ATAR <95 is... No (2 Viewers)

[tokyocalling]

Hi!

I literally got this account earlier today to discuss this topic (you can probably tell from the title). My friend and i were discussing ATAR and what we want at the end of this highschool journey and we both kinda came to the same conclusion: anything below a 95 atar is low key ...meh. Like with scaling and moderation, if you put the work in there is no reason that you should not be able to get an 80 in all your exams. We were talking about our own goals and i can't bear to imagine getting below a 98.5, like it would be so sad and disheartening that after all that work it was just that, my parents would also disown me lmaoooooooo. That aside even 98.5 feels low. I desperately was above a 99.5 and am studying for that too.

What are your thought? Has anyone felt the same?

 

[#RoadTo31Atar]

Anything below 99.95 is bad, I'm aiming for 99.96. If I don't get it the world will end probably.

 

[tokyocalling]

Anything below 99.95 is bad, I'm aiming for 99.96. If I don't get it the world will end probably.

lmao i wasn't being sarcastic. I guess it must be a top 5 selective school mentality thing

 

[jazz519]

I’m someone who achieved a high ATAR and still wanted an ATAR that was higher than what I got as I was aiming for 99.95

However, you need to understand the atar is just a way to get into uni. If you get a 99 atar and do a course with 91 atar entry and another person gets a 92 atar and gets in the course then the job is done. Doesn’t matter a few years down the line as no one is going to care about it as then your uni marks will be what’s important and your experience.

Higher ATARs are only useful for like 2 things:
- you want to get into something like medicine
- you want to get scholarships

I used my ATAR to get a couple scholarships and that was basically the only benefit of it as I did a course with an atar like 4-5 points lower than what i got

Everyone has different goals for atar which are based on what uni course they want to do as well as past performance. If you only need an 85 atar for the course then there’s nothing extra you get for getting a 95 atar, so in that case there’s nothing wrong with studying a bit less and enjoying year 12 a bit more if you know you don’t need such a high atar

 

[jazz519]

Just adding on one thing for any future students thinking that a high ATAR means a scholarship based on what I said. It doesn't always equal scholarships as some of my friends got 99s and didn't get any

You also will have to have some other stuff you can talk about such as extracurriculars, significant projects or some valuable experience. As basically you get asked maybe 1 question on your marks and the rest is all that other stuff

 

[tokyocalling]

I’m someone who achieved high ATAR and still wanted an ATAR that was higher than what I got as I was aiming for 99.95

However, you need to understand the atar is just a way to get into uni. If you get a 99 atar and do a course with 91 atar entry and another person gets a 92 atar and gets in the course then the job is done. Doesn’t matter a few years down the line as no one is going to care about as then your uni marks will be what’s important and your experience.

Higher ATARs are only useful for like 2 things:
- you want to get into something like medicine
- you want to get scholarships

I used my ATAR to get a couple scholarships and that was basically the only benefit of it as I did a course with an atar like 4-5 points lower than what i got

Everyone has different goals for atar which are based on what uni course they want to do as well as past performance. If you only need an 85 atar for the course then there’s nothing extra you get for getting a 95 atar, so in that case there’s nothing wrong with studying a bit less and enjoying year 12 a bit more if you know you don’t need such a high atar

I completely understand where you're coming from. With out a doubt work as hard as you need to, but i think what i was getting at is that 'this is it!' mentality, i don't want a high atar for a course that i want to get in to, but rather for myself- like i did everything i possibly could to achieve the highest i possibly could to end this chapter where i wanted it to be. It doesn't help that every year literally a line of people get up in front of the school with 99.95 atars followed by alot of other people with 99+ loll. Although now a bit late, nonetheless congratulations for your result!

 

[jazz519]

I completely understand where you're coming from. With out a doubt work as hard as you need to, but i think what i was getting at is that 'this is it!' mentality, i don't want a high atar for a course that i want to get in to, but rather for myself- like i did everything i possibly could to achieve the highest i possibly could to end this chapter where i wanted it to be. It doesn't help that every year literally a line of people get up in front of the school with 99.95 atars followed by alot of other people with 99+ loll. Although now a bit late, nonetheless congratulations for your result!

Yeah I get where you are coming from it is more on the side of being competitive and wanting to push yourself. Some people can handle it and go for those things as they are academically gifted and able to dedicate themselves to studying a lot, which in that case yeah go for it. The "this is it!" mentality is fair enough given at this stage in your life this is the most significant thing for most people completing their HSC and getting a certain ATAR, as well as the amount of emphasis placed on HSC by parents, teachers and peers, so yeah it's good to be ambitious. Best of luck to you and hope you achieve your goal!

 

[Xanthi]

I’m someone who achieved a high ATAR and still wanted an ATAR that was higher than what I got as I was aiming for 99.95

However, you need to understand the atar is just a way to get into uni. If you get a 99 atar and do a course with 91 atar entry and another person gets a 92 atar and gets in the course then the job is done. Doesn’t matter a few years down the line as no one is going to care about it as then your uni marks will be what’s important and your experience.

Higher ATARs are only useful for like 2 things:
- you want to get into something like medicine
- you want to get scholarships

I used my ATAR to get a couple scholarships and that was basically the only benefit of it as I did a course with an atar like 4-5 points lower than what i got

Everyone has different goals for atar which are based on what uni course they want to do as well as past performance. If you only need an 85 atar for the course then there’s nothing extra you get for getting a 95 atar, so in that case there’s nothing wrong with studying a bit less and enjoying year 12 a bit more if you know you don’t need such a high atar

Agree very much.

Unfortunate situation is academic scholarships are so much above many course cutoffs that just missing out will feel bad. E.g 99.90 required for most academic scholarships and many course cutoffs are 90. It wouldn't feel very good to get 99.85 in such a situation if a student worked very hard to try to get it, even though it is objectively a good atar.

 

[tokyocalling]

Agree very much.

Unfortunate situation is academic scholarships are so much above many course cutoffs that just missing out will feel bad. E.g 99.90 required for most academic scholarships and many course cutoffs are 90. It wouldn't feel very good to get 99.85 in such a situation if a student worked very hard to try to get it, even though it is objectively a good atar.

I guess all we can really do is try our very best.

 

[jazz519]

Agree very much.

Unfortunate situation is academic scholarships are so much above many course cutoffs that just missing out will feel bad. E.g 99.90 required for most scholarships and many course cutoffs are 90. It wouldn't feel very good to get 99.85 in such a situation if a student worked very hard to try to get it, even though it is objectively a good atar.

Where you say a 99.90 ATAR is required for most scholarships isn't actually true. I got offered 3 different scholarships and didn't get that.

There are a few (very few) scholarships automatically awarded for non-medicine degrees if you get that, but there heaps and heaps of scholarships for other ATAR levels and things.

There's Coop scholarships which just need a min of 96 and then it's all about your other skills, which pay like 15k+ per year (which is more than the 99.90 ATAR scholarship).

There are all rounder scholarships which just look for a decent ATAR like 95 and then they go into your leadership skills and stuff, sports scholarships, scholarships for people who are from disadvantaged backgrounds, scholarships for certain groups like women in engineering and probably hundreds more

I volunteered in the scholarship office for UNSW on the open day before and the thing that the people who award the scholarships said is they literally just check does the person meet the ATAR cut off for the scholarship. Then after that the only thing that matters is the application and what the person wrote in it

 

[Xanthi]

I guess all we can really do is try our very best.

Yes, good luck!

 

[Xanthi]

Where you say a 99.90 ATAR is required for most scholarships isn't actually true. I got offered 3 different scholarships and didn't get that.

There are a few (very few) scholarships automatically awarded for non-medicine degrees if you get that, but there heaps and heaps of scholarships for other ATAR levels and things.

There's Coop scholarships which just need a min of 96 and then it's all about your other skills, which pay like 15k+ per year (which is more than the 99.90 ATAR scholarship).

There are all rounder scholarships which just look for a decent ATAR like 95 and then they go into your leadership skills and stuff, sports scholarships, scholarships for people who are from disadvantaged backgrounds, scholarships for certain groups like women in engineering and probably hundreds more

I volunteered in the scholarship office for UNSW on the open day before and the thing that the people who award the scholarships said is they literally just check does the person meet the ATAR cut off for the scholarship. Then after that the only thing that matters is the application and what the person wrote in it

Yeah you are right. The co-op scholarships are great but limited to the business side of things I believe. There's usually one general scholarship per university but they're usually focused on having many many extracurriculars

 

[Xanthi]

Yeah you are right. The co-op scholarships are great but limited to the business side of things I believe. There's usually one general scholarship per university but they're usually focused on having many many extracurriculars

Having said that, you got awarded the scholarships, so obviously there has to be a decent amount and you know a lot more than I do.

Well done on getting them though!

 

[jazz519]

Yeah you are right. The co-op scholarships are great but limited to the business side of things I believe. There's usually one general scholarship per university but they're usually focused on having many many extracurriculars

Probably depends on the uni as well, but UNSW has so many you can't count them. There's also some engineering based scholarships, but less than other degrees as it's already a very high in demand degree. There's quite a few in terms of science as they want people to join but yeah just have to look around a bit and then when you get to uni you can also get some scholarships in terms of research projects for a few degrees as well and overall there are a lot of prizes if you are able to rank 1st in a subject at uni

 

[exojun]

mhmm this is interesting. The degree i want needs a high 99 in most cases so i kind of get where youre coming from. let's get that bread!

 

[beetree1]

lmao i wasn't being sarcastic. I guess it must be a top 5 selective school mentality thing

I come from a top5 selective too. I totally understand where you are coming from, I cant bear to imagine telling my asian relatives that I got a 96 atar like........ they'll just be like oh you got into a top selective school for nothing lol! And also just IMAGINE someone googling your name for the HSC honour roll and it comes up with nothing LIKE

 

[tokyocalling]

I come from a top5 selective too. I totally understand where you are coming from, I cant bear to imagine telling my asian relatives that I got a 96 atar like........ they'll just be like oh you got into a top selective school for nothing lol! And also just IMAGINE someone googling your name for the HSC honour roll and it comes up with nothing LIKE

this!!!!!! you get it!!!!! I can already see my relatives looking at me like a broken rice cooker if i told them i got a 96 - so useless lol. All my cousins went to top selective schools and have graduated with 98.5-99.9 atars. This is such a stupid thing to care about but oh well

 

[beetree1]

this!!!!!! you get it!!!!! this is such a stupid thing to care about but oh well

Literally LOL but i have no choice, I think my parents would disown me too x

 

[tokyocalling]

Literally LOL but i have no choice, I think my parents would disown me too x

welcome to the club hehe

 

[Drdusk]

I come from a top5 selective too. I totally understand where you are coming from, I cant bear to imagine telling my asian relatives that I got a 96 atar like........ they'll just be like oh you got into a top selective school for nothing lol! And also just IMAGINE someone googling your name for the HSC honour roll and it comes up with nothing LIKE

this!!!!!! you get it!!!!! I can already see my relatives looking at me like a broken rice cooker if i told them i got a 96 - so useless lol. All my cousins went to top selective schools and have graduated with 98.5-99.9 atars. This is such a stupid thing to care about but oh well

Tbh this was my parents view as well but I had learnt when I was very young not to give a dam about others opinions on you. So I never cared what my parents or relatives thought of my atar.

Strive for your best! Striving completely for something other want from you can lead to disappointment and is not healthy imo.