31 July 2023
By email:
[FYI request #23336 email]
Kia ora Benjamin
I refer to your information request dated 30 June 2023 made under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act). You have requested:
“Can you please provide the following information:
1.
The minimum average academic mark to receive an offer from the waitlist into the MB
ChB program for the program commencing in 2020-2023 (under the HSFY general
category).
2.
Clarification regarding UCAT scores for admission into the MB ChB program under the
general category, and if exemptions are made to these thresholds.
Further to point (2), information from a previous request regarding the minimum accepted
score for each section of the UCAT [Pearce OIA Response 26 Jan 23] the provided response
mentioned that the minimum score in Verbal reasoning and situational judgement was: 520,
and 479 respectively. These scores according to the official test statistics for the UCAT ANZ
2021 [www.ucat.edu.au/results/test-statistics] are in the top 80% (rather than top 20%) for
verbal reasoning and top 90% (rather than top 10%) for situational judgement. Please clarify
whether this response was an error.”
Please see below the information you have requested.
1.
The minimum average academic mark to receive an offer from the waitlist into the MB ChB
program for the program commencing in 2020-2023 (under the HSFY general category).
The University of Otago’s reporting data primarily provides the ultimate status of an
application i.e approved or rejected and therefore we are unable to provide, with certainty,
data regarding waitlisted candidates. However, with regard to the minimum score of
applicants who received offers to the MB ChB programme via the HSFY General category entry
provided below, each of these applicants received these offers later than the initial release
date of mid-December which suggests that they would have been previously waitlisted.
Minimum score to receive an offer under the HSFY General category to the
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB) programme
2019
80.96
2020
92.71
2021
95.14
2022
93.00
2023
89.43
2.
Clarification regarding UCAT scores for admission into the MB ChB program under the
general category, and if exemptions are made to these thresholds.
The information provided in our response to the request you have referenced was correct. Please
note that the
20th percentile is not that same as the
top 20%. The UCAT thresholds for admission to
the 2022 MB ChB programme via the General category were at or above the 20th percentile for
Verbal Reasoning and Situational Judgement, which includes the top 80% of scores, which according
to the UCAT data was scores 520 or higher.
No exemptions are made for individual UCAT scores as applicants must meet the threshold in order
to be considered for admission where the thresholds are applied. However, the Medical Admissions
Committee may from time to time decide not to apply the UCAT thresholds to entire categories.
I trust that this information will be helpful.
If you are not satisfied with our response to your information request, section 28(3) of the Act
provides you with the right to ask an Ombudsman to investigate and review this response. However,
we would welcome the opportunity to discuss any concerns with you first.
Ngā mihi
Jenny Shaw
Official Information and Compliance Coordinator
Office of the Registrar
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