I feel like we’ve reached that the time in the year where you start wanting more helpful information from me as you begin to prepare for external exams, those of you doing NCEA anyway (I am seriously lacking in knowledge on IB and Canebridge sorry!)
The biggest barrier to University and what I would say is the second biggest worry for students is money.
The unavoidable costs of University are astronomical and I promise I am not trying to deter you from attending and pursuing your dream careers because hope is available in the form of scholarships!
Course Fees
Obviously while you are attending University your primary concern will be how to pay for the degree you are intending to study. This is the major hurdle for most students and while it can be put straight onto a student loan, first year course fees are typically $7000-$8000!
Books, resources and what not
Yes your course fees are going to be expensive and whilst they do cover almost everything, some classes have additional textbooks that you are required to purchase. Say hello to extremely heavy and expensive textbooks between $140-$190. Fortunately, you can find most of these books second hand on Facebook, trademe or past students. Another way to save money is by getting a slightly older version of the textbook provided content hasn’t changed much (don’t worry your lecturer will tell you). On top of this some classes have course guides which are basically your bible for the course and absolutely essential.
Accommodation
If you are reading this you are most likely interested in applying for the University of Auckland. Regardless of where you choose to go to University, accommodation is going to be one the biggest choices you make and in most places (especially Auckland)- a huge cost. One of the best decisions I have made was choosing to come live in University Hall one of the residential halls here and is an experience I would strongly recommend it to anyone. Although the benefits greatly outweigh the costs the cost sadly remains at $351 each week which covers washing, accommodation, food, water, power, internet.
But don’t worry just yet there is hope. This hope is in the form of scholarships and trust me a lot of scholarships are available.
What can you do?
Sadly you do actually have to apply for the scholarships in order to get them and they can be quite time consuming. There are so many scholarships out there that there literally multiple applicable to every single person, it just takes time to find them and apply. To make this easier there are different categories and websites you can look on. The best thing you can do is work the hardest you can in year 12, level 2 NCEA or equivalent as this is the results used. Also start making a CV of literally everything you think might put you in favour over another applicant.
I promise you that although it may seem tedious and you may feel like you have no chance, you will be surprised. Someone has to win them, why not you? I was lucky enough to get awarded the University of Auckland Scholarship which is the biggest scholarship available and it has made such a difference, covering course fees, a mentor, $5000 cash and money for two fares home. Like most scholarships this was awarded not on academics alone but also on leadership, sport, cultural activities. At the time I applied for this I was so busy and I almost missed out on submitting my application but now I am so glad I didn’t!
So while it may all seem pointless now, keep on keeping on!
Hey! I’ve been reading your blog monthly and I just wanna say that I am a big fan! I am hoping to pursue a career in the medical field after high school, I’m very curious to know about what made you choose UOA? As I know that Otago University also offers a great course.
Hey thanks, thats so nice of you!
There were quite a few reasons why I chose UOA a few of them being specific to me in the fact that Otago is very far away from my home and flights are expensive, also Im not a fan of the cold!
Other reasons specifically about medicine that made me choose UOA were that at Otago there is no interview process in the application for medicine, but rather I think 40% (may be 35%) of entrance is taken from UMAT, whereas here it is only 15% and 25% based off the interview. If you look at UMAT you will understand what I mean when I say its extremely difficult to study and I know people who had a perfect GPA and didn’t get into med in Otago because they didn’t do particularly well on the UMA. For me personally I feel as though this UMAT was somewhat outside of my control so I chose Auckland.
The final deciding factor for me though was the UOA scholarship, I won one of the major scholarships at Otago but it is not as good as this one which was really the clinching factor. Hope that helps 🙂
Are there many people you know who have decided to not pursue medicine after getting their grade back in semester 1 and what are they going to do now? Are there many Health Science students still trying to get into med? Also what is the gpa that you have around, that you should be aiming for to get in? Also how was UMAT? Sorry for so many questions
Hey don’t worry about it, questions are fine 🙂
Yes there are so many people not pursuing medicine after semester one as it was a brutal semester and in particular our cohort has been scoring very low averages on almost all of our tests as they have all been so difficult.
Some people have changed their courses to conjoint with arts or some have dropped Medsci (our final core paper) and picked a different paper. I have quite a few friends completing the year who will then change courses next year (a few have already changed to nursing).
I think they said at the start of the year you should be aiming for a 7 GPA for normal admission or a 6 for MAPAS or RURAL admission schemes, but this does vary each year depending on the cohort so all I can say is just to try your hardest and not worry about the GPA and how it compares until the end of the year.
UMAT in all honesty was a lot worse than I expected (read this weeks blog and post any more questions about it on there), the worst thing is the time pressure!
Congratulations on being one of our prestigious (school leaver) University of Auckland Scholarship recipients! Scholarship applications are currently open for entry into the 2017 programmes – the application form has been made easier, there are more scholarships available (including encouraging students who face barriers to tertiary education) – and accommodation is an important component! Scholarships also available for Maori and Pacific entrants. Check out our website – it’s really easy to apply and as you say, if you don’t apply… you’ll never know if you could have been successful 🙂
Thank you!
Hey, I love reading your Blogs and they are really helpful. I also want to get into the University Hall so getting a scholarship would really help.
I wanted to know if the University of Auckland Scholarship is still available for current yr 13’s as I couldn’t find it online.
Hey, thanks so much I’m glad you get something out of them.
For sure they are a big help and there are so many out there, just apply for all of the ones you are eligible for even smaller ones in your community etc as you will be so so grateful for it next year.
On the scholarship I am sorry I have no idea, no one has let me know but I also couldn’t find it online when I tried to attach the link for it into this blog?
My suggestion would be to call the University of Auckland student help line and talking to them, I called a few times last year about questions I had and it really helped me. Good luck!
Hey, I love reading your blogs. I’m a year 13 and wanted to know if University of Auckland Scholarship is still available as I couldn’t find it online.
Thanks
Hey please refer to my below comment (someone asked a similar question)
I am unsure on this matter and I haven’t heard anything but I would suggest just calling the University scholarship or student help line 🙂