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Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must apply through ACE in their final year at Medical School or for the intake immediately following the completion of their final exams.

To be eligible to apply via ACE for a first year House Officer position graduates must meet one of the following categories:

  1. Have graduated from a New Zealand medical school and hold citizenship or permanent residency of New Zealand or Australia
  2. Have graduated from an Australian medical school and hold citizenship or permanent residency of New Zealand or Australia
  3. Have graduated from a New Zealand medical school and not hold permanent residency of New Zealand or Australia

The ACE Match Algorithm gives priority to Category 1 applicants, then Category 2 applicants and then Category 3 applicants, therefore the chances of obtaining a position through the ACE process are greatest for Category 1 applicants.

Late Start Applicants

Can’t start in Quarter One? ACE accepts applications from graduates who aren’t able to commence at the start of the training year! Simply indicate within your application form and cover letters that you are unable to commence on time and stipulate the date that you are able to commence. Employers will then consider your application alongside other graduates.

Re-Applicants

If you were not successfull with your first application you may be eligible to re-apply provided you meet the following criteria:

  • You are a NZ Medical School graduate and are a NZ or Australian Citizen/Permanent Resident (Category 1)
  • You are re-applying in the intake immediately following their first application
  • You have not held a first year House Officer position previously
  • You have not previously been matched through the ACE process
Re-applicants are encouraged to participate in an "observership programme" for 9 months while they wait for the next ACE intake to open. Re-applicants are also strongly encouraged to update their CV with the detail of activities undertaken in the previous year, as this avoids large gaps in your CV and highlights experiece - life or medicine related - that you may have gained in the interim. 

Deferred Applications

Applicants who choose to defer their first ACE application for a year will only be eligible to apply in the intake immediately following their graduation from the medical school. If unsuccessful in their first application attempt they will no longer meet eligibility criteria to re apply. By not applying via ACE in their final year, these applicants therefore forgo one of their two possible application attempts.

  • I do not meet the eligibility criteria above, what now?

    If you do not meet the ACE Eligibility Criteria as set out above you will not be able to apply via the ACE process and will need to apply during the national annual recruiitment cycle.

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