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 direct school-leaver entry to the MBChB
- Auckland 317 domestic places; Otago 312 government-funded (Mar 2025)
- 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: from 2027 Auckland applies a standardised guaranteed entry score of 200 across its undergraduate health programmes (calculated from your best 80 NCEA Level 3 credits), replacing the older BHSc 250 / BSc Biomed 165 figures, 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 Situational Judgement at or above the 10th). Otago BDS does not require it at all. (For 2028 Auckland entry, UCAT-ANZ is replaced by Casper, and GPA drops to a 6.0 threshold with selection split 50/50 between the MMI and 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
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- 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.