Hi @richrayperry

Any school leaver with University Entrance is eligible for First Year Sciences at Otago. However, due to the competitive nature of admission at second year, it is recommended only students with very good high school grades attempt Health Science First Year.

But regarding getting into the second year and more specifically Medicine. Otago admits approximately 282 students into Medicine each year and within that 140 are admitted from first year Health Science. For context each year there are about 2000 applicants from first-year Health Science which is about 7%.

You’re probably asking yourself “what do they take into consideration if it is so competitive?”

The answer is a combination of your Grade Point Average (GPA) in your seven best papers and your UMAT score. It is important to note here that at Otago, your UMAT score counts for a full third of your entry into Medicine. So as a tip for experts I would recommend taking an easy 8th paper in the second semester and working hard on UMAT. This is helpful for actually bumping up your rank score and increase your chances of achieving entry.

In terms of actual hard numbers, Otago doesnt release these publically, but from our data from previous years (2012, 2013, 2014) we can work out that the cutoff Rank Score had ranged from 78.3-78.4 in 2014 to 79.8-9-80 in 2012. The cutoff changes each year but scores these are indicative of what you should be aiming for at a minimum.

I hope this helps!