They officially start on Monday. Anyone who has been a student — even if many years before — remembers this time of year and the anxiety it induces.
The levels required to make it into med school for first-year health science students outside the ‘‘equity’’ categories are diabolically severe.
The figures for 2023 showed the minimum average mark needed to be offered a place, outside ‘‘equity’’ categories, was on the cusp of A+ at 89.43.
The minimum averages for offers in the other grouping were Bs; Māori 70.29, indigenous Pacific 70.29, socioeconomic equity 70.29, refugee 73.86, and rural 71.59.
The ODT’s student columnist, Hugh Askerud, who appears on the opinion page every second Thursday, is smart and perceptive and well worth reading.
Civis, who has not met him, was impressed by his thoughts this week about the mission of journalists to reflect the collective experience of people in our community.
Civis also took note of his comments during the exams at the end of the first semester.
He referred to football as one of his tiniest things to cling to during the exam season.
Despite the party image, he made the significant point that student life was inherently lonely. It was a time of carving out an identity without the institutional boundaries of school drawing you closer together.
Study is solitary by nature, Mr Askerud (a politics and religious studies student) said. The likelihood of social isolation soared during exams.
* * * * *
Happy birthday tomorrow to United States presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
We naturally think of her as, if not young, at least not old.
Yet, she turns 60. Given modern longevity that’s certainly not ancient. But 60 was a standard New Zealand retirement age a generation or two ago.
It shows how relative everything is. President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump shifted the dial.
President Biden turns 82 next month and Mr Trump is 78. If he beats Ms Harris to the presidency on November 5 he will surpass Mr Biden as the oldest United States president by the end of his term.
At least, Ms Harris will mark, as she said in her debate with Mr Trump, ‘‘generational change’’.
Should she become president, the first woman to hold the office, 34 of the previous 46 presidents would have been younger at inauguration. Two of those 12 older presidents are the last two, Mr Trump at 70 and Mr Biden at 78, the oldest to date.
Presidents must be at least aged 35, and John F. Kennedy was the youngest elected president at 43. The median age is 55.
The lineup since Democrat Mr Kennedy shows, apart from Mr Biden, a general pattern of younger Democrats and older Republicans: Lyndon B. Johnson (D) 55, Richard Nixon (R) 56, Gerald Ford (R) 61, Jimmy Carter (D) 52, Ronald Reagan (R) 69, Geroge H. W. Bush (R) 64, Bill Clinton (D) 46, George W. Bush (R) 54, Barak Obama (D) 47.
Of New Zealand’s 21 prime ministers since Michael Joseph Savage in 1935, only he at 63, and Labour’s Walter Nash at 75 (1957) were 60-plus when elected. Mr Nash holds the record as the oldest.
Jacinda Ardern, at 37 years and 92 days didn’t quite make it as this country’s youngest premier or prime minister. Edward Willam Stafford became premier in 1856 aged 37 years and 40 days.
Perhaps age doesn’t actually matter. As one wit said, Mr Trump might be chronologically aged 78 but he has the maturity of a 13-year-old.
Not fair, someone responded. You’re giving 13-year-olds a bad name.
