• 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

  • Register with us

    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

UoA Graduate Category Chat/Enquiry

bounce said:
Yes, yes, and 8.4 - which seemed like a reasonably competitive GPA (PgDip) until recently. Nothing for it but to interview prep now I guess 🤷‍♀️
Click to expand...
All the best. The standard this year seems insane, and a lot of people are saying that they made first year exceptionally easy this year, which isn't a particularly comforting thought for us postgrads given we are ranked together.
 
Hi everyone, I'm currently a first-year health science student and I am wondering about doing post-grad med (I didn't sit the UCAT this year). I am not sure if I want to continue with finishing my health science undergrad or switch to physiology for the next 2 years. I am also open to other undergrad suggestions that are health-related but not biomed (sorry!). I am aware it is hard to keep a high GPA across undergrad and with this years high cut offs I am sure it is going to get a lot more competitive but I really want some advice on choosing an undergrad that can help me the most to get in + is not too depressing. The reason why I am finding it difficult deciding between health science and physiology is because I enjoyed pophlth lectures but I don't enjoy writing essays and then with physiology, I am enjoying learning med sci content but I don't know if I will be able to keep my GPA high enough ~ please give me advice :)
 
bounce said:
What did you decide?? I would have said probably go for it as GPA is high and assume you would do well in MMI given background..


According to the chat on reddit sounds like the cut off might have been quite high this year which is disheartening
Click to expand...
Yes I attended my interview. Fingers crossed that it went well :)
 
Not too sure if this is the right place to ask, lmk if not!
Kia ora - wondering if anyone would be kind enough to share a screenshot of their timetables from first year BHSc plz. I’m trying to get a feel for if I am able to commute from Hamilton next year, especially as I’m only taking BIOSCI107&CHEM110 in semester 1. Thank you!
 
hello, can anyone tell me how admission to the UoA medical school grad entry works? Im from UoO, looking at other medical school to apply to via general graduate category. thanks!
 
hahahuyum said:
Hi, has anyone ever been held back for failing progress tests but passed all module tests in pre clinical years?
Click to expand...

This is very clearly detailed in the guidebook. Go find your year's guidebook and you'll see what the requirement is.
If you're in Year 2 then the progress tests don't matter.
 
ashprincessbear said:
Hi everyone, I finished my PgDip in Health Science with a GPA of 8.75 and sat the UCAT recently and unfortunately received 1970 (2612 including SJT) and wanted to see whether I still have a good shot in getting into med. Should I retry the UCAT next year and try again or just do well in MMI and hopefully that can help boost my ranking?

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Can I ask what papers you chose? I'm thinking of doing pgdip but not sure which postgrad courses would make it easier for me to get into med


Which pgdip courses do people recommend? Some people say AUT is better for pgdip.. and I'm not sure what to do. can anyone give me some advice around this? Thank you
 
Hi guys!

I completed HSFY in University of Otago in 2025 with the hopes of getting into medicine, unfortunately I didn't get in :( My dream is to be a doctor and I feel as though I will not be satisfied with any other career path.

My plan B was to try post grad which is what I will start this year, I'm planning on studying a Bsc in Neuroscience at University of Otago. I'm very nervous as this is my last shot at getting into medicine. Thankfully in my next application cycle I can also apply to the new medical school opening in Waikato. However I really want to get into UoA medical school, does anyone have any advice on how to gain admission.

Also I need to get really high grades hopefully in the next 2 years so if anyone also has study tips please let me know. If anyone has done neuroscience or even done a Bsc in Otago and got accepted into UoA please let me know, I'm really really nervous right now. I would prefer if it were someone under the general category of admission as I know sometimes the cutoffs are significantly lower for the alternative categories, so would like someone in the same boat as me.

My average in HSFY was a B, which i really need to bump up in the next 2 years. Is it unlikely to get into UoA with a B average in my first year?
 
groundedbeing said:
Hi guys!

I completed HSFY in University of Otago in 2025 with the hopes of getting into medicine, unfortunately I didn't get in :( My dream is to be a doctor and I feel as though I will not be satisfied with any other career path.

My plan B was to try post grad which is what I will start this year, I'm planning on studying a Bsc in Neuroscience at University of Otago. I'm very nervous as this is my last shot at getting into medicine. Thankfully in my next application cycle I can also apply to the new medical school opening in Waikato. However I really want to get into UoA medical school, does anyone have any advice on how to gain admission.

Also I need to get really high grades hopefully in the next 2 years so if anyone also has study tips please let me know. If anyone has done neuroscience or even done a Bsc in Otago and got accepted into UoA please let me know, I'm really really nervous right now. I would prefer if it were someone under the general category of admission as I know sometimes the cutoffs are significantly lower for the alternative categories, so would like someone in the same boat as me.

My average in HSFY was a B, which i really need to bump up in the next 2 years. Is it unlikely to get into UoA with a B average in my first year?
Click to expand...

General advice is to study smarter not harder. 8 hours of efficient study a day is a lot better than 12 hours of inefficient studying. Only you can know which study methods are efficient for you. Further advice from other students can be found in the forums.

If you get mainly A+ averages with some As in your next 2 years, and have a great UCAT & MMI score, you'll probably have a good chance in getting in at UoA.

If somehow, they do finish the Waikato medical school, you'll need to sit the GAMSAT which is a pretty tough exam. Luckily, it's also needed in Australian universities so I would advice to be open to that option if you can afford it.
 
Fili said:
General advice is to study smarter not harder. 8 hours of efficient study a day is a lot better than 12 hours of inefficient studying. Only you can know which study methods are efficient for you. Further advice from other students can be found in the forums.

If you get mainly A+ averages with some As in your next 2 years, and have a great UCAT & MMI score, you'll probably have a good chance in getting in at UoA.

If somehow, they do finish the Waikato medical school, you'll need to sit the GAMSAT which is a pretty tough exam. Luckily, it's also needed in Australian universities so I would advice to be open to that option if you can afford it.
Click to expand...
I feel like I still don't know what efficient study is, so if you have any study methods I can try out during sem 1 please let me know! I did pretty well in Progress tests and internal assessments, but when it comes to finals I don't do so well and I have no idea why.

I didn't know that about the Waikato medical school, thank you for letting me know!
 
groundedbeing said:
I feel like I still don't know what efficient study is, so if you have any study methods I can try out during sem 1 please let me know! I did pretty well in Progress tests and internal assessments, but when it comes to finals I don't do so well and I have no idea why.

I didn't know that about the Waikato medical school, thank you for letting me know!
Click to expand...

Every person is different so what study method works for one likely won't work for you. I used to annotate slides, make massive flashcards from that which I break up into smaller flashcards, then pomodoro said flashcards. Others liked to do mind maps or write essays by hand. You just have to test them out and see which works for you, and this process continuously changes. Using Anki etc was my main study method but every year and every paper, the way I wrote my flashcards, adding in essays, image occlusion, mind maps, etc changes.

I know nothing about Waikato medical school other than the quick search which mentioned GAMSAT on their website. I still wouldn't rely on it. They "plan" to open by 2028 but, realistically, things don't go into plan.
 
Hi there, I just need some advice. I finish my Msc in October 2026 and I was hoping to apply through Msc this year to AKL med school. I will be submitting around 20th October and not sure if I will have my grades back by 30th of NOV. Should I skip this cycle and try next year or should I just request to submit 1 month early ( might stilll be a bit tight, not sure when they will release my grades. What is the best thing I can do at this point. Also I am dreading waiting another year to apply 😢
 
Hey all,

Has anyone had any success getting recognition of equivalency into University of Auckland FMHS for the following Part I papers?

• BIOSCI 107
• CHEM 110
• POPLHLTH 111
• MEDSCI 142

I’m aware that Otago papers are generally recognised, but I’m particularly interested to hear if anyone has managed this using Australian university subjects (e.g. Melbourne / Monash / etc.).

Keen to understand:
• which universities/subjects were accepted, and
• whether it was straightforward or required a lot of mapping/outlines.

Thanks in advance ! Sorry for a random question, i promise it's relevant !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top