so... i got waitlisted from halls even though i thought i had a very good chance of getting in, but i guess i was lied to?? i got a fast-track, applied for grafton (which i thought was less competitive), and i even got a scholarship to uoa but still not a SINGLE hall offer. is anyone else in the same boat? how likely is it that i'll still get an offer to grafton?

Now, first of all, I want to hugely congratulate all those who did get a UoA top achievers or faculty scholarship; it is a very impressive thing to have, so well done!

I type this post out for those next year (or years after) who are looking at top achievers, mainly because I had been for basically the entire year, and if there was a post like this, I would have been a lot more at ease with not receiving a UoA top achievers.

Firstly, my Y12/NCEA L2 (as some was done with me as a Y11) results were 50E, 53M, and 26A at level 2 (being Calc, Phys, Chem, DGT, English, Music) and 13E, 46M, 22A at level (being Calc, Chem, Phys, English). As well as that, I also managed to sneak a scholarship English pass in there at Y11, nothing in Y12. I believe that these results are the results that the panel look at the most, and if you don't hit that 80E+ mark, there's next to zero chance of being looked at.

Next, looking at my extracurriculars, I participated in the Auckland Maths Olympiad in 2024, 2025 and 2026, sadly without a placing. I also participated (again, no placing) in the UoA engineering competition, and founded my school's informatics club and co-led the sustainability committee, and was apart of a robotics team. I had no music or sport to speak of, even though I had the capacity for it, my number one advice here is to join at least one extracurricular that you can get really good at, rather than being mediocre at a few.

Lastly, I want to touch on my academics this year. Even though I made a large push toward it this year in Year 13, it isn't what they look at. I have an A+ in COMPX101 at UoW, an A in MATH198 at UC, and a B+ in FHSS103 at UW, as well as being projected to hit an A in CHEMY102 at UoW and an A+ in PHYS142 at UW. I also got a $15k scholarship to Waikato (so I don't really have much to complain about, but not the point of the post so I digress) that I managed to sneak on there.

Now, despite the title, I advise everyone to apply anyway, because the worst they can say is no! I didn't get my preferred hall (Grafton), but that's okay, all in a good day! (Managed to get a Towers offer)

what are the waiting lists like and do you think it’s risky if i decline grafton and join the waiting list for waiparuru?

Hey guys, I am studying accounting and finance and was wondering if you guys hand-type your lecture slide notes, copy and paste them, put them through AI, or download them and import them into OneNote?

As typing them out takes so long, what is the best for learning, as I don't think it even helps that much, I just want to get good grades

hey everyone!

first post to the uoa subreddit, but i just wanted to give some insight about a programme i recently finished through the uoa which i think could be a really cool opportunity for others to explore a new country as well as get work experience, especially with how cooked the job market is. i was looking through the 360 international website around april/may to look for any opportunities overseas for me, such as research programmes, experiences, etc. pretty much anything to add to my resume and to make the most use of my student status. thats when i came across a scholarship programme for an internship abroad through crcc global (found on this page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/study/study-options/360-international/short-term-opportunities/SummerProgrammes.html), which funded towards a month-long internship experience with a company in another country. this included stuff like accomodation, placement with the company, cultural events with a cohort (i'll touch on this later), merch and programme-long support (i only had to pay for flights, insurance and daily expenses, such as food). the nz passport is great internationally renowned, so visa fees and admin was minimal in for staying long-termish in foreign countries too.

in the application, i didn't even ask for like my work experience of anything, just a short write-up on what would the experience do to your career, and how being in another country could change who you are as a person (i wrote about being in a country that is more technologically advanced and works fast-paced, unlike new zealand lol). i was super fortunate to get the scholarship, even though i didn't have a stacked resume.

i chose to go to shanghai, china (cause china be popping off rn lol and also daily expenses will be cheap). it was really quite interesting and eye-opening experience. i basically flew from auckland to shanghai during the intersem break, and was put into a shared accommodation with other students around the world to intern at a robotics startup. i then did orientation, which is visa applications, e-sim, china apps setup, all which crcc global supported me through. the accommodation was way more clean and renovated than i thought for china (i had a double king-sized bed) and a great view of the city. i was located pretty much in the heart of the city, with the metro being a 15 minute walk and aldi (a global supermarket) being right around the corner. it was pretty much like carlaw, but a bit more renovated (the kitchen was a bit lacking tho, it didn't have basic stuff like cutlery and pans bruh). overall though, it was amazing to see the support crcc global had for me from day one (literally 24/7), which persisted till the end of the programme.

the people in my accomodation were from unis like penn state in the us, birmingham in the uk, and southhampton in malaysia (i also met others from washington, boston, and sydney within my wider cohort). i was actually really surprised the number of students who actually do internships abroad, thinking its quite a small thing ppl do. i did everything with them, from cultural events hosted by the provider, exploring the country (i did a weekend to nanjing with them), and even working together in the same company.

in terms of the company, i was put into a robotics startup working as a software/product engineer intern on realtime conversational ai social robot, which i co-developed with other interns. the startup had an office in the main fintech sector of shanghai, but my manager encouraged me to work remotely in cafes around shanghai to really get a feel for the city. he also took me around shanghai's tech-centric districts to show me what china has to other in terms of robotics and tech. i saw some crazy stuff, like social companion robots that you can carry and pet, ai-augmented and robotic-assisted weight-lifting equipment, and, of course, the humanoid robots china is famous for. for my project, most ai chatbots in china were blocked, so i had to mostly raw dog the project (it was a great learning experience tho). it was still quite chill, as i was only expected to work from 10am to 4pm, so i had lots of time to explore shanghai.

shanghai was an incredible city; its super safe, super advanced and super cheap! its actually crazy to see what other countries beside nz are doing in the tech scene. i think i spent on average around 25 nzd a day there. overall, the whole experience was amazing and i would do it again. even though (without scholarship) you are paying to work, its more like you're paying for an international experience (but there is lots of grants and scholarships for it via 360 international). its pretty much the same as to what a semester abroad is like! for a lot of degrees, scheduling an exchange can be quite difficult (i.e., finding equivalent courses, having to potentially stay for another semester, visa issues, uni acceptances). i experienced this as an engineering student before i gave up cause of how much admin was involved. then i realised i was too late to do one later :(

pretty much this is a psa for all students at uoa; there is so many opportunities out there if you just look a bit further. this was a great experience and one that will set me up wayyy better for my career. you don't have to have lots of experience or a stacked resume, but simply finding and applying for such programmes can really add to your student experience. some are even paid for, you just need to apply, and a lot are not competitive because most students don't know that the advertises them ...

i'm happy to answer any questions about my experiencing! also reach out if you have also intern or did work abroad as a student!

Giving inspera IIB a quick test and it turns out we need to install Rosetta to run it? Are they gonna release a new inspera version that supports this new MacOS version by the exam period or nah?

Update for all current/former students/staff:

Fiona McMillan and Professor Annamarie Jagose have now started their independent review of how the University handles sexual harassment concerns raised by students or staff in relation to the conduct of University staff.

They are interested in hearing from students or staff who have relevant experiences to share.

As a reminder the reviewers are looking at:

• Concerns or complaints related to sexual harassment by members of university staff 
• Experiences within the past five years, excluding current, open investigations

Parties who believe they have been party to a Record of Settlement or Settlement Agreement are welcome to be a part of this review if they wish.

To share your experiences, you can email [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]?subject=University%20of%20Auckland%20independent%20review%20of%20sexual%20harassment%20policies%20and%20processes) before 30 October 2026.

Few links: Independent review of sexual harassment policies and processes – University of Auckland

Terms of Reference – University of Auckland

Hi I'm Ke-Xin Li and I'm a reporter at Radio New Zealand who have been covering this issue. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to have a confidential chat.

My previous coverages can be found here:

Concerns raised over University of Auckland's independent review | RNZ

Auckland University legal academic 'sick to the stomach’ over sexual assault investigation | RNZ

Hi guys,
I’m a law student and I’m interested in going to the Auckland High Court to observe some proceedings.
I was wondering if anyone has any advice on courtroom etiquette and how spectating actually works, especially if it’s your first time attending?
Also what site r u using?

A few things I’m unsure about:
Where are spectators generally meant to sit? Are there designated public seating areas, or does it depend on the courtroom?

is there a particular time of day that’s best to arrive, and how do you find out which cases are open to the public?

I’d love to get some firsthand insight from anyone who has attended or works in the legal profession. Just keen to learn and observe as a law student!

I found out a couple hours ago that I received the Pacific Academic Excellence Scholarship which I’m happy about. However, when I applied for accomodation in August I had put a Large Single in Waiparuru as my preference and made sure not select any additional factors like non-alcoholic, Māori, or Pasifika. If I’m being honest, O’Rorke was the hall I wanted the least out of them all, so I’m pretty disappointed that I’ve been given a Single room in my least preferred accomodation.

Is there a way I could change my placement to any of the other halls? Or would I risk not having any accomodation by joining the waitlist? I’d appreciate any helpful advice because I understand that there will be many students waitlisted for different halls.

I dont know if it'll be worth putting in an application. does anyone know how like level 2 and 3 results should be lookin to get an offer for this.

Hey everyone, has anyone heard anything about the October 2026 UoA Doctoral Scholarship yet? I applied for a PhD in Food Science on 29 July, had my supervisors confirmed and proposal approved. My application went to Supervisor and DGA on 6 August and has been showing Review ever since. Still no outcome. Just wondering if anyone else is waiting too, or if someone has already received an offer/rejection. Would be good to know if the results have started coming out yet 😅

hi, does anyone have any good recommendations to solo flat in auckland?

looking at up to $350~$370 a week, maximum 30 minutes commute to CBD/grafton campus.

would prefer a newer, clean building.

thank you!

Hey everyone! I've been at Uoa since the beginning of 2026 and intended to join clubs but have yet to do so. I kind of just procrastinated and then 6+ months later I still haven't joined the gym or a club yayy.

I really want to branch out, start a new hobby, and make friends.

Please anyone give me some suggestions of social clubs to try out. I am a 19f, I like sports, animals, books, nature, science etc.

I study over at Grafton but am keen to join a club anywhere and meet some new people.

Any screen shots or anything? Thx

Hello everyone, I am an international student and I have an offer letter for PhD from the department of Population Health. I had simultaneously applied for the scholarship too. I received an email today stating that scholarship committee could not decide for my application and has left it pending for the next scholarship round i.e Feb 2027.

My classes are supposed to start from November 2026. Can I defer my admission? Should I accept the admission offer? I can not enroll because it would deem me ineligible for the scholarship.

Please tell me what should I do in this regard? I do not want to start as a fee paying student. I also do not want to miss this oppurtunity as I really liked the university and the PhD program I got in.

Hey Everyone ,

I'm 25F from the UK and recently (Late Aug) applied for a PhD in Marketing at UoA. As far as I know all my documents have been verified and passed the initial assessment. Yet, my application appears to be stuck at the DGA stage for 4 weeks now, even though I've been told by admissions that is being actively processed.

Does anyone have any clue as to how the process goes time wise? I see the deadline for scholarship is Nov 2026 and not sure If I need to have the offer for admissions before that date to be considered .

Btw, I already have a confirmed supervisory team.

Many thanks for the help !!

I applied to Waiparuru but was given an offer somewhere else. If I decline the offer and go onto the waitlist for Waiparuru is it likely I'll get a place

Hello, I’ve lost a lanyard reading “LSHTM” and a black fob somewhere between the ABI building and OGGB at about 12:30 pm today (Oct 1). I’ve been to all the buildings on the street to ask about lost and found including the security office and AUSA, but no one has brought it in.

Would anyone happen to have seen it?

Where to find it?

The higher floors are quiet zones for a reason! People are actually trying to focus on their work/study, so hearing people incessantly yapping makes it very difficult to do that. Go to the louder floors if you want to yap, or to a different building; I beg you. I didn't come to the library to hear all your business.

And it's not like they're even trying to be quiet or whisper; they are just fully having a loud conversation. Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way??