Dougbak
Otago TI
Yeah go for it man
-
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Otago Halls of Residence
- Thread starter Pineapple
- Start date
Yeah go for it man
Channingjeff
Member
I can't view your profile
Blueglacier
:)
I think you might need to have 5 posts before PMing people. If not, you don't have to go to his profile. Just click on Dougbak in the left hand size of the screen and when you click on it, "Start a conversation" will be an option for you.
"Start a conversation" is the MSO version of a PM and there is a minimum meaningful post requirement before this feature is available to users.
Channingjeff
Member
Thanks lads
Hey guys, I'm staying in Te Rangi Hiroa this year and thought I'd give anyone interested in coming here a bit of a run down since it's a pretty new hall and it seems most people don't know much about it.
Probably around half the people here are doing HSFY, with quite a few wanting to do med or dent. It's a great mix of people, with some rowdy people, but most just sort of getting on with studying and having fun sans alcohol haha. There's quite a few second years as well and most of the RA's did HSFY, so there's always someone who can answer questions should you need someone. Our rooms are pretty big; they do vary a lot, with rooms facing onto Castle St being the biggest and interior rooms being the smallest (but still bigger than other halls). Each room (apart from girls only) has a double bed, desk, pretty decent storage, mini fridge, sink and of course an ensuite. The rooms are all really warm and modern. Our warden's pretty nice, if a bit strict and has a cat that sometimes comes out of her apartment. The tutorials are well run, mostly by 2nd-4th year med students; they start off with around 20 people but most go down to ~10 within a few weeks.
The food's okay, gets a bit montonous sometimes but I presume all halls have the same problem and the chef is great about pretty much any dietary requirement/allergy (including accommodating for students doing Ramadan if that applies for anyone). It is the smallest hall, which is nice because you pretty much know everyone by like April and it doesn't get too clique-y. It is sort of weird that the girl/guy split is ~65-35, maybe because the ensuites appeal to girls? We don't have any grounds like Carrington or Knox, but we do have a pretty big balcony on the top floor which is great to study on when its warmer. The location is pretty good, it's about a 6 minute walk to the Castle lecture theatres and 10 minutes to St David lecture theatres and all the labs. Apparently this puts some people off because it's further than, say, St Margs or Arana, but there's always someone to walk with. Te Rangi's also just across the road from New World and next to a gym which lots of people go to and its only 5 minutes walk to the mall/maccas/George st which is pretty handy.
That got a bit long oops but if anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them
Probably around half the people here are doing HSFY, with quite a few wanting to do med or dent. It's a great mix of people, with some rowdy people, but most just sort of getting on with studying and having fun sans alcohol haha. There's quite a few second years as well and most of the RA's did HSFY, so there's always someone who can answer questions should you need someone. Our rooms are pretty big; they do vary a lot, with rooms facing onto Castle St being the biggest and interior rooms being the smallest (but still bigger than other halls). Each room (apart from girls only) has a double bed, desk, pretty decent storage, mini fridge, sink and of course an ensuite. The rooms are all really warm and modern. Our warden's pretty nice, if a bit strict and has a cat that sometimes comes out of her apartment. The tutorials are well run, mostly by 2nd-4th year med students; they start off with around 20 people but most go down to ~10 within a few weeks.
The food's okay, gets a bit montonous sometimes but I presume all halls have the same problem and the chef is great about pretty much any dietary requirement/allergy (including accommodating for students doing Ramadan if that applies for anyone). It is the smallest hall, which is nice because you pretty much know everyone by like April and it doesn't get too clique-y. It is sort of weird that the girl/guy split is ~65-35, maybe because the ensuites appeal to girls? We don't have any grounds like Carrington or Knox, but we do have a pretty big balcony on the top floor which is great to study on when its warmer. The location is pretty good, it's about a 6 minute walk to the Castle lecture theatres and 10 minutes to St David lecture theatres and all the labs. Apparently this puts some people off because it's further than, say, St Margs or Arana, but there's always someone to walk with. Te Rangi's also just across the road from New World and next to a gym which lots of people go to and its only 5 minutes walk to the mall/maccas/George st which is pretty handy.
That got a bit long oops but if anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them
Hi! Thanks for your detailed and honest account on staying at the college. I'm a current year 13 student and I put Te Rangi Hiroa as my first preference when applying for the colleges. Hayward and Aquinas were my second and third preferences, respectively. What are the chances of me getting TRH as my offered college considering that I put it down as my first preference? I just really want to stay at this one.Hey guys, I'm staying in Te Rangi Hiroa this year and thought I'd give anyone interested in coming here a bit of a run down since it's a pretty new hall and it seems most people don't know much about it.
Probably around half the people here are doing HSFY, with quite a few wanting to do med or dent. It's a great mix of people, with some rowdy people, but most just sort of getting on with studying and having fun sans alcohol haha. There's quite a few second years as well and most of the RA's did HSFY, so there's always someone who can answer questions should you need someone. Our rooms are pretty big; they do vary a lot, with rooms facing onto Castle St being the biggest and interior rooms being the smallest (but still bigger than other halls). Each room (apart from girls only) has a double bed, desk, pretty decent storage, mini fridge, sink and of course an ensuite. The rooms are all really warm and modern. Our warden's pretty nice, if a bit strict and has a cat that sometimes comes out of her apartment. The tutorials are well run, mostly by 2nd-4th year med students; they start off with around 20 people but most go down to ~10 within a few weeks.
The food's okay, gets a bit montonous sometimes but I presume all halls have the same problem and the chef is great about pretty much any dietary requirement/allergy (including accommodating for students doing Ramadan if that applies for anyone). It is the smallest hall, which is nice because you pretty much know everyone by like April and it doesn't get too clique-y. It is sort of weird that the girl/guy split is ~65-35, maybe because the ensuites appeal to girls? We don't have any grounds like Carrington or Knox, but we do have a pretty big balcony on the top floor which is great to study on when its warmer. The location is pretty good, it's about a 6 minute walk to the Castle lecture theatres and 10 minutes to St David lecture theatres and all the labs. Apparently this puts some people off because it's further than, say, St Margs or Arana, but there's always someone to walk with. Te Rangi's also just across the road from New World and next to a gym which lots of people go to and its only 5 minutes walk to the mall/maccas/George st which is pretty handy.
That got a bit long oops but if anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them
I'd say you have a fair chance, a fair amount of people here put Te Rangi as their second choice or applied late and still got an offer. So long as you make your application decent (i.e. really flesh out your achivements/extra-curriculars and are generally well-rounded), you should be confident in receiving an offer. If not, Hayward's a great option for a second choice hall that most people seem to enjoy. Hope that helps!
tryingtosortmylifeout
Lurker
Hey, Everyone!! (I have read through all 90 pages btw)
I woke to the news that the 3 colleges I put denied me I'm not surprised about the 2nd or 3rd as I stupidly put
1. St Marg's
2 Arana
3 Hayward
but I was really looking forward to St Marg's and thought I would get in, I got offered Toroa College. Stressing out currently because of it. Could anyone tell me about Toroa and should I deny it and go onto the General Waiting list?
I woke to the news that the 3 colleges I put denied me I'm not surprised about the 2nd or 3rd as I stupidly put
1. St Marg's
2 Arana
3 Hayward
but I was really looking forward to St Marg's and thought I would get in, I got offered Toroa College. Stressing out currently because of it. Could anyone tell me about Toroa and should I deny it and go onto the General Waiting list?
Dougbak
Otago TI
I don't know too much about Toroa, but thought would chip in with at least something and let someone who actually goes/went there add on later.
Close to campus, especially to St David's where most of the health sci lectures will be. They're set up in houses like Carrington as opposed to the conventional floor living seen in Hayward and most of Arana.
Their meals aren't on site, but on campus. Pretty sure it's at union hall (or somewhere near it) which is right next to the link and central library. That's around 800m ish from the hall itself walking through completely flat ground so isn't too much of a hassle, and can be quite useful if you're studying at central.
The RA's were at our hall for a night and I spoke to some of them - they all seemed lovely, but you'll get that with all your halls.
Again, I don't actually know that much so these are just statements of what I know rather than me imparting my judgement. Just a wee note thought - I do know quite a few people who didn't get into any of their selected halls (Aquinas, Salmond, Cumberland, even Knox), but they're absolutely loving their experience. As for what you should do, I don't think I'm qualified to answer that so will let one of the people who have been in your position chip in.
Last edited:
David Wang
Member
Same here, got offered City College and none of my three preferences of 1. St Margs, 2. Hayward and 3. Te Rangi
Would it be possible to be offered more halls before I accept/decline City College? Or would this be the only offer I get? And if I decline and get onto the General Waiting List, would I be offered (possibly) back into my three preferences?
Would it be possible to be offered more halls before I accept/decline City College? Or would this be the only offer I get? And if I decline and get onto the General Waiting List, would I be offered (possibly) back into my three preferences?
Channingjeff
Member
Same here!
flooghost7255
PGY3
Pretty sure if you accept one, then the offers stop, but not 100% sure and someone feel free to confirm or correct me on this.
There is potential for you to get offered back from one of the 3 preferences by going onto the GWL but tbh you're more likely to just end up getting offered from any of the other halls rather than the 3 preferences, and you'd be declining to the point where it starts to get stressful
Could someone please tell me about City College? I also got none of my preferences, first one being Carrington, however, my friend who applied at the same time with similar grades did get in! Not sure why I didn't get any of my choices, but was only offered City. I was advised to accept in case I did not get into anything else. Do you get good support at City and what kind of reputation has it got?
Any help/advice would be appreciated.
Any help/advice would be appreciated.
acbard9
Auckland MBChB
Hi,
The hall you live in, let alone the reputation of the hall, doesn't matter at the end of the day. Some companies external to halls offer tutoring anyway. I'm almost sure that all halls have some sort of HSFY support, considering the vast (and growing) numbers of HSFY students every year. I would also suggest you take it upon yourself to start some kinda support group perhaps and to contact previous CityCol people next year.
Don't decline the offer, as I'm almost sure that you are highly unlikely to get another halls offer unless you just plan to flat instead(?), which is admittedly cheaper.
Best of luck!
The hall you live in, let alone the reputation of the hall, doesn't matter at the end of the day. Some companies external to halls offer tutoring anyway. I'm almost sure that all halls have some sort of HSFY support, considering the vast (and growing) numbers of HSFY students every year. I would also suggest you take it upon yourself to start some kinda support group perhaps and to contact previous CityCol people next year
.Don't decline the offer, as I'm almost sure that you are highly unlikely to get another halls offer unless you just plan to flat instead(?), which is admittedly cheaper.
Best of luck!
Thanks for your reply acbard9, much appreciated. I have accepted the offer under strong advice to do so, but was a little disappointed I didn't get any of my options. From what I have read in the forum, it doesn't seem to matter where you stay like you said. Just would liked to have heard a bit of feedback from current year residents. Everyone seems so keen on Carrington, as was I!