UNSW imposes minimum entry score of 80+ ATAR (3 Viewers)

[Emily Howard]

i dink higher cut offs disadvantage public school kids (not da study hard nerds in public schools)

shit lyk dis puts more pressure on hsc students n da hsc isnt everything

 

[Emily Howard]

i dink fo many high demand degrees dere shld defs b an interview process

i was pub school dnt do too well in hsc went to uni n easily got Ds so i was defs capable n i met lotta ppls dat hav interests in a lotta fields dat dey excelled

marks dat wld shit on dere hsc

 

[LoveHateSchool]

i dink fo many high demand degrees dere shld defs b an interview process

i was pub school dnt do too well in hsc went to uni n easily got Ds so i was defs capable n i met lotta ppls dat hav interests in a lotta fields dat dey excelled

marks dat wld shit on dere hsc

Were you a rural public HS person? *solidarity high five if so*

The ATAR system provides a mechanism to rank students but it's not be all and end all in any stretch.

Say Student A gets an ATAR of low 80s doing maths, sciences, design and tech and wants to do a design/construction course.
Student B could do 4 eng, latin continuers, greek continuers etc. get high 90s ATAR and get in over a student with a more applicable subject set.

Some courses I think interviews would be tell tale to weasel out those without a true forethought or interest in the area. You can glean a lot of a student out of a 20 min interview.

I would love to see some form of LMAT (UMAT for law) for law undergrad admission.

Many courses at USYD with very high cut offs have flexible entry to take this into account i.e people who shows applicable ECs, internships etc. can make it into a course 5 under the published.

So I'd be very interested to see if this 80+ min is waived with EAS considerations or subject bonus points. There's so many students whose Yr 12 is greatly impacted but really take off with a much more level playing field come university time.

 

[enoilgam]

I would love to see some form of LMAT (UMAT for law) for law undergrad admission.

I agree with most of what you said except for this - I really dont feel that entry should be restricted on the basis of psychometric testing, which doesnt really say much about a candidate beyond potential (it is even 50/50 in determining that).

 

[RishBonjour]

Commerce is a decent general degree if you arent too sure what you want to do.

yes it is. Flexible, fun and relatively simple (so far). Most people are combined anyway. I'm one of the few people I know just doing Comm.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

I agree with most of what you said except for this - I really dont feel that entry should be restricted on the basis of psychometric testing, which doesnt really say much about a candidate beyond potential (it is even 50/50 in determining that).

Not psychometric testing like UMAT, a more written essay/communications test. Just meant in the same vein as being an extra requirement for medicine, some supplementary test tailored to be useful for differing law candidates.

Also an interesting argument if Australia ever moves to the 'liberal' undergrad education where there are more general undergrad degrees with enforced Gen Ed/Breadth studies (like the model at UWA and UMELB) that they use in the states. I.e. most degrees become postgrad.

 

[Omnipotence]

Not psychometric testing like UMAT, a more written essay/communications test. Just meant in the same vein as being an extra requirement for medicine, some supplementary test tailored to be useful for differing law candidates.

It already exists LSAT for Melb JD and ALSET for Deakin.

 

[Emily Howard]

nah i wasnt rural

we just didnt noe da impact of our sub choices prior hsc, dat special knowledge was granted only to da top classes



i dink interviews r good insofar dat u provide da opp for students fo a real passion in a particular field to hav a level playin field wit dere higher ranking peers

 

[enoilgam]

Not psychometric testing like UMAT, a more written essay/communications test.

This would probably be a good idea actually - especially to differentiate.

I think ultimately though, it doesnt matter what you do, selecting the right students is always going to be extremely difficult. You dont really know how good or productive a person will be in something until they have been doing it for a while (since we dont have crystal balls, the system will always be very imperfect).

i dink interviews r good insofar dat u provide da opp for students fo a real passion in a particular field to hav a level playin field wit dere higher ranking peers

Someone with half-decent social skills can easily fake their way through an interview.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

It already exists LSAT for Melb JD and ALSET for Deakin.

I know it does for postgrad(LSAT for UMELB JD), but is the ALSET undergrad for Deakin?

nah i wasnt rural

we just didnt noe da impact of our sub choices prior hsc, dat special knowledge was granted only to da top classes



i dink interviews r good insofar dat u provide da opp for students fo a real passion in a particular field to hav a level playin field wit dere higher ranking peers

That's why I've always been so passionate on giving back to this site, because this was my card for HSC knowledge that I didn't get where I lived before. This site is so good for rural/regional students information.

This would probably be a good idea actually - especially to differentiate.

I think ultimately though, it doesnt matter what you do, selecting the right students is always going to be extremely difficult. You dont really know how good or productive a person will be in something until they have been doing it for a while (since we dont have crystal balls, the system will always be very imperfect).



Someone with half-decent social skills can easily fake their way through an interview.

You catch people by looking for evidence of what they've actually done. I.e. if they are going for science, have they done any ICAS comps, have they done NYSF/YSA etc. It's not all about the social skills. You can catch the fakers through what social skills they possess to a decent extent.

 

[Emily Howard]

This would probably be a good idea actually - especially to differentiate.

I think ultimately though, it doesnt matter what you do, selecting the right students is always going to be extremely difficult. You dont really know how good or productive a person will be in something until they have been doing it for a while (since we dont have crystal balls, the system will always be very imperfect).



Someone with half-decent social skills can easily fake their way through an interview.

hav u seen oxbridge interviews? its not just a simple i wanna b x i luv dis cos ov x

u really get to demonstrate ur knowledge, significance, understanding n interest in x field, not spoonfed shit, shit dat makes u dink outside da box

n if u hav da brain to fake dat den at least ur smart enough spesh if ur atar is low it shows u aint lower ring

 

[enoilgam]

That's why I've always been so passionate on giving back to this site, because this was my card for HSC knowledge that I didn't get where I lived before. This site is so good for rural/regional students information.

I think that is universal to schools without a strong academic emphasis - I went to an inner-city catholic school and this site provided me with so much information which I didnt get there.

You catch people by looking for evidence of what they've actually done. I.e. if they are going for science, have they done any ICAS comps, have they done NYSF/YSA etc. It's not all about the social skills. You can catch the fakers through what social skills they possess to a decent extent.

hav u seen oxbridge interviews? its not just a simple i wanna b x i luv dis cos ov x

u really get to demonstrate ur knowledge, significance, understanding n interest in x field, not spoonfed shit, shit dat makes u dink outside da box

n if u hav da brain to fake dat den at least ur smart enough spesh if ur atar is low it shows u aint lower ring

It would probably catch out certain people, but there are some who can easily bluff their way through it with resumes to back their bluff. Like I said before, selection, whether it be for a job, academics, sporting etc is extremely difficult and there are no real mechanisms which have strong rates of success.

 

[Emily Howard]

I think that is universal to schools without a strong academic emphasis - I went to an inner-city catholic school and this site provided me with so much information which I didnt get there.



It would probably catch out certain people, but there are some who can easily bluff their way through it with resumes to back their bluff. Like I said before, selection, whether it be for a job, academics, sporting etc is extremely difficult and there are no real mechanisms which have strong rates of success.

resumes? talking undergrad here n excludin portfolio interviews

 

[enoilgam]

resumes? talking undergrad here n excludin portfolio interviews

CV, application whatever - I was more referring to what LHS said about catching people through what they have/havent done.

 

[isildurrrr1]

US uni's use quite a bit of things. Interviews (mostly for ivy league and other top uni's), personal essay, short essay questions, high school grades, SAT scores, IB/AP exam results, and extracurricular (VERY VERY important for ivy league schools).

 

[someth1ng]

US uni's use quite a bit of things. Interviews (mostly for ivy league and other top uni's), personal essay, short essay questions, high school grades, SAT scores, IB/AP exam results, and extracurricular (VERY VERY important for ivy league schools).

I know someone who got an offer to UPenn, he does a lot of swimming but I didn't really hear much else out of the ordinary from what he has told me.

I want placements to be limited so that there's only just enough for those that actually put effort in and want to achieve. Let those guys in and do your best to educate them. A mix between a personal statement/CV, an interview (for lower-end applicants) and ATAR would be good.

 

[JT145]

lol. Thinking of doing Planning at either UNSW or MQ, last year's ATAR was 78, looks like I need to move up

I'm gunning for a 95 so not going to be too much of a bomber unless something really bad happens :/

 

[brent012]

I think it's hard for universities to do that kind of thing unless they bypass UAC, the only examples I know of which do that to some extent are medicine (obviously), coop scholarships and FEAS.

One possiblity would be removing subject bonus points completely, standardising EAS across all universities and then having 10 or maybe even 20 bonus points awarded on the basis of an interview and/or personal statement. 20 bonus points sounds ridiculous but with the current bonus points systems being removed cut offs would rise a lot, and under that hypothetical system it would be difficult to cap out with the bonus points except for amazing applicants. It would probably have to be regulated or conducted by an external entity for it to be effective though.

lol. Thinking of doing Planning at either UNSW or MQ, last year's ATAR was 78, looks like I need to move up/

Didn't plan for that, did you? *ba dum tss*

 

[flashyGoldFish]

Good

 

[isildurrrr1]

I know someone who got an offer to UPenn, he does a lot of swimming but I didn't really hear much else out of the ordinary from what he has told me.

I want placements to be limited so that there's only just enough for those that actually put effort in and want to achieve. Let those guys in and do your best to educate them. A mix between a personal statement/CV, an interview (for lower-end applicants) and ATAR would be good.

Sports is a huge thing for US uni's. If you're the captain of a sports team, you do extensive sports stuff ivy leagues loves it. Ivy leagues are a hit or miss, there's no one thing that'd make them take you. I had a girlfriend who got accepted into columbia, compared to her brother who got rejected by every ivy school (he went to UC berkeley, still a smart cookie) because he had very little extracurricular but perfect marks (49 IB 2380 SAT score, shits fucking insane), while she had a 4.0 GPA and 2100 SAT score. Difference is she has a lot of extracurricular stuff in model UN and student council.

You don't need interviews for lowerband applicants, you need them for the harder degrees like law and medicine, or degrees with higher attrition rates.