5Likes
This thread is for the reference of current/future HSFY students.
Every year we inevitably get asked "what was last year's cutoff to get into Otago med?". In the past we've told people what the cutoff was, but sometimes people have said it's too hard to find where we put this information (FYI it's here: Otago Medicine Entrance Information - Med Students Online), or they've asked how exactly we know the cutoff. We've even been accused of making the cutoff up.
To rectify this, here, in an easy to find location, this article briefly explains what the cutoff was for the last 3 years, and how we know this. (Note this is for general admission into med via HSFY, non-rural, non-Maori/PI).
The first thing you need to know is how to calculate the ranking score - the mark the admissions office uses to rank you for entry into med.
According to the admissions office (Application for Admission to Health Sciences Professional Programmes, Division of Health Sciences, University of Otago) the ranking score is determined by your GPA in HSFY, given a two thirds weighting, and by your UMAT, given a one third weighting, with the 3 UMAT sections weighted 45/45/10. I emailed the admissions office to clarify what they mean by "HSFY GPA", and in response they told me that this refers to your average paper mark across your best 7 papers.
From this we can conclude that the formula for calculating the ranking score is:
(Mark in best paper + mark in 2nd best paper +...+mark in 7th best paper)*2/21 + UMAT S1 mark*0.15 + UMAT S2 mark*0.15 + UMAT S3 mark/30
Put more simply, this is the average of your best 7 paper marks, given a 2/3 weighting, and your weighted UMAT, given a 1/3 weighting. Note that when it comes to UMAT, your mark is used, not your percentile. This means (as you'll see) that it's quite possible for a 50th percentile UMAT (or sometimes even lower) to get you in.
OK, now you have a score. This score will be used to rank you against every HSFY student applying for med, and a cutoff determined. If you score above the cutoff you'll get in. If you score below the cutoff you won't.
Past cutoffs are:
2009
In 2009 one MSO user got waitlisted with a ranking score of 77.2 (HSFY average of 89.1% and weighted UMAT mark of 53.3)
In 2009 one MSO user got straight in with a ranking score of 77.5 (HSFY average of 87.3% and weighted UMAT mark of 58)
Conclusion: The cutoff to get straight into med (i.e. not off the waiting list) was between 77.2 and 77.5. The MSO member who got 77.2 eventually got in via the waitlist, but we don't know what the final cutoff for offers off the waitlist was.
2010
In 2010 one MSO user got waitlisted with a ranking score of 77
In 2010 one MSO user got straight in with a ranking score of 77.4
Conclusion: The cutoff to get straight into med (i.e. not off the waiting list) was between 77 and 77.4.
2011
In 2011 one MSO user got waitlisted with a ranking score of 78.85
In 2011 one MSO user got straight in with a ranking score of 78.92
Conclusion: The cutoff to get straight into med (i.e. not off the waiting list) was between 78.85 and 78.92.
If anyone has further questions about the method we use to determine the cutoff feel free to post them here. If you still doubt the validity of the above cutoffs I am happy to send you a private message detailing who the members above were so you can follow them up for yourself. If you think you know of someone who didn't get in with a ranking score higher than the cutoff above, or who did get in with a ranking score lower than the cutoff, I invite you to say so below.
In the absence of any evidence to the contrary I am confident in saying that the above cutoffs are accurate, and I hope all readers of this thread agree.
greenglacier (on behalf of the MSO members involved in determining these cutoffs)
Not a member yet?
Have a Facebook account?
Originally Posted by cathay808 
