Hi there! I am a US citizen married to an NZ citizen who is currently doing his own PhD here in the US. I've been thinking about pursuing medicine for a while and have made some steps down that path: I finished my undergrad degree in philosophy in 2013, now work as a research assistant in a neuroscience lab at the university here, was accepted to a pre-med post-bac last spring (which I turned down for financial reasons), and am currently enrolled in science courses at the university where both my husband and I work in order to cobble together a post-bac curriculum on my own for cheap.
However, my husband and I have been talking more and more about moving back to NZ once his degree is finished, since America seems pretty intent on destroying itself. In two years I'll be able to apply for permanent NZ residency, which would obviously qualify me for NZ resident fees for university if I were to try to attend med school there instead of in the US. I know that in NZ medicine is more like an extended undergraduate degree, with the one-year pre-med course before applying for entry into the med program itself, so I don't really know how I would go about pursuing the MBChB as an older student who already has a Bachelor's. (For example, would I still need to complete the science pre-reqs that I'd planned on taking? Would I need to take the MCAT? Do I need to shadow?)
If anyone has anything on that, or even just the most general info about either Auckland or Otago's program (the level of competitiveness, what prerequisites or stats are needed, volunteering, application, etc.) I'd really appreciate it! Again, I'm married to an NZ citizen, eligible for residency, and a "nontraditional student," i.e. not from a science background. I'm currently 25, interested in rural med, and also speak some te reo, if any of those are either disqualifiers or bonuses! Thank you!
However, my husband and I have been talking more and more about moving back to NZ once his degree is finished, since America seems pretty intent on destroying itself. In two years I'll be able to apply for permanent NZ residency, which would obviously qualify me for NZ resident fees for university if I were to try to attend med school there instead of in the US. I know that in NZ medicine is more like an extended undergraduate degree, with the one-year pre-med course before applying for entry into the med program itself, so I don't really know how I would go about pursuing the MBChB as an older student who already has a Bachelor's. (For example, would I still need to complete the science pre-reqs that I'd planned on taking? Would I need to take the MCAT? Do I need to shadow?)
If anyone has anything on that, or even just the most general info about either Auckland or Otago's program (the level of competitiveness, what prerequisites or stats are needed, volunteering, application, etc.) I'd really appreciate it! Again, I'm married to an NZ citizen, eligible for residency, and a "nontraditional student," i.e. not from a science background. I'm currently 25, interested in rural med, and also speak some te reo, if any of those are either disqualifiers or bonuses! Thank you!
