NEW ZEALANDERS---REAd!!!!!!!!...

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woooo

well
for auckalnd-
auckland uni is good to study medical sciences, and there is an auckalnd hospital that is kind of near, that has a psychiatry unit. 6 years of study in auckland.

wellington-
there is otago uni, and they have a wellington hospital wich also has psucahitry unit. same 6 years or study or even more.

in my opinion, it is easier to get the degree in wellington because in auckland there are a lot of people competing to get the degree who get like straight a's. and there is a better chance getting into a wellington uni.

but wellington is mostly focused on government buildings and such, so there are less hospitals or/and asylums.

so yeah.

MCK

Auckland is much bigger than wellington, but wellington is gorgeous. They are both equally great cities and have about the same available opportunities, but you should visit both and make the decision for yourself. It is pretty difficult to get the type of job that you are looking for if you are not a citizen though. Auckland and Wellington are only a nine and a half hour drive from each other lol.

willd

I'm a university-trained New Zealander although unfortunately for you, I don't at all have a background in any of the areas of study that you're interested in.

That said, have a look at the link provided which could be a starting point for you. The University of Otago is our leading university in the area of medical training. My understanding is that you would need to complete a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery before entering the psychiatry field anyway? In other words, you would qualify as a medical doctor, and then branch off into the specialist field of psychiatry?

You would need to contact the university for clarification on this point, especially as an overseas student. Possible wait lists, minimum entry requirements, transferring grades, and assessing equivalencies in terms of credits earned overseas can be a long and drawn out process. That said, if qualifying as a medical doctor is what you have to do first, then the University of Otago has the best reputation when it comes to the study of medicine.

Otago University's main campus is actually located in the South Island of New Zealand, although they do have a satellite (outreach) campus located in Wellington which caters for medical and health sciences. Have a look at http://www.otago.ac.nz/wsmhs/

Wellington's "flagship" university is in fact Victoria University - http://www.vuw.ac.nz - however Victoria only offers courses in psychology and does not offer anything at all in the way of medical training, although I guess there's no reason why you couldn't take a few science/psychology courses which you could then use as credit towards "Med School" ....? I should mention that Victoria actually offers Biomedical Science courses which would be the closest you would get to Otago University's medical school. You can have a look at Victoria's programme here: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/home/study/undergrad/bachbiomedicalscience.aspx

I also had a look on Google, and it actually looks like our biggest university (The University of Auckland) has excellent academic programmes dealing with psychiatry also, although what I found was related to postgraduate study only.

For Auckland, take a look at:
http://www.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/faculty/postgrad/subjects/psychiatry.aspx

Of course, I wouldn't take my advice as a given, and I would recommend that you contact a Programme Director, Liaison Officer or Student Advisor within the relevant departments or faculties. In your case, perhaps a first point of contact might be the Auckland or Otago Interrnational Office? You can navigate to their respective international sections from either http://www.otago.ac.nz (Otago) or http://www.auckland.ac.nz (Auckland).

In terms of living, I think Wellington is the better city to live in since Auckland reminds me of somewhere like Sydney in Australia (i.e. too big). Wellington is smaller, compact, easier to navigate, and has better public transport. It's going to be a personal preference thing, and will depend on which of these universities suits your needs best.

If you became suitably qualified, then I'm sure both Auckland and Wellington would have excellent prospects for psychiatrists, since there's always a shortage of appropriately qualified medical professionals here (the same as most places I guess).

Auckland is the biggest city though, so perhaps there'd be a greater demand there, although I'd only be guessing?

Good luck!

atlantisflicka

I suggest you also look at Palmerston North and Dunedin, both fabulous student cities that have much more reasonable living costs but a great social life.

Massey University in Palmerston North has one of the most beautiful campuses around and University of Otago also has a great reputation.

After completing your degree you can them move to the big smoke to earn the big bucks.

much2muchcoffee

Once you qualify you could try to get a job counselling the All Blacks regarding how they still haven't been able to win the WoRLD cUP AGAIN

Christopher Robin

When I studied psychology about 15 years ago, I had heard Auckland had a better reputation. Whether it was well founded or not I can't say. I think it will mostly depend on the size of the city where you want to live. Where are you coming from at the moment. Don't forget that Wellington only has about 200 thousand. If I can remmeber it's extremely difficult to get into clinical psychology (postgrad) so it may be that you may not have a choice at the end of the day.

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