'What papers should I do at UoO for graduate entry' Chat, Enquiries and Help

[Ramza]

Hey Guys,
My major is in Physiology (The cool BBioMedSc's) FUHB which means PHSL345 and phsl343 are COMPULSORY. Just wondering what papers to take in 3rd year, if ANYONE has any advice or help on what to expect in 300 level. Ive heard its a lot of lab reports, reviewing articles etc????

Please help on what papers to take.

Cheers.

Mod' edit: There were so many threads for individual papers/etc that it was just getting downright impossible for anyone to find anything, so I've merged them. Hopefully this makes the whole thing more user-friendly!
-Froot

 

[the_international]

hey ramza
i know ALOT of people doing that in 3rd year
they love the science but the course is not so great
you ALWAYS have lab reports - seminars (which are sometimes dodgey) and presentations but the final exams are pretty good (if you make sure you manage your time good).
but its possible to maintain an A+ average if you put in the time and effort apparently (like for any other course)

ill get back to u after exams about PHSL papers, ill ask them for you

 

[Ramza]

hey ramza
i know ALOT of people doing that in 3rd year
they love the science but the course is not so great
you ALWAYS have lab reports - seminars (which are sometimes dodgey) and presentations but the final exams are pretty good (if you make sure you manage your time good).
but its possible to maintain an A+ average if you put in the time and effort apparently (like for any other course)

ill get back to u after exams about PHSL papers, ill ask them for you

Sweet thanks, are you 3rd year phsl?

im taking next year both because i want a degree and a chance for med
Cell+molecular Neurophysiology PHSL341
Integrative Neruophysiology PHSL342
Physiol aspects of health Disease PHSL345

Cell + Epithelial Physiology PHSL343
Neuropharmacology PHAL303
Neurobiology ANAT335

 

[dspro]

Hey ramza, Im currently doing most of those papers. 341 was my best paper, and its really well structured so you should be fine with that. Even 342 and 345 were good. There are ALOT of lab reports for each of those though. I did all 3 in the first sem, and I had like a lab report every week, sometimes even two. You will have 9 total (3 for each plus other assessments in between such as synopsis's and seminars). So if you do all three of those papers in first sem, just make sure you dont take a fourth as it might be quite difficult to manage. Im finding 343 quite hard :s. Not sure about neurobio and pharm, but a few of my mates found them hard and some easy.

 

[Crunchy]

PHSL345 is definitely a paper worth taking. Themes for that paper this year were Hypertension, Heart failure and K channelopathies, in which many of my fellow classmates found to be really interesting

PHSL343 IMHO seems kinda dodgy, especially with the seminars and group presentations. Most of the time it seemed alot like you could be marked either way depending on who was marking you (2 elected classmates along with the lecturer) and who you were grouped together with.

Anyways, is it just me, or are markers at Otago getting harsher this year?

PS: @ Ramza, I'm not sure if the 7 paper rule still holds at Otago, but it might be in your advantage to do a 7th paper in summer school, and 3 in each sem

 

[snack]

Competitive graduate @ Otago - 300 level physiology and anatomy papers

hey peeps
can anyone give me an idea of what phsl345/343 and anat331/332 are like? next yr i'm 3rd year biomed aiming to get into medicine. my GPA atm is 8 so id prefer to do easy-ish papers to keep it stable. phsl apparently has a lot of lab reports which im dreading. and since the change of the admissions committee looking only at ur 3rd yr GPA at 200 level and above, easy papers would be nice

cheers

 

[SomethingWitty]

You said they were only looking at 300 level, what about 200 level during that time?

I have "heard" that 300 level PHSL is a lot of work during the year with lab reports each week if your doing two at a time. But the finals are easier, cause the questions are repeated each year. Anatomy has less frequent lab reports. But I can't really stand ANAT so I am not going to do it. I also asked Chris Bolter how hard the lab reports are marked, he said grammar is not a big deal, and he said a large portion of the students are in the A region when going into the finals. Another marker told me that they are told to mark with the mindset of assuming the student has already obtained 15/20. And to take marks away for mistakes, and add marks for things that were above basic. I am currently deciding between a physiology degree, a biomed degree, or a neuroscience degree. I found physiology to comes naturally to me so I will stick with that probably. If you have any more questions go nuts.

Is there anyone who knows how hard PHAL 221 is i heard It was ridiculously hard this year?

 

[KIWIpride]

PHSL 345/343/341/342 THEY ARE ALL FUN. you should take all the available anat and phsl papers and love them to bits like I have..since you seem like a med hopeful.=]

All PHSL papers contain lab reports and presentations throughout the semester. These are worth 50% of the total weighting. All ANAT papers except 331 are like this also, but this does not make ANAT331 any easier.

Finals are easier u say somethingwitty? Just keep in mind that questions are NOT repeated each year..The department is not stupid.

"Another marker told me that they are told to mark with the mindset of assuming the student has already obtained 15/20" - ??WHAT???

 

[SomethingWitty]

@ KIWIpride It's nice to see someone who actually enjoys what they studied, I really liked PHSL this year. Regarding my statements I was going to preface my statement with "these are pure anecdotal statements, and should be taken with a grain of salt". They are statements from friends and flatmates who are now post-grad med students.

 

[snack]

You said they were only looking at 300 level, what about 200 level during that time?

they look at 200 level and 300 level papers only in 3rd year. that really limits some people who didn't take 100 papers this year

the less phsls the better i say, the reason why im doing a biomed degree i somehow do not as good in lab reports than compared to tests. anat331 has all rat races internally (40%) which seems attractive (they had 2 rat races and 1 lab report initially but ran out of time for the lab report so just did a rat race - it might change next year)

Is there anyone who knows how hard PHAL 221 is i heard It was ridiculously hard this year?

i did phal211 this year and found the final ridiculously hard :unsure: they changed the final exam format so that there are 5 or 6(?) essay questions worth 20 marks each instead of 10 from previous years. it was difficult to write heaps imo..

 

[Deleted member 4350]

Final was impossible to ace. 60 MCQs and 6 20mark essay questions with extremely harsh marking (I checked my script afterward and compared it to the slides) all within 3 hrs. I scored the lowest for that paper out of any other. Plus you have lab reports and an essay. Oh, and the department is almost as bad as epi. That really does say a lot. Also this subject was previously taken by premed students to raise their GPA and this was realised by the department, which is why they have upped their standards. Only 2 people scored an A+ overall and the average decreased by 10% for our year (from 79% in 2009 to 69% in 2010).

 

[bobby190]

Postgraduate entry into Otago medicine help

Hey guys,
Im studying at otago and am considering applying for otago medicine as a postgrad and am looking for good 200 level papers.
These are just some papers I have in mind and any comments about these papers esspecially incl internals/final exam weighting and format would of real help.

GENE221
MICR222
ANAT243
PATH304
MICR221

thanks guys!

 

[greenglacier]

Some relevant stuff here: http://www.medstudentsonline.com.au/showthread.php?12328-If-you-don-t-get-in-through-HSFY..

 

[PositiveA]

Wonder what major i should take for applying med

Hi I'm 2nd year Biomed student at the Otago university.
Planning to apply graduate entry for med on next year.
I finished 4 HSFY papers. Failed chem191 and gonna do rest of them this year.
Anyway, I'm considering about the major because of GPA. I do prefer math which doesn't have labs so i could have a time for work.But Most of people who've getin were Biomed graduate.
So do anyone heard of a person get in to med from BA or BSC(Math, Stats, etc)?
Also am i possible to apply Auckland ?

 

[SomethingWitty]

It doesn't matter what degree you have (plenty of med students have BCom, BSc, BA, etc), as long as you meet the prerequisites. The reason most people have gotten in by doing Biomed, is that there is a massively higher percentage of people who want medicine in Biomed courses. The most sensible advice regarding majors is to do what you enjoy and excel at. Oh and people have gotten in after failing Chem 191, but if you can't seriously bump your grades quickly your in trouble.

 

[kakarot]

AU biomed to Otago BSc (major in Neuroscience) 2nd year?

Hey guys,

I'm just a biomed OLY1 student currently at Auckland, and I was browsing Otago uni's website and I found a link to the BSc - majoring in Neuroscience. It said it was the only undergraduate university in New Zealand offering neuroscience and I had a look at some of the papers and I'm quite interested.

I sent the university an email asking if a transfer straight into 2nd year was possible and this is what they said:

"Yes, you could transfer down here to complete an undergraduate degree in a further 2 years. The Auckland Health Sciences first year course is deemed to be equivalent to ours so if you pass that you will be fine to major in quite a number of different subject areas here."

Although there is a good chance I will apply for medicine this year at Auckland, I also quite like the idea of doing an undergraduate degree in this area and then maybe apply for medicine/further research afterwards. I guess it's just a case of me wanting to do both?

I was just wondering if any of you guys have tried the BSc majoring in Neuroscience at Otago, and tried applying for medicine?
What is the degree like, what papers did you take, and how was it trying to get into med via the graduate pathway? Oh, and would I be able to have a student loan for both the BSc and MBChB degrees?

Apologies for the mammoth post, any info would be appreciated ^^;

 

[qbob]

If you decided to do the BSc then you could apply to med as a graduate student, but note that it may be tough to get good grades while doing neuroscience (and hence you may not get into graduate med).

also, there is now a lifetime limit of 7 EFTS (equivalent full-time student) for Student Loans. so if you did your BSc (3yrs) then med, the loan would cover all the years except the last year (3yrs bsc + 4 years of med) (noting that you wouldn't have to do the OLY1 twice)

 

[kakarot]

If you decided to do the BSc then you could apply to med as a graduate student, but note that it may be tough to get good grades while doing neuroscience (and hence you may not get into graduate med).

How hard is it to do "well" (ie mostly A/A+) in 2nd/3rd years?

Is it much more difficult to get the high grades than first year?

 

[iUsername]

If you decided to do the BSc then you could apply to med as a graduate student, but note that it may be tough to get good grades while doing neuroscience (and hence you may not get into graduate med).

also, there is now a lifetime limit of 7 EFTS (equivalent full-time student) for Student Loans. so if you did your BSc (3yrs) then med, the loan would cover all the years except the last year (3yrs bsc + 4 years of med) (noting that you wouldn't have to do the OLY1 twice)

I'm sure I've read else where on this site that you will be earning in your last couple of years anyway as an intern so you'll be able to pay your student loan that way.
There's always getting a summer job etc so don't worry too much about it.

How hard is it to do "well" (ie mostly A/A+) in 2nd/3rd years?

Is it much more difficult to get the high grades than first year?

Was year 13 more difficult than year 12?
Everything jumps up a notch from year to year so I'm assuming if you have a good study ethic (and i'm sure you do ) you'll be doing awesome regardless of the difficulty of the papers.
And I'm sure you can do some neuroscience papers at AU? I know someone that graduated with biomed hons and is working in Prof Faulls labratory in Grafton (Neuroscience lab).

Enjoy your hols

 

[Cathay]

I'm sure I've read else where on this site that you will be earning in your last couple of years anyway as an intern so you'll be able to pay your student loan that way.

Actually, if I have my facts straight, it's only the last (Trainee Intern) year that has a government stipend, but that's more than the fees of the year so it's fine.

Was year 13 more difficult than year 12?

I don't know if that's quite comparable... Although I haven't "been there, done that" myself so...