the ncea is the epitome of 'egalitarianess'.......you either 'achieve' or did 'not achieve'.......and if you achieve, you can get into uni.......

that poses a problem for unis, selecting students into demanding courses......many 'achievers' will NOT cope with courses like medicine, laws........and how on earth are they going to select? (the 3 step grading on 'achieve' in ncea helps a bit, but not adequate in stratifying students.......)

so everybody who achieved and applied, will get accepted.......into a generic 1st year.......then the suitable students are selected to continue into the 2nd years of these courses......the rest will be offered other related courses.......

so you can have 1000 aspiring medical students in 1st year health science.....but only 200 or so will continue into 2nd year medicine.......the others go into allied health fields like pharmacy, physiotherapy, optometry, nursing etc........