Your Journey to
NZ Medical & Dental School
One clear timetable from your NCEA years to an offer — exactly what to do at each stage of the New Zealand pathway, the free tools to use, and how we help you get there.
7
Stages
Free
Tools & guides
1-to-1
Expert support
Auckland + Otago
Both schools
Start with the free stuff
The tools and guides we're known for, tuned for New Zealand — built to slot straight into the roadmap below, no payment needed to get going.
Your Journey to Medical & Dental School in NZ
Eight steps from choosing your path to an offer — built around the New Zealand pathway: HSFY, UCAT-ANZ, the Auckland MMI and the equity schemes. At each one: what to do, a checklist to tick off, the free tools to use, and how we help.
- 1StartStep 1
Decide your path
Medicine or Dentistry?
First, decide which path you're aiming for. Here's how the two careers compare — the whole roadmap below works for both.
Medicine
Become a doctor and make a direct impact on patients' lives through diagnosis, treatment and ongoing care across diverse specialties — in cities, provincial centres and rural Aotearoa.
- MBChB at Auckland or Otago (6 years incl. first year)
- Enter via a gateway first year — no GAMSAT, no direct school-leaver entry
- ~317 domestic places at each school
- House officer → registrar → vocational training (MCNZ registered)
- Strong demand across Aotearoa, especially rural
- Globally recognised qualification
Dentistry
Specialise in oral health, dental surgery and cosmetic procedures with excellent work-life balance and strong private-practice and ownership opportunities.
- BDS at Otago — the only NZ dental school (5 years)
- Enter through Health Sciences First Year (HSFY)
- UCAT-ANZ not required (removed from BDS in 2025)
- Excellent work-life balance
- Strong private-practice & ownership potential
- Mix of clinical, surgical & cosmetic work
- 2Years 11–13Step 2
Foundations
Just Starting Out
What you do
Focus on strong results at NCEA Level 3 (or Cambridge International / IB), especially Biology, Chemistry and Physics — they are strongly recommended for every New Zealand medical pathway. Get your head around how your rank score works: Auckland BHSc needs a rank score of 250+, BSc Biomedical Science 165+ (from your best 80 NCEA Level 3 credits), while Otago HSFY uses standard University Entrance. Start exploring medicine vs dentistry, and the fact that NZ entry runs through a competitive first year.
95%feel more confident after early guidanceTick these off
0/4Free tools & how we help
- 3Any timeStep 3
Build insight
Virtual Work Experience
What you do
New Zealand selection is academic plus UCAT-ANZ plus (at Auckland) the interview — it doesn't score work-experience hours — but real insight is what powers a convincing MMI and a genuine motivation for medicine. Hospital placements are hard to arrange, so step into the role of a doctor or dentist online, then back it up with sustained volunteering and caring roles. Keep concrete reflections to draw on at interview.
Freeinteractive simulation, no placement neededTick these off
0/4Free tools & how we help
- 4JulyStep 4
Admissions test
UCAT-ANZ Preparation
What you do
UCAT-ANZ is the admissions test for New Zealand medicine. Registration opens around March and you sit it once in July, during your gateway first year. It has four sections — Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning and Situational Judgement — but how it is used differs by school. Auckland weights it at 15% of your ranking (aim for the 80th–90th percentile), while Otago MBChB uses it only as a threshold gate (Verbal Reasoning at or above the 20th percentile and SJT above the 10th). Otago BDS does not require it at all. (For 2028 Auckland entry, UCAT-ANZ will be replaced by CASPer.)
85%of our students reach the top percentilesTick these off
0/4Free tools & how we help
- 5Jul–AugStep 5
Application
Applications & Equity Pathways
What you do
New Zealand doesn't use a UCAS-style personal statement — selection is your first-year GPA, your UCAT-ANZ and (at Auckland) your interview. What you do here is apply to each school directly and decide whether an equity pathway fits you. Otago HSFY applications open 1 July and close around 13 August; Auckland runs its own schedule. If you are eligible, MAPAS (Māori & Pacific) and the rural schemes — Auckland's RRAS and Otago's Mirror on Society — give you a separate, dedicated selection pool.
NoUCAS statement — selection is GPA + UCAT + MMITick these off
0/4Free tools & how we help
- 6First yearStep 6
Academics
First Year: Academic Excellence
What you do
Every NZ applicant competes through a full-time first year — Otago's Health Sciences First Year (HSFY) or Auckland's BHSc / BSc Biomed gateway. This is the make-or-break academic year. At Otago you sit seven prescribed papers and your rank is the average of your best seven (the 2026 general offer range was about 93–99; rural ~89–98), and a single paper below 60% can end your bid for that cycle. At Auckland you complete seven gateway courses and need a GPA of at least 6.0 (B+) with no fails to reach the interview stage. Every mark counts.
93–99Otago HSFY general offer range (2026)Tick these off
0/4Free tools & how we help
- 7Sep–OctStep 7
Interviews
Interviews: Secure Your Offer
What you do
At Auckland, eligible applicants are invited to an online MMI run through Kira Talent: 8 stations (7 assessed + 1 admin check), with 30 seconds to read each prompt and 3 minutes to record your video answer. It is worth 25% of your ranking and assesses communication, ethical reasoning, problem-solving, teamwork, self-awareness and social responsibility. Otago MBChB has no interview — selection there is purely academic — while MAPAS applicants also sit a 5-station Specialty Interview. Practise ethics, New Zealand health-system topics and clear, confident communication.
92%offer-success rate after our prepTick these off
0/4Free tools & how we help
- Offer!Offer!
The finish line
Dream University! 🎉
What you do
Congratulations! You've navigated one of the most competitive pathways in the country — a full first year, UCAT-ANZ and, for Auckland, the MMI. Offers into Year 2 medicine (or dentistry at Otago) arrive after selection. All your hard work, dedication and perseverance have paid off — this is the beginning of an incredible new chapter, and we're immensely proud to have been part of your journey.
100%journey complete — welcome to medical or dental schoolTick these off
0/4Free tools & how we help
Not sure where you fit?
Book a 1-to-1 career consultation and we'll map your exact next steps through the New Zealand pathway — or dive straight into our free resources.