content (assuming you do NCEA), but they're not ridiculously hard concepts to grasp.

 

[Zion]

What is the drinking culture like in Dunedin and at Knox? I've heard a range of anecdotes about Dunedin (e.g. Hyde Street Keg party) and just wondering what your opinions and views are? I don't consider myself a drinker and want to spare the brain cells that are left, they could come handy during HSFY haha.

You see, we don't drink at Knox at all. We are a very quiet hall, even more than St Margaret's so if you are not a big drinker, do consider Knox.

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Ok I was lying. The truth is we drink quite a lot at Knox. But don't worry if you are not a drinker or party-goer because we do have a non-alcohol house (which means no alcohol is allowed, no drinking is allowed and no drunk people are allowed to be inside) that is reasonably far from the main building and you don't really hear anything from the outside on Thursday and Saturday night. Plus, we have very strict silence hours (for example, from this week silence hours are on, except from 12.00-1.30, 5.30-7.00, and 9.15-9.45pm) so there is plenty of quiet time to study.

Or even better, if you are a girl and don't drink, we have a female-only, non-alcohol floor for people like you (kind of weird that it is inside the rowdiest house at Knox though).