Secondary school and home-schooled students who want to study at Massey but don't meet standard entry requirements can still apply to be admitted. This is called Discretionary Entrance. You must be a domestic student.

If you've completed Year 12 at secondary school in New Zealand, or its equivalent overseas, and you have a very good academic record, you can apply to be admitted through Discretionary Entrance (DE).

If successful, you'll be admitted to your chosen qualification, not to the university generally. This means if you want to change the qualification you're studying, you will need to apply for DE again.

To apply, you must have:

• achieved a minimum of 72 credits at NCEA Level 2 including 14 credits in each of 4 subjects (3 of which must be approved subjects) with a majority of credits at Merit or Excellence

• achieved Year 12 through another recognised New Zealand curriculum as set in our standard entry requirements

• a personal statement outlining the reasons why you want to study at university

• a statement from your academic adviser – usually your school principal – commenting on your readiness for university study.

This information should be uploaded at the same time as you submit your application. Including this information will ensure that your application process will be completed in a timely manner.

 Fill in the principal or academic adviser's form

Without University Entrance

If you did not pass University Entrance through NCEA or equivalent, there are a couple options for you:

• you can apply for a Certificate of University Preparation in Semester One, then move onto your chosen degree in Semester Two, or

• apply for your chosen degree for the mid-year intake through Discretionary Entrance – admission through DE is not guaranteed.

Starting in Summer School

If you're completing Year 13 at secondary school, you can apply to study with us through the Discretionary Entrance process as soon as you finish school, instead of waiting until the next academic year starts.

Summer School has courses from November to February.

To apply for Summer School Discretionary Entrance, you can contact us or apply online.

Meeting University Entrance standards

If you are admitted to Summer School and want to keep studying with us in the next year, you'll need to meet the normal University Entrance standards.

You'll need to withdraw and re-apply for admission to study in Semester Two if you don't meet the standards – for example, you didn't pass your Year 13 NCEA requirements.

Any courses you passed at Summer School won't be credited towards future study until you meet University Entrance standards.

Study while at secondary school with Accelerate+

Our Accelerate+ programme provides students studying in year 12 or year 13 the opportunity to extend their study by completing university-level courses while at school.

Find out more about Accelerate+

Pre-degree qualifications

Pre-degree qualifications are short courses that will help you get the academic and study skills you may need to qualify for admission to your chosen qualification.

Find out more about pre-degree qualifications