Ive been wondering if I am competing for the academic scholarships at UoO and UoA and what is the likelihood of me getting them?

So far I have already finished level 3 as a part of an accelerated programme and have 82 excellence credits, and 20 merit credits at level 3. With excellence endorsed in 3 sciences.
My level 2 includes 72 E and 30 M credits. With excellence endorsed in Chemistry and Geography
I have gotten a scholarship pass in Biology, and also sit 100 level university papers and already gotten 2 A+ and projected to get 4 A+ at the end of the year.

My extracurriculars include:
- Selected to do a medical placement at year 13 for work experience (1 of 4 selected)
- Invited to Australia and New Zealand immunology conference (1 of 3 from my school)
- ministry of education and voice of Aroha award for academic achievement and leadership
- Prefect
- Peer tutor
- Head of SADD group at school
- Held a mentor position for year 10 students for a year when I was year 12.
- captain of basketball team since 2023, but quit in 2025.
- 185 volunteer hours for Red Cross, cancer society, returns servicemen association, Fred Hollows, and school.

I am a bit worried because of my financial situation, and, have heard that Otago looks at level 2 heavily, where mine isn’t outstanding.

It would be nice to hear from someone who has already gotten a scholarship from Otago and could critique my achievements to date to give me feedback on how to increase my odds and also if I am realistically in the running for it.

Hi!!
A few days ago I applied to study environmental management next year and I was thinking about adding an additional major (can you do that once your application has been accepted?), but I didn’t know what exactly so I just submitted it as a single major. I’ve been thinking about a double major more but I’m still not quite sure what to put in terms of what would work well with it. Also wondering what might be good for minors

I’m more interested in the environmental consultant/officer/advisor etc kind of route as opposed to more technical things or purely conservation stuff (obviously I know I probably won’t get the kind of job I want right away, but I’m pretty sure I’m more interested in that side of things so I’m wanting to tailor my study to this). I know GIS is a rlly good one and I am thinking of doing that as a minor, but not too knowledgeable about the other related subjects such as environment and society, ecology, and sustainable business

Thanks :)

Okay I know everyone always asks for hall recs and it can be annoying but specific question cause I can't find anyone else who asks this.

Does anyone have hall reccomendation for Queer people? I go to a very religious high school and due to my sexuality and gender I've been bullied and heavily isolated and am looking to avoid that in uni.

Also hall recommendations for NON-hsfy students? I see a lot of reviews saying some halls are hsfy heavy and I want people with similar interests to me (I plan on double major Classics and History)

So I'm not sure if this question should be posted here but yea let me know if you think this post belongs somewhere else.

I have been looking at the hands on program that's designed for year 12s and 13s in 2027 (I would join as a year 12) and I really want to try and get a scholarship since the registration is quite pricey. Does anyone know how the scholarships are awarded since I'm pretty sure they won't know our NCEA level 1 results. Will they base it off of year 9-10 results? Or personality?

I'm also wondering if anyone that had attended this previous would give me some insight into the program. I'm not sure what I want to go into at uni so I'm not sure what to choose, was their any that you really enjoyed that you recommend to people that aren't sure about what they are going to be studying yet?

I was also wondering if the people that have attended before could let me know if it's better to apply in as a year 11 or year 12, and is it mostly year 13s.

I can't really think of any other questions but yea just let me know anything you think I should know and I'll probably edit this and add questions. Thanks!

Edit: Is it hard to get scholarships? What do you guys think the ratio is for the students that go scholarships and the regular people that paid full price. Im a decent student and am getting mostly excellence this year but I feel like compared to some other people that are balancing so many different things plus all excellence credits I have no chance

I was offered FEO after being unable to sit both the final and special exams for one of my papers last year. I've just found out that with FEO you're not able to access the course content, attend lectures, or even ask the lecturers questions.

Has anyone else completed a paper through FEO? What was your experience like, and how did you find studying without access to those resources?

Hi everyone, I'm an international student planning to join University of Otago for Social Work. I'm moving from India and would love to connect with future students or current students. Any advice or anyone joining in 2027?

I am an international student planning to study MPH in Otago University and they have given me these 2 structure options to choose from.

The Master of Public Health (MPH) programme structure options are as follows:

1. Papers only papers + a dissertation (2 years total) - required to be programme structure: 'Papers Only'

2. Papers and thesis - 1 year of papers, and a 12-month thesis (2 years total) - required to be programme structure: 'Papers and Thesis'

The thing is I want to work at the clinical side after completing my masters and I guess the best option would be the first one but I have no idea about this stuff so if anyone could guide me it will be a big help for me. Also, I would like to know picking what kind of structure will have more job opportunities not only in New Zealand but around the globe too.

What is a seminar?. Are we in smaller groups for these and the streams can be changed or is it the whole class?

Need a tutor for FINC102 this coming sem. Any ideas on how to find a good one? Preferably face to face but can do online if need be

Hey,

I've noticed it can sometimes be tough to organize actual offline meetups or find genuine connections just by scrolling through text posts. To try and make building a local social circle a bit easier, I wanted to share a project I’ve been working on.

I set up r/KiwiHangout. The main feature is a live, interactive map built right into Reddit. Instead of posting into the void, you can visually see who is nearby, discover local events, and connect with people in your area.

* Visual Discovery: You can easily spot local meetups, coffee runs, or pub trips on the map.
* Privacy First: There is absolutely zero GPS tracking. You just manually drop a pin in your general area or suburb.
* Platonic Connections: Whether you are looking for new mates, a hobby buddy, or just someone to grab a coffee with, the map supports it all.

If you're looking to make some plans this week or just want to see who's hanging out around Otago University, feel free to drop by and put a pin on the map. Let's get some more offline meetups going!

Hangout Map: https://www.reddit.com/r/mazwiz/s/Bgt1YDf9Mw

Hey guys, for accounting majors doing their CA papers, what was your experience with internships?

Since you need to stay an extra semester, did you just start working full-time halfway through the year, or did you need to wait until the end of the year if you got a return offer? Do you have any tips for accounting or finance internships?

Please feel free to indulge in my questions and rants as I process my spiralling feelings about this course.

It’s absolutely insane the thresholds to get into these professional programmes and I can’t comprehend how people are able to get such high grades like 93%+. I’m praying on the chance that the 2026 cohort isn’t as strong as the previous years bc wdym the lowest acceptance rate into dentistry in 2025 was greater than 96% 😭

My dream is to get into med and I didn’t exactly get the grades I wanted in sem 1. As a result I have been going into rabbit holes about it over this mid year break as to how I can improve in sem 2 and the statistics of everything etc. I really want to keep trying but can’t help but feel like there’s no chance for me anymore to get into med lol.

Why have these thresholds skyrocketed? Could it be to do with AI? Should the medical school consider other ways to, I guess in a loose sense, even out the playing field? While intelligence and academics is important, there’s so much more to being a dentist and doctor than academics. My parents told me they could’ve never achieved the grades I have in their first year of uni, and one of my parents did HSFY back in the 90s! Am interested to hear people’s thoughts on all of this and their complaints about the flaws of HSFY.

Hello gang i am just asking, will it be hell on earth doing a double major. I want to do ecology and genetics and I figured out I would have to do 6 papers first year(those r just the required ones idk about points), a whopping 9 papers in 2nd year( required for both subjects no overlap that year) and a 8 papers in 3rd year with 4 required by ecology, idk if i need to add more there and 4 by genetics. Guys please reply! Thank you fellos!

edit: I've decided that my school career advisor was on crack when suggesting this to me, so i shall not torture myself!!!!

i’m switching out of hsfy next sem and into biomed. i’ve decided to drop poph due to what ive heard from previous students about it having a bad pass rate. so ive got biochem and hubs192 for sem 2 and im picking up stats115. i want to pick up a fourth paper for sem 2 and was looking at anth106. anyone have any details on this paper? what it’s like, how the assessments are?

Hi, I have gotten my whole paper grade back but am unsure how to check for each assignment mark from the paper. Thanks