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

[acbard9]

Hi,

I dunno about your 1st question (though, I'm hoping that's the case).
EtA: If this weren't the case, then Mdku22 would need to take 8 papers, not 7, next year to be eligible.

With regards to your 2nd question, you would've already received the outcome of your application for the following year (Dec 23/24) before you even start summer school after your final semester (Jan 3-10), so I wouldn't think it would count. I'm not even sure it would count if you were applying the year during summer school (2019) for entry into the following year (2020), as I have heard that people who took 3.5 years to complete don't have the last .5 counted.

I would think that this current summer school is the final summer school that would count for Med entry for you unless you prolonged your Bachelor's for an extra year. It's plausible that you can take the next summer school as part of your Honours perhaps, but I doubt Stage 2 papers would be allowed, and I haven't seen many Stage 4+ papers in summer school for Science papers in particular.

Best of luck .

 

[AHHHHHH]

You can do summer school after first year and after second year, and your best 120 points will be counted for that year. So for example you do 2 papers after second year in SS and get 2 A+s and you still take 8 papers third year they will subsititute your two worst grades that year... your best 8 papers will count (if each are worth 15 points). As long as you do papers above stage 1, so stage 2 or 3 they can count.

 

[confusedcat18]

Thanks for your replies! I kind of had an inkling that they might not consider my SS after third year but I didn't take any SS prior to that for personal reasons and I wondered if that would be considered, probably a long shot though also thanks AHHHHHH just to clarify I'm a 100% on this say I did 8 papers in year 2 and 12 papers in year 3 (including the preceding SS, I couldn't, this is what I wanna achieve from 2019 SS but hypothetically speaking), would the extra four papers I've taken then not be eligible to be considered to replace some year 2 grades? I was always under the impression this was the case and I'll basically have to write out my chances on postgrad med if this isn't. which leads me to a third question do you know if you could apply with a masters and have your masters GPA count instead of undergrad? (I know Otago wouldn't let you do this)

 

[AHHHHHH]

I got 8.5 gpa first year in 2017 and got rejected so asked the admissions office about post grad entry. They told me that the best 120 points within one year counts. Which means that papers you take in summer school before third year semester 1 and third year sem 1 and 2 will not replace the papers you took in the previous year. For example i'm doing 10 papers this year (currently doing 2 now in SS which will count for my 2nd year gpa only) and will probably do the same next year. Don't rule yourself out... people in my year got in with 7.75 and i got rejected with an 8.5, auckland has a huge emphasis on the interview. I'd say for grad entry >7.8ish gpa will give u a decent shot. So try your best! For otago grad entry third year has a greater weighting than second year, and if your good at umat then im sure with an amazing third year gpa you will have a great shot! (Also no interview ) i'm not sure about masters sorry. Wishing you the best

 

[acbard9]

Keeping focussed and reaffirming your dream goal whilst you work hard is important during the next two years, but do make sure to take mental breaks when you need it.
"Doing your best" means not only using your time as well as you can, but also making sure you're physically and mentally healthy in that time. A balanced diet, good sleep and exercise will do wonders for you guys on your journey to post-grad entry .

 

[Mexicanseafood]

good day everyone . Does it matter what degree/science major u do for UoA or UOO? The uni says doesn't matter, but can it really be true because I dont understand how a geography or environmental science major could be ranked the same as a physiology major when it is arguably easier and much less relevant to medicine.

thanks!

 

[acbard9]

Hi Mexicanseafood ,

The degree/major does not matter at all, and you're right to say that it is arguable that some majors are "easier" than others .

If you think those majors would be easier for you, then go ahead and do them, as long as you're quite comfortable with the career options that lie ahead of you after finishing the degree. A large majority of applicants, no matter how intelligent or hard-working, will miss out every year, so please make sure you're opting for a back up that you are likely to dedicate yourself to .

EtA: Keep in mind that most Otago papers are 18 points, and Auckland papers are worth 15 points (see how this works out with "best 120 points", but Auckland won't do any dividing of points). After much discussion with Dunedin students, I have noticed that Otago papers tend to have more MCQ components in examinations than Auckland, and fewer non-exam components (meaning more weight falls on examinations at Otago), at least for the medical sciences.

 

[MiGoreng]

Hi all,

I'm a student transferring from HSFY in otago to second year biomed sci at auckland.
After doing some considerable research on workload, based on the comments on this thread and on reviews elsewhere, I've narrowed down my paper choices to:

BIOSCI201-203 (compulsory)
MEDSCI205 (compulsory) (Sem 1)

MEDSCI 202 - (Microbiology and Immunology) (Sem 1)
MEDSCI 204 - (Pharmacology and Toxicology) ( Sem 2)
MEDSCI 206 - (Neuroscience) (Sem 2)

STATS101 (extra) (I believe this can be taken in either semester. If so, a recommendation as to which, according to the workload, would be greatly appreciated).

I believe this would give me the most balanced workload as possible to avoid overloading myself across the two semesters. This is purely based on online reviews and comments, so if someone could double check these choices and give their opinions, it would be much appreciated.

Some family, however, are getting extremely anal about following the recommended/desirable papers given in the page below, as the choices i've made mostly align with nutrition, which is not a pathway i'm interested in: Biomedical Science - The University of Auckland

Can anyone let me know how important this is, if at all? I haven't decided on which pathway i'd want to specialize in, and i'm trying to avoid taking MEDSCI201 as it seems like that'll wear me out w/ respect to my other choices. Will these paper choices have any major effect in the long run, i.e. specializing post med?

Also, any general pointers for the transition to auckland would be great!

TIA!

 

[Mdku22]

Hi,

I dunno about your 1st question (though, I'm hoping that's the case).
EtA: If this weren't the case, then Mdku22 would need to take 8 papers, not 7, next year to be eligible.

With regards to your 2nd question, you would've already received the outcome of your application for the following year (Dec 23/24) before you even start summer school after your final semester (Jan 3-10), so I wouldn't think it would count. I'm not even sure it would count if you were applying the year during summer school (2019) for entry into the following year (2020), as I have heard that people who took 3.5 years to complete don't have the last .5 counted.

I would think that this current summer school is the final summer school that would count for Med entry for you unless you prolonged your Bachelor's for an extra year. It's plausible that you can take the next summer school as part of your Honours perhaps, but I doubt Stage 2 papers would be allowed, and I haven't seen many Stage 4+ papers in summer school for Science papers in particular.

Best of luck .

I'm actually still slightly unsure about my situation with 7 papers in third year: at times the info about graduate entry seems to say that as long as both years are full time (105 points+), that they are weighted equally; at other times I see mentions of the best 120 points per year. Do you know for certain?

Hi all,

I'm a student transferring from HSFY in otago to second year biomed sci at auckland.
After doing some considerable research on workload, based on the comments on this thread and on reviews elsewhere, I've narrowed down my paper choices to:

BIOSCI201-203 (compulsory)
MEDSCI205 (compulsory) (Sem 1)

MEDSCI 202 - (Microbiology and Immunology) (Sem 1)
MEDSCI 204 - (Pharmacology and Toxicology) ( Sem 2)
MEDSCI 206 - (Neuroscience) (Sem 2)

STATS101 (extra) (I believe this can be taken in either semester. If so, a recommendation as to which, according to the workload, would be greatly appreciated).

I believe this would give me the most balanced workload as possible to avoid overloading myself across the two semesters. This is purely based on online reviews and comments, so if someone could double check these choices and give their opinions, it would be much appreciated.

Some family, however, are getting extremely anal about following the recommended/desirable papers given in the page below, as the choices i've made mostly align with nutrition, which is not a pathway i'm interested in: Biomedical Science - The University of Auckland

Can anyone let me know how important this is, if at all? I haven't decided on which pathway i'd want to specialize in, and i'm trying to avoid taking MEDSCI201 as it seems like that'll wear me out w/ respect to my other choices. Will these paper choices have any major effect in the long run, i.e. specializing post med?

Also, any general pointers for the transition to auckland would be great!

TIA!

I did literally those exact courses (Stats in 1st sem), and couldn't recommend them more.

Medsci 202 in particular was a pleasant surprise: easy, and enjoyable - particularly the labs, which are also easy and relatively low effort
Medsci 205 I found super interesting, but is definitely difficult and requires time, not to mention you will start dreading the fortnightly lab reports. If you do commit to it though, you can definitely succeed - this happened to be my best paper all year
Medsci 206 can be a handful (especially the sensory stuff), but is still highly interesting and manageable. I hope you liked the reports in 205, because now they're due in a week, and you don't get the intro, aims and methods
Biosci 201 made me want to die, but isn't too difficult to achieve well in if you put in the effort (mostly just rote learning and regurgitation)
Biosci 202 and 203 are mostly enjoyable, some tough segments, but easy lab assignments compared to the medsci lab reports
Stats 101 is quite simply a breath of fresh-air - super easy, much intuitive information, and fully mcq test and exam - I only went to 3 lectures and still achieved well

Edit: I did these papers with the intention of doing cardio/neuro as the subspeciality, so you shouldn't worry about the sub-specialization

 

[pi]

Edit: I did these papers with the intention of doing cardio/neuro as the subspeciality, so you shouldn't worry about the sub-specialization

...Are you referring to cardio and neuro as physician subspecialties?

If so, at your stage, I certainly wouldn't be looking that far ahead, and certainly wouldn't make any assumptions that anything you do now will impact on your chances or knowledge that far down the line.

Apologies if I'm misreading, but I think it's worth emphasising that what subjects you do as an undergrad prior to medicine has very little (if any) bearing on what happens once you become a doctor and start post-graduate training and specialisation.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

...Are you referring to cardio and neuro as physician subspecialties?

If so, at your stage, I certainly wouldn't be looking that far ahead, and certainly wouldn't make any assumptions that anything you do now will impact on your chances or knowledge that far down the line.

Apologies if I'm misreading, but I think it's worth emphasising that what subjects you do as an undergrad prior to medicine has very little (if any) bearing on what happens once you become a doctor and start post-graduate training and specialisation.

Howdy pi, I think they’re talking about degree majors (as students often do in these NZ threads), but have mis-labelled them as specialisations, which obviously has different connotations in a Med setting.

 

[Kagamin]

Hey guys, I'm currently a second year biomed student trying to decide whether to do medsci 206 or medsci 204 in semester 2 (with the way my timetable is I can only pick one) and was wondering if any of you had any thoughts as to which one is "easier" to do well in? Thanks

 

[Alex Wu Wannabe]

I have a biased opinion and I think medsci204 is easier to score better on. If you're aiming for A+ just be extra careful in the workshops assignments as they're being reviewed and easier to lose marks compared to other courses. Also there are a few calculations in pharmacokinetics that you have to do so bear that in mind. The exams and tests are fair. There were a few sections that I felt was a bit hard to study for but I complained last year about needing to take information out that aren't elucidated like there was this NSAIDs section with like COX, CYP, PGI2, PGE2, HETEs, EETs and NSAIDs. At that time I thought that it was recycled content from a 3rd year paper lol. It got a reply in the end of semester tutorial so who knows that section might have changed this year or be clearer.

If you want to do 316 I suggest taking 206. I think 206 is also fair. I personally think it has more coursework but if you get the study in it should be just as good as 204. Personally I found it a bit harder to answer questions, like I knew the answer to the question but always wanted to fit more info for the short answered questions.

They're both good papers with some sections being interesting. I did 206 in 2nd year and 204 in 3rd year but if I go back and can only choose 1 paper I'll do medsci204 if it's solely for the GPA. If I was interested in neuro (which I am) I would choose 206 over 204.

 

[somewhathopeful]

Hi everyone,

I'm a bit confused on summer school papers. I'm doing a BHSc with a goal to applying to med end of 2019. I want to take 2 summer school papers summer of 2018/2019 to count towards my 10 papers for 2019 (third year). There aren't exactly many summer papers offered that are relevant or count towards my degree in summer school based on previous years. Can I take any stage II summer papers? Will they count towards my "best 120 points" even if they don't count towards obtaining my BHSc?

Also, how does UoA count 9 papers done over two semesters (instead of over 2 semesters + summer school) as that it what I will be doing this year.

 

[Alex Wu Wannabe]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can take any. I was going to take ECON 212 last year but they rejected it because I didn't take stage I maths papers. I took engineering stage I maths and stage II maths papers and they didn't approve my concession. The flexibility of pre-reqs and clashes are anal in science dep. But yeah you should be able to take any papers as long as they approve it. That was like the only stage II non-science paper that didn't count towards my degree.

It's just like any paper, they take your best 8 for the year. Last year I took maths 208 and stats 201 over the summer, 3 papers in sem 1 and 5 papers in sem 2. 10 papers in total, they take best 8. In your case your best 8 if you take 9 over two semesters then it'll be top 8 over two semesters.

Just make sure that if u take summer papers they are stage II and they'll count.

Edit: bolded the answer to your q

Sorry for long reply that's just my flow of thought lol.

 

[somewhathopeful]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can take any. I was going to take ECON 212 last year but they rejected it because I didn't take stage I maths papers. I took engineering stage I maths and stage II maths papers and they didn't approve my concession. The flexibility of pre-reqs and clashes are anal in science dep. But yeah you should be able to take any papers as long as they approve it. That was like the only stage II non-science paper that didn't count towards my degree.

It's just like any paper, they take your best 8 for the year. Last year I took maths 208 and stats 201 over the summer, 3 papers in sem 1 and 5 papers in sem 2. 10 papers in total, they take best 8. In your case your best 8 if you take 9 over two semesters then it'll be top 8 over two semesters.

Just make sure that if u take summer papers they are stage II and they'll count.

Edit: bolded the answer to your q

Sorry for long reply that's just my flow of thought lol.

Hey thank you for replying! When you say "as long as they approve it" do I have to book an appointment at the clock tower or is that something I have to get the degree coordinator to sign off?

 

[Alex Wu Wannabe]

Nah mine had a unmet prereq so they had to approve it.

 

[selo]

Hi all,

I'm a student transferring from HSFY in otago to second year biomed sci at auckland.
After doing some considerable research on workload, based on the comments on this thread and on reviews elsewhere, I've narrowed down my paper choices to:

BIOSCI201-203 (compulsory)
MEDSCI205 (compulsory) (Sem 1)

MEDSCI 202 - (Microbiology and Immunology) (Sem 1)
MEDSCI 204 - (Pharmacology and Toxicology) ( Sem 2)
MEDSCI 206 - (Neuroscience) (Sem 2)

STATS101 (extra) (I believe this can be taken in either semester. If so, a recommendation as to which, according to the workload, would be greatly appreciated).

I believe this would give me the most balanced workload as possible to avoid overloading myself across the two semesters. This is purely based on online reviews and comments, so if someone could double check these choices and give their opinions, it would be much appreciated.

Some family, however, are getting extremely anal about following the recommended/desirable papers given in the page below, as the choices i've made mostly align with nutrition, which is not a pathway i'm interested in: Biomedical Science - The University of Auckland

Can anyone let me know how important this is, if at all? I haven't decided on which pathway i'd want to specialize in, and i'm trying to avoid taking MEDSCI201 as it seems like that'll wear me out w/ respect to my other choices. Will these paper choices have any major effect in the long run, i.e. specializing post med?

Also, any general pointers for the transition to auckland would be great!

TIA!

Hi, How did you transfer from otago to auckland? did you transfer credit or did apply normally? please help!!

 

[acbard9]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend me papers that are basically just involve rote-learning/memorising? Few assignments, not conceptual content? Either Stage 2 or 3 papers

I’ve done MEDSCI 201, 203, 204, 205, BIOSCI 203 (and some Stats papers which I’ve really enjoyed btw I highly recommend!) Currently doing MEDSCI 305 (memorisable, but tough marking) and 306 (don’t ever take it).

 

[Mdku22]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend me papers that are basically just involve rote-learning/memorising? Few assignments, not conceptual content? Either Stage 2 or 3 papers

I’ve done MEDSCI 201, 203, 204, 205, BIOSCI 203 (and some Stats papers which I’ve really enjoyed btw I highly recommend!) Currently doing MEDSCI 305 (memorisable, but tough marking) and 306 (don’t ever take it).

I've probably seen you around in 305... The lab report was difficult/weird, but I thought that test was pretty fair.

I'm doing physics 107 as an extra science paper this semester, and it's probably the best decision I've ever made. The assignments give 20% of your grade, are easy, take just a couple hours, and I find them quite relaxing in fact! They all involve some drawing and graphing followed by some simple calculations, which I find a nice change a pace from years of medsci reports. The labs give 10% of your grade, and are actually laughably easy - they schedule 5x 1hour labs for you, but in reality you'll likely finish within 15 minutes each time and get 100%. The tests and exams are also straight forward - mostly MCQs with a couple short answers, where half the questions almost seem like common sense (for someone coming from a science background). So it's quite easy to get a good mark, but I also find it legitimately interesting and engaging, and a great change of pace compared to very focused physiology and pharmacology like in many of the medscis I've done over the years.