Should I Study at Auckland or Otago University for First Year? (As a Pathway Into Medicine)

If you are in Year 13, and have decided not to apply to study medicine in Australia, you need to make a decision on whether to study First Year at Auckland or Otago University.

Most people make a decision on which university to study at based on word of mouth, after talking to a few people or friends. That is not a scientific or rational way of making such an important decision.

If you want to make a decision based on word of mouth, then you should speak to a representative sample of at least 20 people who have completed First Year at each university (Auckland and Otago). Most people do not, cannot or are unable to do this.

While you may not find a definitive answer to the question in this blog, you will be able to make a far better, more rational decision by considering the following factors:

• Personal factors: distance from home, weather, city vs small town atmosphere, cost of living

• Are you likely to perform better in interviews compared to other candidates? (weighted at 25% at Auckland and 0% at Otago)

• Are you likely to perform better at UCAT compared to other candidates? (weighted at 15% at Auckland and minimum threshold requirement at Otago)

• Auckland has two degree options (HSc or BioMed) while Otago has only one option (HSFY)

• The subjects you can and want to take at each of the universities, and whether they match your interests and strengths. It is generally advisable to choose a course/papers which are likely to give you a higher GPA.

• The extent of competition for medicine at the two universities (you can partly estimate this by assessing the number of places in medicine vs the number of people studying First year and hoping to transfer into medicine)

• Which university has lower entry requirements for entry into First Year: a lower required score means the cohort is less competitive, so your GPA is likely to be higher during First Year. For example, when deciding whether to pursue Health Sciences or Biomedicine at Auckland university, Health Sciences may be better because of the lower entry requirements, which means the cohort is likely to be less competitive.

• Number of core papers required to be completed at each University.

• Backup options: some students who are not successful after first year, repeat Year 1 again at the other university and try again. Does the university you are considering let you do this?

Note that university rankings or placements/clinical experience should not be an important factor to consider, since a medical degree from either university will give you a licence to practice medicine.

We recommend that you make a well informed decision, rather than one based on word-of-mouth.

Good luck in your decision!

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