University of Auckland Top Achiever Scholarships

In the application form you will  will be asked to tell us about you and your recent education and extracurricular activities. This will include:

• Whether you have participated in Māori performing arts
• Whether you competed in the finals of academic, sporting or arts competitions
• Whether you held senior leadership positions at school
• If you have been awarded a community-based honour or attended leadership training or personal development programmes

Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland acknowledges that some talented students may face significant barriers to tertiary education and takes into account if you:

• are the first in your family to attend university
• are from a refugee background
• have a disability
• have care responsibilities for whānau
• if you live, or attend school or kura, in a rural area
• if you have demonstrated financial need

You can find more information in the regulations, or on the Am I eligible? page.

Remember to save your application as you go, and once all sections are 100% completed you can submit your application.

How are my academic results assessed?

We look at the number of Excellence credits you attained at NCEA Level 2 or 3 last year, or your CIE average from last year, or your predicted score for IB for this year.

When do I hear about my scholarship application?

• All applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application in early October. This will be sent to the email address used in your application form.
• This email will be the outcome of all your applications if you applied for more than one scholarship (one or more of the Top Achiever Scholarship,  Academic Potential Scholarship - School Leavers, Māori Academic Excellence Scholarship, Pacific Academic Excellence Scholarship, Vaka Moana Scholarship, or Waka Moana Scholarship). The Review Committee has considered you for each of these Scholarships.

• If you are awarded a scholarship, you will be given a date to accept your offer by. This is to allow for certificates to be prepared for school prize-givings.
• You may be offered a different scholarship to the one(s) you applied for. This is because there are scholarships that all eligible applicants for a Top Achiever Scholarship are considered for as well as the Top Achiever Scholarship. These might be specific to a faculty or subject area, or may be a University of Auckland 140th Anniversary Academic Scholarship or a University of Auckland 140th Anniversary Kupenga Rau Māori and Pacific Scholarship.
  
• All offers are conditional on awardees meeting the requirements to take up and be paid the Scholarship following entry to the University.
  
• Applicants offered a scholarship will be sent a link to an online acceptance form and a date to accept the scholarship by.
• You will be asked to indicate which semester you intend to begin your studies i.e. Semester One or Two 2025.
  
• By accepting the Scholarship, you are confirming you understand and accept the entry requirements and conditions of the Scholarship outlined in the regulations.
  
• If you are weighing up offers from more than one university, let us know your decision as soon as you can. You can always accept the offer and then let us know if you have changed your mind later.
  

Accomodation offer

Accommodation offers will be made within the Accommodation Portal and will confirm the Hall of Residence you have been offered.

To accept the offer:

• Log into the Accommodation Portal.
• Click onto the offer link displayed on your homepage.
• Click on Save and Continue and you will be taken to your Residential Agreement.
  
• Review the Residential Agreement, and tick both boxes as the bottom of the agreement, to indicate you have read and understood all the terms and conditions of the agreement. Click Accept and Continue.
• If you are currently under the age of 18, you will need a parent or guardian to first co-accept the Residential Agreement before you will be able to do the same.
  
• As your Scholarship covers the deposit and administration fee, you can then close out of the portal.
  
• A copy of the Residential Agreement will be sent to your email address.

What happens if I don't respond to the scholarship offer in time?

If you don't accept your offer or make contact with the Scholarships Office, your offer will be forfeited and the Scholarship may be reallocated. There are no extensions to the acceptance deadline, please make sure you accept or decline your offer by the due date.

I have applied to places/universities overseas and I haven't heard back yet - can I get an extension of the acceptance date?

There are no extensions to the acceptance/decline date. Please respond to your offer from us as soon as you can – and before the closing date. If you receive an international offer at a later date and do not intend to start with us, please let us know as soon as possible.

If I later decide to not take up the Scholarship, am I still required to stay in accommodation?

No, if you later decline your scholarship offer, you will not be required to stay in accommodation. You must also withdraw from your accommodation contract.

I've been offered a scholarship but don't want to stay in accommodation - what do I do?

A place in catered accommodation is a key part of many of our scholarship offers. We can consider waiving the requirement to stay in accommodation under certain medical conditions. If you think this applies to you please let us know.

Being paid your scholarship

To be paid your scholarship you will need to

• achieve admission to Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland with an NCEA rank score of at least 270, a CIE rank score of at least 330 or an IB score of at least 36¹
• enrol full-time in an undergraduate degree or Certificate in Health Sciences²
• live in a University hall of residence (unless you hold an approved exemption)
• enter your bank account details into the Personal Bank Account section in Student Services Online. You will need to be enrolled in your first semester courses to be able to access this. To avoid any delays in your payment, make sure this is done before the start of your first semester of study. This must be a New Zealand bank account.
  

¹ If you are directed to enrol in a Tertiary Foundation Certificate (TFC) or a Certificate in Health Sciences prior to enrolling in an undergraduate degree, the Scholarships Office will discuss your scholarship with you before the start of your first semester of study.

You can start your enrolment in Semester One or Two. If you are planning to start in Semester Two we recommend you seek enrolment advice before the start of Semester One as you may not be able to start all programmes in Semester Two.

² For the purposes of this Scholarship, full-time study is considered as enrolling in at least 100 points over two semesters in one year (Semesters One and Two). Any study undertaken as part of a Summer Start programme will not be counted towards the first 100 points of undergraduate study. Read more on how many courses to enrol in.

Living in a hall of residence

Your accommodation payments will be made directly from the Scholarships Office to your hall of residence, and includes the deposit. Additional costs such as extra activities (hall ball, floor/hall outings), incidentals (damage, lockouts, key replacement) or parking is not covered by the scholarship.

Please note, we do not recommend moving into accommodation unless you intend to enrol full-time at the University of Auckland otherwise you will be required to cover the costs of accommodation.

When do I get paid the $5,000 part of my scholarship?

• In addition to your accommodation being covered, you will be paid $2,500 in each of your first two semesters of study, after enrolment has closed each semester, usually in the fourth week of semester.

What can I spend the lump sum instalments on?

• You can only use these payments to cover study related costs such as tuition fees, books for study, additional hall of residence costs not already covered by the scholarship, travel to and from university etc or to support your living costs while you are studying.
  
• If you use the scholarship payments for items not directly related to your study, you might breach the terms of your tax-free scholarship. This could result in your scholarship being cancelled, and you might need to repay the scholarship.
• If you are in any doubt about what you can use these payments for, please ask at scholarships@auckland.ac.nz.  

What happens if I don't meet the scholarship entry requirements, will I lose the scholarship?

When your Year 13 results become available in January, the Scholarships Office will check to make sure you have met the requirements for eligibility to take up the Scholarship. If the University has advised you to undertake and apply for a pathway programme such as the Tertiary Foundation Certificate or a Certificate in Health Sciences prior to commencing your undergraduate degree at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, you may still be eligible to hold the Scholarship in 2025.

Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland entry-level scholarships are designed to provide support to exceptional students during their studies towards an undergraduate degree at this University. We intend to award our scholarships to students who are committed to studying with us.

The University reserves the right to seek repayment of funds made under this Scholarship from students who:

• withdraw from enrolment after payments have been made, or 
• transfer to at another tertiary institution without completing at least four consecutive semesters of study at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.

What do I need to do to keep my scholarship for the second semester?

To remain in accommodation and receive the second instalment of your scholarship you must

• acheive a grade point average (GPA) of at least 6.00 in your Semester One courses
• enrol full-time in Semester Two