So, what do you need to do to get into med?

The one thing everyone seems to want to know at first is "what marks do I need to get into med?", so I figured I should tackle this question first.

The first thing you should realise is that the competition isn't as epic as some people would make out (though there is still a lot of it). In 2009 there were around 1250 HSFYers at the start of semester 1, dropping to around 1100 shortly into semester 2. There are at least 150 spaces in med for HSFYers (and quite a few spaces in the other professional programmes also). So yeah, maybe 1 in 8 of the HSFYers at the start of the year will get into med (though of course a reasonable number may not want med). Tough, but not nearly as bad as some of the insane figures (such as 1 in 20) that I've heard some people believe to be true.

The approach I would take to getting into med though is not one of sitting in lectures and thinking "I have to outcompete nearly everyone in this room". That'll just stress you out unecessarily, not the least because (believe it or not) not everyone at HSFY lectures is studying HSFY. Around a third of the students in HUBS191 are not HSFY! Rather I reckon you should set a personal goal that'll get you into med, and aim for it, ignoring what everyone else seems to be getting.

So what should that goal be?

Well, firstly you should make sure you know how admission for med works. Basically, for everyone with no mark below 70% in any of the core 7 HSFY papers (otherwise you ain't doing med) a ranking score is calculated by the following formula:

(Mark in your best paper + Mark in your 2nd best paper + ... + Mark in your 7th best paper) x 2/3 + (UMAT Section 1 mark x 0.45 + UMAT Section 2 mark x 0.45 + UMAT Section 3 mark x 0.1)/3

Yeah I know it may look a bit complex at first, but it isn't too bad. Contact me if you need help.

Everyone is then ranked on this score, and those who rank highly enough (with a ranking score above some cutoff) get into med.

So, what is the cutoff?

From what I've heard anecdotally (and thus unreliably) the cutoff tends to be somewhere around 78. I think (though I really don't want to be quoted on this) that someone with a ranking score of at least 80 stands a very good chance of getting into med. Very roughly (note that Otago weights the 3 UMAT sections in an unusual way) a ranking score of 80 is any of the following:

30th percentile UMAT and 97% HSFY paper average
50th percentile UMAT and 95% HSFY paper average
80th percentile UMAT and 92% HSFY paper average
90th percentile UMAT and 90.5% HSFY paper average
95th percentile UMAT and 89% HSFY paper average

Now, this is just to give you an idea of what I think would be "safe". In reality, if you fall below the above you could still get into med (and I know plenty of people who have scored significantly below the above and gotten into med). Also note that the cutoffs are lower for rural and Maori/PI students, along with students getting in off the waitlist (though I'm sure you really don't want to put yourself through the trauma of the waitlist). I'm just giving the above for anyone who likes to set quantifiable and realistic goals for themselves. Once again note that Otago weights the UMAT sections 45/45/10. I reckon this is most likely to decrease your effective UMAT mark, increasing your required average. Once you get a UMAT mark, use the formula yourself to workout what HSFY average you need.

In reality what you should all be doing is trying to do your absolute best in everything throughout HSFY (note that your absolute best does not imply study at every available moment, including saturday nights - for gods sake, give yourself breaks! It'll stop you burning out, and help what study you do become far more effective). It's the annoying answer, but it's also the truth. Aiming for 100% and falling short at something like 93% is far better than aiming for 90%, getting 90%, only to get a low UMAT that means that 90% is no longer high enough.