Questions on co-op (2 Viewers)

v-something

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i've done some research on the co-op scholarship, and got a few questions here.

1. In this year's application there are like eight big questions with around 800-1000 words limit each. Is this same as previous years? How many words should i actually write?

2. when do i get to know if i get the offer with condition? Very soon after the interview? Am i notified as well if i'm on the shortlist or failed?

3. I'm involved in many activities, but not a lot. Also i'm not a prefect nor SRC and i don't play sports. So i'm worried that my activities wont be that competitive.

4. I heard that there are many candidates can't meet the atar requirement in the end. So would a 98-99 atar be an advantage?

5. How long is the interview? What kind of questions do they tend to ask?

6. I'm considering actuarial studies and chemical engineering. I know it's competitive in all the courses, but which one of the two do you think is easier to get the scholarship? (I assumed chemical eng will be easier since its normal atar cut-off is only 91something while it's 98 for actuarial.)

7. Are there any other scholarships or cadetships that you would recommend in terms of the financial help and opportunities it offers?


..well, i guess its not 'a few' questions here but any answer or help will be much appreciated. :D
 

Trans4M

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I didn't apply for Co-op but I can answer a few questions.

1. It's not about the quantity but quality of the response. Generally it's better to write less. They tend to like to read more concise responses. That said you don't want to be writing just 100 words if there is like 1000 words to write. If you wrote everything down that is relevant and it's only 500 words, that is fine.

3. If it's like any other applications, there is not one ideal student they are looking for. Even if your activities are not leadership/sports related, put them down. It might be interesting to some companies behind the scholarship. It's always important to be yourself.

7. What degree are you looking at? I know the big 4 accounting firms are offering cadetship. Not sure if you are interested. If you are best to check if that the due date is not over.

As for the other questions, I can't really help sorry.
 

motaba

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I'm also applying, but i think it's a character limit, not the word limit. i.e. every letter and space counts as one character, so that's only about 150 words roughly.
 

v-something

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Thanks, it really helps a lot. I'll definetly go check the cadetship. :D
 

ismeta

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I'm doing co op, hopefully I can help a bit. :)

1. In this year's application there are like eight big questions with around 800-1000 words limit each. Is this same as previous years? How many words should i actually write?
Wow, that's different from my year when it was a bunch of little questions with 750 - 1000 character limits each. I would probably try to get within 100/200 words of the limit, but only if I had enough to talk about - waffling wouldn't go very far. :( So try and fit as much as you can in, but don't make it waffle on.

2. when do i get to know if i get the offer with condition? Very soon after the interview? Am i notified as well if i'm on the shortlist or failed?
I'm not sure when it is for this year, but when I did it the offer was made about a week or two before HSC results came out. You'll get it on the site, and similarly if you're on the shortlist/not extended an offer then you'll see that on the site too.

3. I'm involved in many activities, but not a lot. Also i'm not a prefect nor SRC and i don't play sports. So i'm worried that my activities wont be that competitive.
Mmm, not a lot you can do about that now! But not to worry - I didn't have any leadership things to talk about, nor sports. My achievements were mostly academic, but it seems they were okay with me anyway!

4. I heard that there are many candidates can't meet the atar requirement in the end. So would a 98-99 atar be an advantage?
Not really. At least, I don't think so. Given that the offers come out before the ATARs, the only thing you really need a high ATAR for is for actually being able to accept the co op offer.

5. How long is the interview? What kind of questions do they tend to ask?
I don't remember, sorry. But the questions they ask are very close to those they ask on the application form, so make sure you know what you wrote on that! Also read up on the co op companies.

6. I'm considering actuarial studies and chemical engineering. I know it's competitive in all the courses, but which one of the two do you think is easier to get the scholarship? (I assumed chemical eng will be easier since its normal atar cut-off is only 91something while it's 98 for actuarial.)
I couldn't say. Actuarial Studies is very competitive because, well, it's actuarial studies. However, they have lots of places - compared to chemical engineering, which IIRC only had one/two places offered last year.

7. Are there any other scholarships or cadetships that you would recommend in terms of the financial help and opportunities it offers?
Like Trans4M said, look at the accounting cadetships. They're very good, I've heard. There are also, if you're going into engineering, several scholarships for females in engineering. Go for them :)

Good luck with everything. :)
 

v-something

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Thanks so much! It really helps a lot.
And for the first question it was my bad, it's 800-1000 characters not words.
Now i'll just try to word myself better in the application and cross fingers for an interview. :D
 

v-something

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I couldn't say. Actuarial Studies is very competitive because, well, it's actuarial studies. However, they have lots of places - compared to chemical engineering, which IIRC only had one/two places offered last year.

I'm pretty good at math, but have no way to show it except a very good mark from ext2 math.
While i'm also good at science and have several academic achievements on it.
Moreover I'm not so confident in oral, that actuarial studies considers communication very important but chem eng not.

In this case, which of the two do you think that i'll have a better chance?
And how important is the order of preference i put?
 

ismeta

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You can do a double degree with co op. However, you need to start out with a single degree and get approval from your sponsor/s and the co op people after a year.
 

ismeta

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I'm pretty good at math, but have no way to show it except a very good mark from ext2 math.
While i'm also good at science and have several academic achievements on it.
Moreover I'm not so confident in oral, that actuarial studies considers communication very important but chem eng not.

In this case, which of the two do you think that i'll have a better chance?
And how important is the order of preference i put?
I really couldn't say which you have a better chance for, sorry. :( As for the order of preference, I don't quite remember but - as is obvious - put down the one you want the most as first preference (probably not very helpful, sorry :p).
 

v-something

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I really couldn't say which you have a better chance for, sorry. :( As for the order of preference, I don't quite remember but - as is obvious - put down the one you want the most as first preference (probably not very helpful, sorry :p).
Thank you ismeta, you've already helped A LOT! I really appreciate all these information from you. :D
 

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