UoA 'What papers should I do at UoA for graduate entry' Chat/enquiries

[easymoneysniper]

Hey BW i heard that honour's, master's and PhD's boost your gpa if you know can you explain a little more about it to me?

 

[blackandwhite]

Hi blackandwhite,

Four year degree programmes are weighted slightly differently than three year courses. Single-year GPAs are calculated the same regardless of your programme: your top 126 points are taken. That is, your scores for your top 126 points (at Otago, this is your top seven 18-point papers) are assigned a grade-point value. These values are added together: an A+ is worth 9, A is 8, A- is 7 etc. For simple courses (BSc, BA, BBiomedSc etc) this is relatively straightforward. It gets a little trickier if your course is less than 126 points, or composed of papers that are worth more or less than 18 points each. The first part in particular applies to honours students. It also applies to students applying into medicine from other professional programmes, and those from universities with 120-point yearly structures (commonly, Auckland University).

Honours years are worth 120 points, not 126. This gives you a slight disadvantage because the admissions office will score approximately 5% of your final year GPA (6/126) as a zero grade unless you take summer school papers. Honours years also feature non-standard paper point values: a BSc(Hons) for example requires a 60-point research project and three 20-point academic papers. Your grade from the 60-point project with therefore account for half of your GPA and the other three papers will account for one-sixth each. The remaining six points will be counted as zero. The actual calculation, according to the above structure, will be like so:


(60*[Research grade] + 20*[Paper One] + 20*[Paper Two] + 20*[Paper Three]) / 126


If you took a summer school paper, the caluclation would change. This change would depend on whether the summer school paper had a higher grade than any of your honours papers. If it was higher:


(60*[Research grade] + 18*[Summer School Paper] + 20*[Paper One] + 20*[Paper Two] + 8/20*[Paper Three]) / 126


...where "Paper Three" was your lowest grade. If your lowest grade was your research project:


(48/60*[Research grade] + 18*[Summer School Paper] + 20*[Paper One] + 20*[Paper Two] + 20*[Paper Three]) / 126


And if your summer school paper was the lowest:


(60*[Research grade] + 20*[Paper One] + 20*[Paper Two] + 20*[Paper Three] + 6/18*[Summer School Paper]) / 126


The influence is very minor. For example, if your GPA from your first three years of study was 7.5 and you got an A- in all four honours components without doing summer school, then your GPA would be 7.19. If you took a summer school paper and scored an A- also, your GPA would increase to 7.31.



The weightings per year are calculated as follows:

[TABLE="width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Three-year programme[/TD]
[TD]Four-year programme[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]First Year[/TD]
[TD]0.5[/TD]
[TD]0.5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Second Year[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]0.8[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Third Year[/TD]
[TD]1.5[/TD]
[TD]1.2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Fourth Year[/TD]
[TD]-[/TD]
[TD]1.5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Add together and[/TD]
[TD]Divide by 3[/TD]
[TD]Divide by 4[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


I hope this helps! Having a spreadsheet would make all of these caluclations a whole lot easier. Let me know if there's anything else you're having trouble with or if something isn't very clear. It's a bit difficult to explain the maths behind it.

-LM

^ Excellent summary on how an honours year would impact your GPA. It basically depends on how well you do, and they count it like another year of your bachelors i.e. your degree as a 4 year programme rather than 3 for instance. Completing a PhD gives you an automatic GPA of 9, however it can take a fairly long time (+ the sheer difficulty) so it wouldn't be advised to consider a PhD just for the sake of a perfect GPA (or as a gpa 'booster'). I'm not sure how masters works though!

 

[Lego Man]

^ Excellent summary on how an honours year would impact your GPA. It basically depends on how well you do, and they count it like another year of your bachelors i.e. your degree as a 4 year programme rather than 3 for instance. Completing a PhD gives you an automatic GPA of 9, however it can take a fairly long time (+ the sheer difficulty) so it wouldn't be advised to consider a PhD just for the sake of a perfect GPA (or as a gpa 'booster'). I'm not sure how masters works though!

Hi blackandwhite,

Thanks, the whole thing can be a bit difficult to get your head round :bored:

I thought that about PhDs too, that it gives you a GPA of 9. However, last year when I was applying, I read this:

All applicants in the Graduate category are ranked on the basis of a score derived from the grades achieved in:

• Their first degree, or
• Their first degree followed by an honours degree, or
• A first degree followed by a postgraduate diploma similar to an honours programme

No preference is given to degree qualification or major subject.

A PhD always requires prior degrees to be completed, therefore could never be your first degree and so can't be scored. I also found the following on the Other category page:

This category for application for admission to second year Medicine is open to allied health professionals, other graduates, or mental health professionals... Other graduates: Those who completed their first degree more than three years previous to application, completed a second or higher degree in New Zealand, or completed a degree at an overseas university. An academic grade point average equivalent to an Otago B (70%) or better is recommended for consideration under this category.

Since a PhD would be a degree higher than a BSc, I figured that this would mean that PhD students are only eligible to apply under the Other category?

ETA: Sorry, I just thought I'd mention I know this applies for certain only to Otago. It may apply at Auckland, I'm not sure as I have never looked at their admissions guidelines.

 

[lane]

I didn't know a completed PhD gave you a 9 GPA. I applied when I was part way through my PhD (when I decided to bail on it, actually). Still... Your Honors / Masters needs to be good to give you a chance of getting a scholarship anyplace halfway decent...

Medicine... Involves a bunch of hoops to make you 'look good' huh... I didn't really see it as that... Learning... I guess...

 

[thecookiemonster]

Hi guys Has anyone done a psychology degree and applied for medicine as a graduate? If so, would you recommend it? How difficult is it to achieve A grades? I'm considering changing my programme from biomed to psych. Thanks!

 

[snow12flake]

Hi guys, I'm doing a pharmacology degree, and have just transferred from Otago to Auckland, can someone please advise me as to which papers I should take? The only compulsory paper is Medsci 204. So far I'm thinking of doing:
Sem 1:
Medsci 201
Medsci 205

Sem 2:
Medsci 206
Medsci 204
Biosci 203

Has anyone done Chem 243?

Thanks in advance

 

[NMW55]

Hi guys Has anyone done a psychology degree and applied for medicine as a graduate? If so, would you recommend it? How difficult is it to achieve A grades? I'm considering changing my programme from biomed to psych. Thanks!

This is me! Haha, so I have done a BA (in Psych and Pols) and then BSc (Hons) in Psyc and was accepted for med this year. The only thing is that I have to do 5 first year papers to give me a good basis for med - so I guess my starting date for medicine is 2016. I would recommend psych. It gives you a great basis for understanding behaviour. Try and focus on the more medical/health papers (e.g. neuroscience, biological psychology, health psychology, cognition, drug/addiction, abnormal psychology papers etc.). Also I would recommend do 100 level chem/biosci/medsci paper and even a pophlth 200 level
I hope this helps - psych is an awesome course - the amount you learn about developmental stages/ brain processes/ patient adherence etc etc is so beneficial! Best of luck!

 

[thecookiemonster]

Thanks so much for your reply! I've decided to do psych Congrats on getting into med!

 

[Chaser]

Hey guys!
Was wondering if anyone here on MSO has done/knows someone who has done GEOG205 in Summer School. It is one of the few Stage 2 science courses and seems somewhat interesting Cheers

Hi. Did you end up doing GEOG205? If you did, would you be able to share your experience. Thanks!

 

[acbard9]

I was just looking through a thread for Otago 2nd/3rd year papers, which looked very useful, and wanted some advice for 2nd/3rd year papers at Auckland (including Gen Ed).

Backstory: I recently failed to be accepted into Otago Med school after the spike in RS , and I can no longer afford to live in Dunedin, and so I'm transferring to Auckland getting credit for my papers. I'm too late to apply for BSc (Biomedical Science) at Auckland (although I've emailed, as I believe the course is full for 1st years, but maybe not for 2nd years).

I'm going to apply for Post-Grad Med at Auckland and Otago, Dent at Otago and a few other professional courses for both. Any advice for UoA 2nd/3rd year papers?

 

[Hanzo]

Hey dreytho97

Do you have a plan on what to take right now?

Would advise you to check this out in terms of what papers to take etc as its catered towards postgrad entry Auckland pre-med
Also this aswell Academia Portal extremely beneficial!

 

[acbard9]

Hey dreytho97

Do you have a plan on what to take right now?

Would advise you to check this out in terms of what papers to take etc as its catered towards postgrad entry Auckland pre-med
Also this aswell Academia Portal extremely beneficial!

Thanks for your reply, Hanzo!

Well I really like the idea of doing either majoring in Pharmacology, or in Medicinal Chemistry. I think for Medicinal Chemistry I need to fulfil some requirements as I didn't take a paper equivalent to CHEM120 or something. I'll also need to fit in a Gen Ed from first year, as I only did 7 papers at Otago. I've also applied to do BHSc, seeing if I can start from 1st year and apply for Med next year (but that itself brings other problems like the Tamaki campus being in East Auckland, and I live out West etc.)

 

[Hanzo]

Thanks for your reply, Hanzo!

Well I really like the idea of doing either majoring in Pharmacology, or in Medicinal Chemistry. I think for Medicinal Chemistry I need to fulfil some requirements as I didn't take a paper equivalent to CHEM120 or something. I'll also need to fit in a Gen Ed from first year, as I only did 7 papers at Otago. I've also applied to do BHSc, seeing if I can start from 1st year and apply for Med next year (but that itself brings other problems like the Tamaki campus being in East Auckland, and I live out West etc.)

I would suggest that you take something that you have a good interest in, because you will have to do well in 16 papers this time round. If you do put in the hardwork and effort it will sure pay off at the end of the degree and thats where the motivational component comes into play in postgrad entry. Find what motivates you to become a doctor (rather than just entry) and you'll surely do well in both entry and your career!

I personally did physiology pretty much purely for postgrad entry which was great in terms of its flexibility (taking pretty much whatever papers you wanted to). I dont have too much information on med chem or Pharmacology but again if you need some advice/information i can always get you in touch with some of my friends who are doing those!

I also live out in the west near henderson so its a hassle to even go to city campus lol. I would personally advise you to stick with the postgrad pathway because you'll gain alot of experience which i think will help alot for MBchB. BHSc would probably be easier as its just four core papers, but its a lot risker (just in case you dont make it through).

Hope this helps!

 

[acbard9]

I would suggest that you take something that you have a good interest in, because you will have to do well in 16 papers this time round. If you do put in the hardwork and effort it will sure pay off at the end of the degree and thats where the motivational component comes into play in postgrad entry. Find what motivates you to become a doctor (rather than just entry) and you'll surely do well in both entry and your career!

I personally did physiology pretty much purely for postgrad entry which was great in terms of its flexibility (taking pretty much whatever papers you wanted to). I dont have too much information on med chem or Pharmacology but again if you need some advice/information i can always get you in touch with some of my friends who are doing those!

I also live out in the west near henderson so its a hassle to even go to city campus lol. I would personally advise you to stick with the postgrad pathway because you'll gain alot of experience which i think will help alot for MBchB. BHSc would probably be easier as its just four core papers, but its a lot risker (just in case you dont make it through).

Hope this helps!

Hi Hanzo! I had a look at the BSc Physiology, and it looks like I'm pretty much going to do the same 200-level papers. How did you find your 200-level papers (BIOSCI203, MEDSCI201/5/6)? What papers did you use to fill up your other spaces and Gen Ed?

Thank you so much for your responses! I have yet to fully look at the websites you have linked, as I have applied quite late, and do not currently have a guarantee I'll be studying the course.

 

[Hanzo]

Hi Hanzo! I had a look at the BSc Physiology, and it looks like I'm pretty much going to do the same 200-level papers. How did you find your 200-level papers (BIOSCI203, MEDSCI201/5/6)? What papers did you use to fill up your other spaces and Gen Ed?

Thank you so much for your responses! I have yet to fully look at the websites you have linked, as I have applied quite late, and do not currently have a guarantee I'll be studying the course.

Hey!

I took medsci 201 205 206 but not biosci203 as I didn't have much interest in it. Technically your 2 core papers which are a must for physiology is only medsci 205 and 206 (If you need elaboration on that please don't hesitate to chat me up..). MEDSCI papers are quite difficult to do well in personally as it was hard to get A+ (out of 10, I only got 2) in stage 2/3s medscis because of things like essays in the finals and lab reports which were marked so subjectively. I didn't do any stage 2/3 bioscis so I'm not too sure what it's like in terms of difficulty. One of my friends from otago who transferred into stage 3 physiology said the medscis were harder than his medsci papers related papers that he did in stage 2 otago. I mean it could be just because of the step up but regardless, Auckland likes lab reports and essays. Lab reports became a bit insane to really do well in during stage 3, otherwise, it was well worth the time and money.

The rest of the papers were just either your gened or just elective papers that you I took to fill up my degree. These papers were also everyone's grade savers and most likely was the reason as to why 1/3 of the physiology cohort got in this year. More specifically you will have to read up as to what papers you want and there no other way to do this except reading around about the papers or asking people about their experiences I guess... I could always provide you with a list of papers but again it's up to you to choose!

If you read the course degree planner schedule that you can download from the UoA site, as long as you forfil those requirements you are eligible to graduate and thus go for med.

Best wishes.

 

[acbard9]

Hey!

I took medsci 201 205 206 but not biosci203 as I didn't have much interest in it. Technically your 2 core papers which are a must for physiology is only medsci 205 and 206 (If you need elaboration on that please don't hesitate to chat me up..). MEDSCI papers are quite difficult to do well in personally as it was hard to get A+ (out of 10, I only got 2) in stage 2/3s medscis because of things like essays in the finals and lab reports which were marked so subjectively. I didn't do any stage 2/3 bioscis so I'm not too sure what it's like in terms of difficulty. One of my friends from otago who transferred into stage 3 physiology said the medscis were harder than his medsci papers related papers that he did in stage 2 otago. I mean it could be just because of the step up but regardless, Auckland likes lab reports and essays. Lab reports became a bit insane to really do well in during stage 3, otherwise, it was well worth the time and money.

The rest of the papers were just either your gened or just elective papers that you I took to fill up my degree. These papers were also everyone's grade savers and most likely was the reason as to why 1/3 of the physiology cohort got in this year. More specifically you will have to read up as to what papers you want and there no other way to do this except reading around about the papers or asking people about their experiences I guess... I could always provide you with a list of papers but again it's up to you to choose!

If you read the course degree planner schedule that you can download from the UoA site, as long as you forfil those requirements you are eligible to graduate and thus go for med.

Best wishes.

Thanks so much for all of this! I'm starting to be a little bit afraid of the Auckland system with the lab reports and essays. There was no such thing as a lab report in my 1st year Otago courses, and I guess I'll need to learn how to do it! I did well in essays in high school, but I can tell these aren't the same kind haha. I don't wanna have to force you into giving me details about papers haha I will use your websites instead .

Is there anywhere in the forum that can teach me about how to do as well as possible with lab reports? I'm not hoping for too much if it's subjective though!

Thanks again so much, I hope you've had a stellar New Year

 

[Hanzo]

Thanks so much for all of this! I'm starting to be a little bit afraid of the Auckland system with the lab reports and essays. There was no such thing as a lab report in my 1st year Otago courses, and I guess I'll need to learn how to do it! I did well in essays in high school, but I can tell these aren't the same kind haha. I don't wanna have to force you into giving me details about papers haha I will use your websites instead .

Is there anywhere in the forum that can teach me about how to do as well as possible with lab reports? I'm not hoping for too much if it's subjective though!

Thanks again so much, I hope you've had a stellar New Year

Hey,

Heres a link that kind of helps in terms of how to write lab reports if you haven't seen it already, which is really well written! Tips on How to Write Lab Reports. Otherwise, Im not aware of people talking about lab reports on this forum.

But i think whats more important is that they do ease you into the lab report writing style, and you'll have more than enough practice to learn from your mistakes or kinda eventually figure out what is the best way to produce fanastic lab reports! Its just hard to 100% the lab reports in, and works on a exponential scale with time on the x-axis and y-axis equaling to the grade that you'll get from it.

I feared the lab reports a lot, coming in from 1st year OLY in auckland because i too had zero exposure to what MEDSCI lab reports wanted. i remember just plugging in all the dates for when they'll be due and felt so overwhelmed but, in a matter of time everything comes and goes and eventually writing lab reports will just be another weekly/fortnightly routine haha.

 

[acbard9]

Hey there,

I want to do post-grad Medicine. To keep it short, here is what I have planned for this year:
(BSc Pharmacology 2017)
S1:
MEDSCI201/3/5
SPORTSCI103 (?)
S2:
MEDSCI204/6
BIOSCI203
PHIL105g

Essentially, I need easy 200-level papers for Summer School/S1/S2 2018. I can replace SPORTSCI for another 100-level paper if it leads to an easy 200-level.
I also need easy 300-level papers. I am required to do at least 4 from MEDSCI303-307, unless I switch degree before 3rd year.

Should I swap out any of my MEDSCIs? What is the general opinion for BIOSCIs?
I am capable of hard work (8.7 GPA from 1st Year), and also want to know if these papers reward hard work.

Thank you for your time.

EDIT:
Here is what I potentially might do in 2018.
SS:
GEOG205

S1
MEDSCI303/4/7
PSYC202

S2

MEDSCI306/12
PSYC305
DANCE200g (or INTBUS151g).

Will it be plausible for me to obtain a GPA >8 from this combination?

 

[viviers8]

The rest of the papers were just either your gened or just elective papers that you I took to fill up my degree. These papers were also everyone's grade savers and most likely was the reason as to why 1/3 of the physiology cohort got in this year. More specifically you will have to read up as to what papers you want and there no other way to do this except reading around about the papers or asking people about their experiences I guess... I could always provide you with a list of papers but again it's up to you to choose!

If you read the course degree planner schedule that you can download from the UoA site, as long as you forfil those requirements you are eligible to graduate and thus go for med.

Best wishes.

So the reason a lot of physiology students got in was because you only do four stage III MEDSCIs and then the rest of your stage 3s you can pick easy courses?

I am picking up Pharmacology and doing a double major incase I don't get into medicine, what do you think about doing three/four medsci stage 3s in one semester? Because I have to do 7 MEDSCI stage IIIs if I do both physiol and pharmacology.

I'd also be interested to know what your stage III papers were, or what stage III papers were common for physiol students that got med offers.

Thanks for the info man!

 

[Hanzo]

@dreytho97
Hey sorry for the late reply,

I dont have much of an idea on the BIOSCIs beyond Stage 1 in UoA unfortunately. MEDSCI papers at stage 2 and 3 (especially 3) which involve lab reports generally dont reward you for your hard work for the laboratory components (20% of total course work usually), however hard work can be rewarded in the exams/tests.
I cannot say if its plausible to get >8 with that combo of papers as I've hardly touch the pharmacology papers during my physiology degree. Based on your first year grades, it does seem likely that you will maintain a high postgraduate GPA regardless.

Make use of summer school and make sure you don't burn out quickly in terms of motivation and study habits - very important.

@viviers8

Hey sorry for the late reply,

Yeah, i generally think that this was the case for our cohort. But the rule was really "exploited" in stage 2/year 2 where you only have and still only need to take 2 stage 2 MEDSCIs, where the rest could be any stage 1s and a couple of easy stage 2s. However, at the end of the day, motivation and hard work was what really determined a high GPA and finally, entry without taking into account how well you may perform in the interview.

Seven stage 3s will no doubt be very difficult. Personally, i just invested all my efforts into physiology with the intention of wanting to do med later on. I can say its worked out now but back then it was a huge risk and was likewise, full of uncertainty.

I took MEDSCI 312 311 317 316 313 and this was pretty much standard across most of the people/friends that i know who gained entry. MEDSCI 309 was avoided by many students wanting to go for medicine but again, if you do enjoy the maths/physics behind all the physiology of the human body then please dont be intimidated to take the paper as MEDSCI 312 (the alternative) was not easy either and marked brutally in our year.